Analysing social media ‘clusters’

Analysing social trends, disaster responses or customer insights using large language models to organise short text clusters just got easier thanks to a new project at Sydney University.

The fact of the meta

A new Australian survey finds that people who rely on social media for news tend to have less regard for traditional civic values than those who rely on newspapers and non-commercial broadcasters such as the ABC.

The year of fake news

Mis- and disinformation have once again been named the top global risk of the immediate term in the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Risks Report 2025.

Freedom of speech v freedom from deception

Disinformation threatens Australian democratic processes and the failure of the proposed Disinformation and Misinformation bill highlights the urgent need for balanced regulation ahead of the 2025 elections.

Meta-reality

Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement that Facebook will replace fact checkers with “community notes” has as much to do with Meta’s embrace of AI as the re-election of Donald Trump.

Countering disaster disinformation

Disinformation can make it hard for people to distinguish and act on accurate advice. And this can mean life or death when it comes to natural disasters like bushfires.

Making Meta pay

Big tech companies would have to either do deals with news organisations to help fund journalism or pay a charge to the Australian government, under a new plan announced by the Albanese government.

They want to believe

Are credulous people are less capable of recognizing fake news and more susceptible to conspiracy thinking? A new study has the answer.

Australians want more accessible political reporting

There’s more news, more politics and more people ignoring both than ever before, so could changes in the way politics is reported encourage more people to stop avoiding it and get better informed?

Dissecting Australia’s youth social media ban

The Government wants to safeguard young Australians from the perceived mental health harms of social media but its approach remains vague and misguided.

The library of Babel

The internet is often described as one of humanity’s great achievements. But like any other resource, it’s important to give serious thought to how it is maintained and managed – lest we end up confronting the dystopian vision imagined by Jorge Luis Borges over 80 years ago.

Freedom and responsibility

We must hold ourselves and our democratic governments to account. But freedom of the press and freedom of expression are not enjoyed where one is only free to actually harm our own societies.