Images and distorted facts

Social media has made it easier to spread information – and lies – than ever before, and understanding how we comprehend the world is the key to sifting facts from fiction.

How the media lost the election

While the Murdoch press campaigned stridently for Morrison, the rest of the media failed to cover the election properly, focusing on meaningless photo-ops with the leaders rather than the issues they didn’t want to talk about – such as climate change, integrity, local concerns and women’s issues.

Journalism in the age of Twitter

Traditional journalism has an uneasy relationship with social media sites such as Twitter, which can both promote and undermine their work.

ACCC v big tech – Round 10

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is taking on Big Tech again – this time in the form of Meta – to dismantle one of the main excuses major technology firms use to disclaim responsibility for their actions.

Journalism under attack

Today is World Press Freedom Day, but outnumbered and outgunned by authoritarian propaganda machines, independent, public-interest journalism is under threat around the world from toxic polarisation, imprisonment, cyber bullying and automated attacks that hinder or halt their work.

How will Elon change Twitter?

Some twitter users have responded with dismay to the news that Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, is buying the popular social media platform, but why does he want it and what will he use it for?

Auditing the algorithms

The powerful algorithms used by major technology companies to track phone and internet users shape our consumption of news, media and advertising, and now the veil of secrecy which surrounds them is being lifted.

Mapping the disinformation war

Aggressive, hostile nations such as Russia, China and Iran maintain huge disinformation campaigns designed to discredit the West and shift global opinion in their favour. A new ASPI website helps track these assaults on truth and democracy in real time.

Defunding the disinformation machine

Peddling disinformation on behalf of hostile states or vested interests is a profitable business, so one of the most effective ways to slow its spread is to take away the advertising money unwittingly funding it.

Information, disinformation and democracy in a volatile world

We need to focus on the hard business of cyber defence as well as long-term trust-building and real-time information interventions to counter the attacks of hostile states on our democracy.

Beware the Ides of March

Starting on 15 March, the ABC is compelling everybody who wants to use its iView platform to have a login. The broadcaster offers no choice and no opt-out except to cease using iView.

How to break up with social media

Spending too much time mindlessly scrolling through your phone? Want to delete your social media, but can’t bring yourself to do it? Here are some ways to take the first steps back into the real world.