Feb 22, 2021 | Arts & Culture, Business & Economics
Social media as it exists currently is an oligopoly, with a handful of private companies controlling the structure and use of the platforms which mediate our communication not only with one another but also with the public sphere. As these companies continue to amass...
Nov 2, 2020 | Business & Economics
By Paul Panckhurst Tech giants make billions of dollars as people hand over their personal information in exchange for free apps, search engines and social media platforms. The raw material of our digital lives – location data, online searches, purchases, “likes” – is...
Aug 27, 2020 | Politics & Society
By Logan Carmichael Cyberattacks are taking place with increasing frequency, and with increasing capability to do widespread damage. On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, the New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZX) halted trading as a result of Distributed Denial of Service...
Jul 28, 2020 | Politics & Society, Referee
By Rachel Simpson The crisis of lawlessness on Facebook means it has become a breeding ground for alienation, fragmentation and xenophobia across the globe. In a contribution to the North Carolina Law Review, Georgetown Law Professor Anupam Chander, commented on the...
Jun 30, 2020 | Politics & Society
By Logan Carmichael As lockdowns have been imposed across Europe and around the world as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the move online of traditionally in-person tasks and services has sent many countries into turmoil. In addition to a global pandemic that has...
Jul 25, 2019 | Politics & Society, Referee
By Logan Carmichael For three weeks in 2007, if you wanted to do practically anything on the internet in Estonia, you were out of luck. The websites of the Estonian government, major banks, and prominent news media outlets were incapacitated. These sites fell victim...
Jul 23, 2019 | Arts & Culture, Politics & Society, Referee
In recent years, fascists and white supremacists have emerged from the darkest corners of the internet onto the streets – and into the halls of power. The movement’s activists are being radicalised online, and driven to acts of atrocity like those carried...
May 23, 2019 | Arts & Culture, Politics & Society, Referee
By Emmi Bevensee The devastating anti-Muslim attacks carried out in Christchurch in March this year were part of a trend of disaffected white men, radicalised into fascist politics through social media meme culture. The alleged shooter, now facing trial for the murder...
Nov 26, 2018 | Politics & Society
By Adam G. Klein Fear, more than hate, feeds online bigotry and real-world violence according to Adam G. Klein. When a U.S. senator asked Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, “Can you define hate speech?” it was arguably the most important question that social networks face:...
Oct 29, 2018 | Business & Economics
By Chris Doucouliagos & Tom Stanley The internet has done a lot, but so far little for economic growth as Chris Doucouliagos and Tom Stanley explain. The internet is transforming every aspect of our lives. It has become indispensable. But, so far, according to a...