Freedom of expression has long been extolled by those who love freedom generally. As George Orwell once said: “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” And, according to the European Court of Human Rights, this includes offending, shocking and disturbing. Read the rest of this entry »
During the 2019 Australian general election, a news story about the Labor Party supporting a “death tax” – which turned out to be fake – gained traction on social media. Now, Labor is urging a post-election committee to rule on whether digital platforms like Facebook are harming Australian democracy by allowing the spread of fake news. Read the rest of this entry »
The furore over the apparent betrayal of Coleen Rooney by her friend Rebekah Vardy – who is accused of leaking private information about the Rooney family to The Sun newspaper – has generated reams of British media coverage, conversation and commentary in just a few days. Read the rest of this entry »
Facebook leader Mark Zuckerberg recently took the unusual step of visiting lawmakers in Washington, including President Donald Trump in the White House. The reason? Congress’s anti-trust sub-committee has started demanding documents from Facebook and other big tech firms. It’s part of the committee’s investigation into whether dominant tech firms are acting anti-competitively. And Zuckerberg’s trip suggests the company is worried. Read the rest of this entry »
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have announced their intention to launch legal action against the Mail on Sunday for publishing a private handwritten letter the Duchess had sent to her estranged father. Prince Harry said in a statement: “I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces.” Read the rest of this entry »
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have announced plans to sue the publisher of the Mail on Sunday Associated Newspapers, after they published a private letter from Meghan to her father earlier this year. Read the rest of this entry »
The information we encounter online everyday can be misleading, incomplete or fabricated. Being exposed to “fake news” on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter can influence our thoughts and decisions. We’ve already seen misinformation interfere with elections in the United States. Read the rest of this entry »
When Ben Stokes celebrated his part in the England cricket team’s World Cup triumph, followed by his incredible match-winning innings during the Ashes, dubbed the “greatest ever”, he could not have anticipated that heightened interest in him would lead to the later unwelcome unearthing of an old family secret. Read the rest of this entry »
The latest photo app craze can make you look like a movie star. Zao uses artificial intelligence to replace the faces of characters in film or TV clips with images of anyone whose photo you upload to the app. Read the rest of this entry »
Facebook’s News Feed algorithm determines what users see on its platform – from funny memes to comments from friends. The company regularly updates this algorithm, which can dramatically change what information people consume. Read the rest of this entry »
