New study exposes philanthrocapitalism’s failure to effectively back journalism in the Global South. In the fast-paced world of media innovation, the game-changing bond between news organizations and tech giants takes center stage. Armed with cutting-edge tech and deep pockets, Big Tech firms hold the keys to revolutionizing media technology and even entire media landscapes. These…
Meta made headlines recently by saying it would drop Canadian news from both Instagram and Facebook after the Liberal Canadian Senate passed the C-18 bill which would require Google and Facebook to pay for news distributed on both platforms. The bill has been controversial, with some publishers arguing that it only benefits the large media…
An increasing number of governments are increasingly turning the screws on internet freedom. Funnily enough, they look at the EU for inspiration. When Judit Varga, Hungary’s justice minister, recently accused tech giants of violating democratic norms, many were baffled. To hear someone serving in the autocratic government of the prime minister Viktor Orban talk about…
Much time and money have been spent on combatting misinformation through fact-checking. But it’s not clear whether it has any impact at all. Fact-checkers are taking credit for the circulation collapse of the doctored Nancy Pelosi video that circulated widely online after being aired on Fox news in the US and tweeted about by President Donald Trump on May…
Internet companies and telcos are not particularly good at disclosing policies on freedom of expression and privacy. On a long-term basis, this could dent their sales. Last summer, as electoral debates were heating up in America, anti-Hillary voters in possession of iPhones could find a facetious method to vent their fury against the Democratic candidate…
The world’s telecom and internet behemoths are far from being transparent when it comes to users’ privacy. It’s time for them to improve. The world’s most powerful telecommunications, internet, and mobile companies are mostly failing at informing consumers about their rights, according to Ranking Digital Rights Corporate Accountability Index. “We evaluated companies that touch the majority…
China has traditionally been a masterful manipulator of public opinion. It has finally perfected a system to weed out dissent on the internet, too. Days before the inauguration of the American president-elect Donald Trump, bosses at Chinese media outlets received a list of instructions about how to cover this event. Journalists were ordered to use…
Bad internet connections, pricey internet packages, censorship, suppressed freedom of expression and content blocking: this is Cuba. How come, then, Cubans are such a well-informed crowd? Hackers and offline social networking are the answer. In the past, it was illegal to own a computer in Cuba; and it was hard to buy one. Because of…
There are several initiatives out there that measure and rank companies. Pharmaceutical manufacturers are ranked according to how they ensure access to medicines and major foodstuffs producers are ranked according to their impact on communities. Now, we have the Corporate Accountability Index that measures how internet companies and telcos fare in their general commitment to…
Internet and telecommunications companies influence our world significantly, be it our personal interactions or political engagement. A new index has been developed to see how they fare in their general commitment to digital rights, as well as in terms of their practices regarding freedom of expression and privacy. The Ranking Digital Rights, a project supported an impressive list of funders, research…