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  • 8 Dec 2020
    • China
    • Technology
    • Human rights

    China’s online meddling goes beyond the Great Firewall

    Yaqiu Wang
    Human rights movements still suffer from falsehoods and misinformation even on social media platforms banned by Beijing.
  • 7 Dec 2020
    • Sustainability
    • Australia
    • Climate change
    • Technology

    The case for going all-in on renewables

    Jeffrey Lau
    Energy security and economic growth have political support where climate change doesn’t. Bring them all together.
  • 1 Dec 2020
    • Diplomacy
    • Australia
    • China
    • Technology

    We’ve been trolled – expect more of it, because it worked

    Damien Spry
    Here’s how Scott Morrison might have responded to China’s online provocation.
  • 24 Nov 2020
    • Global Issues
    • Terrorism
    • Technology

    After Christchurch: Mapping online right-wing extremists

    Brian Ballsun-Stanton , Lise Waldek , Julian Droogan
    For all the hate, sometimes extending to talk of violence, the extremist milieu is also a highly social space.
  • 18 Nov 2020
    • China
    • Technology
    • China – Belt and Road Initiative

    Gauge-changing train is no game changer for China

    Wu Shang-Su
    The recently launched high-speed rail adaptable to different track widths is unlikely to jump the hurdles of the BRI.
  • 13 Nov 2020
    • United States
    • Trade
    • Sustainability
    • China
    • Climate change
    • Energy
    • Technology

    Biden’s clean energy plan versus China’s green tech dominance

    Elliott Zaagman
    The US might be able to construct a clean-energy supply chain without relying on China, but it won’t be easy.
  • 15 Oct 2020
    • Pakistan
    • Technology

    Pakistan gets on the TikTok ban wagon

    Syed Fazl-e-Haider
    For very different reasons, the South Asian country follows rival India in blocking the China-based app.
  • 13 Oct 2020
    • Global Economy
    • China
    • Technology

    The many trails of Ant Group

    Fraser Howie
    Plans to list the company at the centre of China’s financial and payments network could spark a geopolitical firestorm.
  • 7 Oct 2020
    • Technology

    The unique power of TikTok’s algorithm

    Xueyin Zha
    Even if the question of control is resolved, this game-changing app may still pose a challenge to democratic norms.
  • 9 Sep 2020
    • Cyber Warfare
    • Digital Disruption
    • Technology

    Colourless green content: AI, disinformation and geopolitical risk

    Quinton Temby
    How will you know when a machine has written what you’re reading?
  • 2 Sep 2020
    • Technology

    Who’s watching the algorithms?

    Xueyin Zha
    Facial recognition tech has supercharged surveillance in sometimes troubling ways – and spurred surprising opponents.
  • 28 Aug 2020
    • Global Issues
    • Terrorism
    • Technology
    • Human rights

    Understanding the full spectrum of hate

    Matteo Vergani
    Extreme violence garners most attention, but the problems arise much earlier – both online and in the real world.
  • 20 Aug 2020
    • Malaysia
    • Technology
    • Coronavirus

    In Malaysia’s Covid “infodemic”, crime is all too easy

    Harris Zainul
    A crackdown on the spreading of false information is unfair if people don’t have the means to spot it.
  • 14 Aug 2020
    • The Americas
    • Australia
    • Technology

    From Santiago to Sydney, opening Latin America with fibre-optic cable

    Alex Vedovi
    While no panacea, a new cable link is an unexpected chance for greater trans-Pacific ties away from superpower rivalry.
  • 13 Aug 2020
    • Japan
    • Technology

    Japan’s tech industry reboot will have region-wide effects

    Elliot Silverberg , Patrick Madaj
    Japan can play a key role in digital debates facing democratic and authoritarian societies alike.
  • 7 Aug 2020
    • United States
    • China
    • Technology

    Cyber sovereignty cuts both ways

    Elliott Zaagman
    China’s barricades against foreign tech helped its companies grow massive. Now they’re being blocked in other markets.
  • 4 Aug 2020
    • Australia
    • Technology

    Defending Australia in a high-tech future

    Thom Dixon
    Australia must prioritise education and research, in science and humanities, too. Regional engagement may depend on it.
  • 3 Aug 2020
    • Technology
    • Coronavirus

    Under the influence: Peddling conspiracy in a pandemic

    Lydia Khalil
    Lifestyle and wellness personalities are lending conspiracy theorists a glossy sheen, and not without danger.
  • 22 Jul 2020
    • China
    • India
    • Australia
    • Digital Disruption
    • Technology
    • United States

    Interesting times for TikTok

    Elliott Zaagman
    The debate over banning the social media app hits on big issues of tech, trade and sovereignty.
  • 22 Jul 2020
    • Europe
    • China
    • Technology

    Is Huawei in the UK a canary in the coalmine?

    Daniel Woker
    Britain’s 5G ban shows that political risk must be priced into commercial calculations as the world considers value.
  • 20 Jul 2020
    • Chinese Trade
    • Australia
    • China
    • Technology

    Social credit: The next China risk for Australian business

    David Morris
    Continuous monitoring via technology raises numerous questions and will bring unforeseen consequences.
  • 9 Jul 2020
    • United States
    • China
    • Taiwan
    • Technology

    The semiconductor industry is where politics gets real for Taiwan

    Kate Sullivan-Walker
    These tiny strategic products can profoundly change the world as the US and China fight over the brains of electronics.
  • 6 Jul 2020
    • Australia
    • Technology
    • Coronavirus

    The cost of conspiracy in muddling public health messages

    Clare Murphy
    A Covid-19 outbreak in Victoria shows the need to counter hate speech, extremist content and misinformation online.
  • 1 Jul 2020
    • China
    • China-India Relations
    • India
    • Technology

    India’s TikTok stars collateral damage in Chinese app ban

    Aarti Betigeri
    The move signals that decades of appeasement towards China by a succession of Indian leaders is coming to an end.
  • 25 Jun 2020
    • Technology

    K-pop “stans” unleashed: Hijacking hashtags for social action

    Dymples Leong
    Digital disruption can reflect a growing desire to pair fandom with activism. But such a movement is itself vulnerable.
  • 22 Jun 2020
    • Papua New Guinea
    • Technology
    • Coronavirus

    Debt threatens Digicel’s Pacific dominance

    Shane McLeod
    The sprawling telecoms provider is deep in the red, and it might be the company’s PNG profits that help bail it out.
  • 19 Jun 2020
    • Australia
    • Technology

    Morrison’s messages to the “sophisticated state-based cyber actor”

    Ben Scott
    The Prime Minister appears to be sending a warning – that Australia is on to you.
  • 19 Jun 2020
    • China
    • Technology
    • China – Belt and Road Initiative

    Belt and Road means big data and facial recognition, too

    Peter Layton
    China is exporting the same social control technology it employs to monitor its own population.
  • 11 Jun 2020
    • China
    • Technology
    • Coronavirus

    China toys with a new propaganda technique: Irony

    Weixiang Wang , Oana Burcu
    The already reductive US-China spat has now been turned into an actual cartoon, in an earnest bid for foreign sympathy.
  • 31 May 2020
    • Technology
    • United States

    Playing Monopoly in space

    Morris Jones
    Privatising astronaut launches was only one objective of the latest venture beyond the atmosphere.
  • 20 May 2020
    • India
    • Coronavirus
    • Technology

    India’s Covid-19 tracing app: Power in the right hands?

    Aarti Betigeri
    Download rates for tracing apps can also be read to indicate how much trust there is in government.
  • 20 May 2020
    • Global Issues
    • Defence & Security
    • Technology

    We’re all losers in the space arms race

    Sarah O’Connor
    Nations have battled one another for strategic advantage in space for decades. Actual fighting would be a step beyond.
  • 19 May 2020
    • Technology
    • Coronavirus

    Covid-19 chaos creates fertile ground for cyberattacks

    Gordon Kang
    Major events that capture population attention, whether pandemics or elections, are ripe for manipulation.
  • 14 May 2020
    • Australia
    • Technology
    • Singapore
    • Coronavirus
    • Human rights

    Covid-19 and the acceleration of state surveillance

    Muhammad Faizal Abdul Rahman
    The pandemic has suddenly made the unthinkable acceptable. Data and privacy may never be the same.
  • 7 May 2020
    • Technology
    • Papua New Guinea

    Digital declarations: Political ads on PNG social media must be clear

    Shane McLeod
    Local politicians are deploying Facebook’s paid advertising tools. The dominant social platform should take a hard look.
  • 29 Apr 2020
    • Australia in the World
    • United States
    • Technology
    • Coronavirus

    Information warfare in the theatre of Covid-19

    Damien Spry
    Viral misinformation thrives amid the very conditions we see today – a lesson China appears to have identified.
  • 29 Apr 2020
    • Defence & Security
    • Technology

    Beyond the buzz: A primer on swarms

    Maaike Verbruggen
    Militarised and ready for battle, artificial intelligence could bring new numbers of drones to the fight – eventually.
  • 29 Apr 2020
    • Australia
    • Technology
    • Coronavirus

    Back to the future: Keeping Australian air lines of communication open

    David Brewster
    Not for the first time Australia is cut off from the world. Government has an essential role in preserving a connection.
  • 20 Apr 2020
    • South Korea
    • Technology

    The Nth Room case and modern slavery in the digital space

    Nicole de Souza
    South Korea is again confronted by an example of women being exploited – and the global challenge of misused technology.
  • 16 Apr 2020
    • Technology
    • Coronavirus

    What price privacy? Contact tracing apps to combat Covid

    Xueyin Zha
    Smartphone technology hold the greatest promises in outpacing the virus, but surrendering to surveillance has a price.
  • 3 Apr 2020
    • Asia
    • Technology

    The danger meme: Countering visual disinformation in Asia’s politics

    Jennifer Yang Hui
    The Covid-19 “infodemic” has made plain the risks from ill-intended videos and photos. This is true for elections, too.
  • 30 Mar 2020
    • Technology
    • Coronavirus

    Doom surfing and fact checkers prosper in Covid-19 infodemic

    Alexandra Wake
    With so much information swirling around, especially on social media, just what should we believe?
  • 25 Mar 2020
    • Coronavirus
    • Technology

    Disinformation and coronavirus

    Natasha Kassam
    The dilution of information on the internet is currently posing a risk to global health and safety.
  • 17 Mar 2020
    • Technology

    The uncertain fate of .org

    Xueyin Zha
    ​​​​​​​A profit-free corner of the internet is going through a rapid and controversial process of privatisation.
  • 28 Feb 2020
    • Technology

    Is media literacy the magic bullet for fake news?

    Tom Ascott
    The continued threat of misinformation online demands real solutions.
  • 25 Feb 2020
    • United States
    • Technology

    “Coordinated inauthentic behaviour”: Facebook haunts US democracy

    Damien Spry
    Facebook has gone through the motions of fighting disinformation, but not enough to matter – or to risk its profits.
  • 14 Jan 2020
    • Australia
    • Technology

    The Australian lag in tech policy

    Xueyin Zha
    As European regulators catch up with the digital economy, their Aussie counterparts seem nothing but laid-back.
  • 13 Jan 2020
    • Defence & Security
    • Australian Defence Force
    • Technology

    Australia’s new strategic geography

    Mark O'Neill
    The “sea-air gap” has collapsed amid the proliferation of technologies that are agnostic about distance and domain.
  • 27 Dec 2019
    • Technology

    Best of The Interpreter 2019: Technology

    The Interpreter
    The digital age has brought its share of wonders, but it has also created whole new realms of confusion, and rivalry.
  • 10 Dec 2019
    • Australia
    • Technology

    Share, like, comment, attack: Social media as weapon and battlefield

    Damien Spry
    Parliament will examine threat of foreign actors using social media to cajole, harass, hoodwink, and exploit the public.
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