Media Files: ACCC seeks to clip wings of tech giants like Facebook and Google but international effort is required.
The Conversation55 MB(download)
In Dickens' era, international copyright law developed from a worldwide effort to deal with a global problem. Is it time to tackle tech giants the same way? A journalist and a media owner explain.
The Zimbabwean government recently shutdown the internet by ordering mobile companies to withhold mobile data.
EPA-EFE/STF
Shutting down or controlling access to the internet has become a go-to strategy among some African states who want to control the political narrative.
New research shows that more and more of our public conversation is unfolding within a dwindling coterie of sites that are controlled by a small few, largely unregulated and geared primarily to profit rather than public interest.
Unsplash
New research into the economics of attention online casts doubt on the net’s role in fostering public debate, and raises concerns about the future of democracy.
How much do these Mumbai commuters trust what they’re seeing online?
Shailesh Andrade/Reuters
Three trends suggest people in less developed nations – who are coming online in greater numbers – use and trust the internet very differently those in more developed economies.
People who share potential misinformation on Twitter (in purple) rarely get to see corrections or fact-checking (in orange).
Shao et al.
Information on social media can be misleading because of biases in three places – the brain, society and algorithms. Scholars are developing ways to identify and display the effects of these biases.
Many people are turned away by abusive language on online news sites but new research reveals that only 15 per cent of comments are “nasty.”
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What's behind Facebook's decision to cut down on news content in people's newsfeeds?
Media education opportunities should be more frequently available in schools to ensure young Australians meaningfully engage with news media.
Shutterstock
It's election time and all the political parties are locked in a social media battle. But does it help inform political debate or just cause even more confusion?
Don’t panic: An international survey finds concerns about fake news are overblown.
studiostoks/shutterstock.com
Concerns over filter bubbles and fake news are often based on anecdotal evidence. There is relatively little systematic research on the topic; a new survey finds widespread fears are unwarranted.
How the news media distorts the reality of alcohol – new findings.
Sharing election hashtags: Dots are Twitter accounts; lines show retweeting; larger dots are retweeted more. Red dots are likely bots; blue ones are likely humans.
Clayton Davis
If people can be conned into jeopardizing our children's lives, as they do when they opt out of immunizations, could they also be conned out of democracy?
