Tom Felle, University of Galway
Media freedom has long been essential to healthy democracy. It is the oxygen that fuels informed debate, exposes corruption and holds power to account. But around the world, that freedom is under sustained attack.
Craig Robertson, University of Oxford
When Elon Musk took over Twitter and changed its name to X, many users vowed to move to another platform. First was talk of a shift to Mastodon that never seemed to catch on. Then Meta tried to make Threads appealing by linking the app to Instagram – but this hasn’t had much cut-through either.
Michael Bankole, Royal Holloway University of London
Kemi Badenoch has become the first Black leader of a UK-wide political party. But her ascent is unlikely to translate into meaningful gains for Black Britons.
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By Adam Smith | Tech correspondent Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is suing X (formerly Twitter) in French courts for enabling the spread of disinformation, identity theft and defamation. Continue reading |
With Trump having secured a historic victory in the U.S. Presidential election, investors are now racing to position themselves for a new America. Dramatic shifts in geopolitical, financial, and trade policies are going to transform the market, with trillions of dollars at stake. And nowhere is the anxiety more acute than among strategic companies, with Trump’s victory poised to give a boost to big banks and send defense sector stocks soaring. Continue reading
Simon McCarthy-Jones, Trinity College Dublin
After the attempted assassination of Donald Trump at his Pennsylvania campaign rally, there is much speculation about how this will affect the 2024 US election. However, no one is yet asking how these events may affect Trump himself.
Daniel Hoyer, University of Toronto
American humorist and writer Mark Twain is believed to have once said, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”
I’ve been working as a historian and complexity scientist for the better part of a decade, and I often think about this phrase as I follow different strands of the historical record and notice the same patterns over and over.
Melissa Avdeeff, University of Stirling
At Super Bowl LVIII, Taylor Swift will appear on the field at Allegiant Stadium after her boyfriend Travis Kelce’s team, the Kansas City Chiefs, wins the game. But she won’t be performing. Swift’s appearance will be a Pentagon-backed psy-op to turn the rigged game into a calculated political endorsement, to secure the 2024 presidential election for Joe Biden.
Oct. 2, 2023 /Legal/ — Donald Trump could stand to lose a number of things in the civil trial that is currently underway in Manhattan. The lawsuit, which was filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James, alleges that Trump and his company, the Trump Organization, engaged in fraudulent business practices, including inflating the value of assets and misleading investors and lenders. Continue reading
Stephan Lewandowsky, University of Bristol and Jana Lasser, Graz University of Technology
According to fact checkers, Donald Trump made more than 30,000 false or misleading claims during his presidency. That’s around 20 a day. But, according to several opinion polls during his presidency, around 75% of Republican voters still considered Trump to be honest.