At re:publica 26, three speakers mapped the dangers of cybernetic authoritarianism underpinning generative AI controlled by tech oligarchs and empire builders

Surveillance now ranks among the top three threats to safety of journalists worldwide. Spying on human rights and truth defenders has gone industrial

There’s growing opposition to Meta’s plans to introduce facial recognition to its smart glasses despite being aware of the safety and privacy risks

Nnamdi Emeh suffered another setback this week when his trial was postponed yet again. He has languished in jail for three years despite being granted bail and a release warrant

Government tightens media control through draconian censorship laws, arbitrary detention, journalist murders and economic intimidation in the most significant rollback of press freedom since the 1990s

AI regulation is becoming a major US midterm battleground, with tech-linked groups raising hundreds of millions of dollars to back candidates for or against guardrails — as companies, donors and political allies compete to shape future AI rules

Fears being expressed by British officials that hostile states are exploiting freedom of information requests to access sensitive data amid talk of budget constraints pose a threat to the UK’s FOI system

Italian prosecutors have confirmed journalist Francesco Cancellato was targeted with Paragon’s military-grade Graphite spyware, exposing the gap between the tech firm’s “ethical hacking” claims and reality

A court in South Africa denied bail to the man suspected of murdering whistleblower Marumo Eric Phenya, citing threats to his wife, Blueprint whistleblowing prize winner Johannah Phenya

Australia’s top business lobby quietly proposed a copyright workaround allowing AI companies to mine books and articles without permission or payment

Within hours of US-Israeli airstrikes that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Tehran imposed a near-total internet shutdown, cutting off 90 million people. Journalists now rely on VPNs, Starlink and smuggled videos—while risking arrest or even execution under new espionage laws.

Increasing reliance on AI-driven tools such as facial recognition is contributing to wrongful arrests and miscarriages of justice