Facebook’s announcement has implications about digital life and work—provided it can attract younger users and gamer skeptics and overcome the hate speech and disinformation problems that could still plague Zuckerberg’s vision.
Prabir Purkayastha
Prabir Purkayastha is the founding editor of Newsclick.in, a digital media platform. He is an activist for science and the free software movement.
How Facebook’s Algorithms Promote Hate and Drive Toxic Content
Whistleblower Frances Haugen’s evidence shows Facebook knew its algorithms promote dangerous content but did nothing about it so that it could maximize its advertising revenue.
What Does India Get Out of Being Part of ‘The Quad’?
Australia has joined the U.S. and UK games to contain China, leaving India unclear in the Quad and isolated in Asia. Tied to the waning imperial power of the U.S., India is gradually losing strategic autonomy.
Chip War: Can the U.S. Really Gain From China’s Pain?
The U.S. currently holds a strong hand in its chip war with China. But experts believe it will lose in the future as China has a bigger market and a larger capacity for creating new knowledge.
Are Bezos and Musk Launching Us Into a New Space Age, or Just a U.S. Space Grab?
We are entering a new space age in which billionaires can leave this world, which they are destroying, hoping to find another world to conquer and destroy.
Remembering the Great Scientific Crusader Who Showed That No Biological Basis for Race Exists—Richard Lewontin
Lewontin fought a lifelong battle against racism, imperialism and capitalist oppression.
Pegasus and the Threat of Cyberweapons in the Age of Smartphones
Spyware like Pegasus is dangerous not only because it gives hackers complete control over an infected phone, but also because it introduces the skills and knowledge of nation-states into the civilian sphere.
How Modi’s Privatization Agenda Fueled the COVID-19 Disaster in India
India’s incompetent, vainglorious leadership, combined with the right-wing belief in magical capitalism, has led to the disaster that the country is now facing.
As India Gasps to Breathe, Modi Government Abdicates Responsibility
As India gasps to breathe, the Modi government abdicates responsibility.
The West Is Practicing Vaccine Apartheid at a Global Level
For rich countries, the billions of dollars of vaccine market for Big Pharma far outweigh the benefits of saving millions of lives.
Why the U.S. Shouldn’t Play Games With Cyberwarfare as Its Power Declines
Cybersecurity threats are emerging as one of the most serious challenges of the 21st century. The U.S. and its NATO allies have turned down every attempt within the UN framework for banning cyberweapons.
Why the U.S. and Its Allies Are Stupid to Turn COVID-19 Vaccination Into a Geopolitical Power Play
The COVID-19 pandemic demands that all nations cooperate to vaccinate the entire global population—a goal that can’t be achieved using the usual rules of which countries win and which ones lose.
The Value of Universal Vaccination Is So Great That Even the IMF Is Being Forced to Rethink Its Callousness to the Global South
It could cost as much as $5 trillion if rich countries don’t help vaccinate the rest of the world.
Why We Need to Adopt Friedrich Engels’ Thinking on Science in These Times
It is no accident that big science in capitalist countries is tied to either war or the greed of capital. This is especially being sharply reflected during the present pandemic when we find that a large number of vaccines are for-profit, even if they have been funded by public money.
Why Google Is Facing Serious Accusations of Monopoly Practices
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Google-Alphabet (Alphabet is Google’s parent company) on October 20 for a range of anti-competitive practices using its monopoly power in the search market.
Why 2020 Is the Year of Black Holes
The Nobel physics prize went to scientists who have broken the dam on our understanding of mysteries in the universe
Why We’re on a Long Road to COVID-19 Immunity Even With Vaccines
As the pandemic continues to spread throughout the world, many countries seem to have given up the fight against COVID-19 and are now waiting for a vaccine to protect against the virus.
Facebook’s Business Model Thrives on the Virality of Hate
We need to break up these monopolies and regulate them as the new public utilities of the digital age
Why 5G Is the First Stage of a Tech War Between the U.S. and China
It is not game over for Huawei, as many tech analysts are concluding prematurely
Trump’s Withdrawal From WHO: A Cover-Up for Its Abject Failure on COVID-19
Microbes do not recognize borders. We are all safe only when everybody is safe. In a pandemic, to attack the only body we have for global cooperation endangers everyone.
The World Can Show How Pharma Monopolies Aren’t the Only Way to Fight COVID-19
After his disastrous handling of the COVID-19 epidemic, Trump is trying to improve his waning electoral chances by reserving all of Gilead’s stock of remdesivir.
U.S. Abandons Open Skies for New Age Space Weapons
The U.S. continues to pour its money into military technology and its political energy into defense strategies against what it perceives as threats to its global hegemony from China and Russia—even during a pandemic.
U.S. Declares a Vaccine War on the World
While other countries agree to the need for a patent pool, the US seeks to expand its hegemony to global health
Why Capitalism Can’t Cure Global Pandemics
Multinational corporations are motivated by profit, which comes from disease, not people’s health.
U.S. Trade War Against China Takes a Coronaviral Turn
The anti-China fake news campaign about the COVID-19 pandemic fits into the larger war that the U.S. is waging against China. It taps into the deep reservoir of xenophobia and racism in the U.S. and elsewhere.
Public Health and Private Profits Under COVID-19 Pandemic
Coronavirus might be devastating to many countries—including their people’s health and livelihoods—but it seems that pandemics are good for some companies and their stockholders.
Why the Coronavirus Pandemic Poses Fundamental Challenges to All Societies
Quick and widespread testing and quarantine will help tackle the spread of COVID-19, not ultra-nationalism or hyper-capitalism.
Can the U.S. and Iran Avoid a Disastrous Collision?
A war in the region now threatens its entire oil and shipping infrastructure, and can also take down the entire global economy in its wake.
The Current U.S. Approach to Nuclear Weapons Can Only Lead to Armageddon—Arms Control Provides the Only Path to Peace
The decade ends with two major threats to humanity: global warming leading to a climate catastrophe and the threat of a nuclear war extinguishing our civilization.
IBM vs. Google and the Race to Quantum Supremacy
Though IBM contests Google’s claim, it concedes that it passed an important milestone; for the science of computing, that is all that matters.