...Congress is baffled as to why Musk is doing all of this, and what he possibly wants from access to sensitive data including US Treasury records on social security numbers, bank routing and account numbers, healthcare data, and Department of Energy information on nuclear weapons. He has given free rein to a group of 20-ish boys — tech enthusiasts with no training or relevant experience — so they can “improve” things and harvest information.

Memo details how Elon Musk has orchestrated a stunning takeover of the U.S. government

Teams of young tech operatives are systematically dismantling democratic institutions and replacing them with proprietary artificial intelligence systems. Civil servants who raise legal objections are being removed. Government databases are being migrated to private servers. Decision-making power is being transferred from elected officials and career bureaucrats to algorithms controlled by a small network of Silicon Valley elites.

Certainly, people can debate policy issues and the virtues of candidates, but fact-checking is another matter. There is such a thing as truth.

Independent Russian media in exile are a vital line of defence against the Kremlin’s massive digital censorship project, which has an estimated budget of nearly 630 million euros, according to the latest report by The Fix and the JX Fund. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) urges European states, international donors, and tech giants to step up their support for these media outlets as they face unprecedented repression and major logistical, financial, and security challenges.

Hundreds of thousands of posts lauding Mr. Trump’s victory filled Truth Social, the social platform that the president-elect owns. Speculation about what the new administration would accomplish ran rampant on X, which is owned by Elon Musk. Gab, Parler and other right-wing social media sites were flooded with thousands of memes glorifying Mr. Trump.

The destabilisation in our information system that we woke up to in 2016 has now entered a wholly dangerous new reality: the merger of Silicon Valley and an authoritarian US state.

Digital security is as much of a mindset as it is a toolkit, and there are concepts to consider regardless of whether you're first getting started or you're a seasoned veteran. Before you start seeking out solutions, take a minute to step back and consider the whole picture of what you're trying to accomplish.

If people are naturally drawn to the image of human rights, to the language of democracy, to the dream of freedom, then those concepts have to be poisoned.

In Yanis Varoufakis’ latest book, the former Greek finance minister argues that companies like Apple and Meta have treated their users like modern-day serfs.

In an excerpt from his new book, The End of Reality, the author warns about the curses of AI and transhumanism, presenting the moral case against superintelligence.

Are you saying this loss of individual control is feeding the breakdown of democracy?

Well, two things are happening at the same time. First of all, we’ve gained the ability to hack human beings. If you believe in free will, you will say this is impossible. Nobody can know me better than I know myself. Nobody can predict my choices or manipulate my desires, because they are a reflection of my free will, of my free spirit. But then you become the easiest person to hack and to manipulate.