I’ve been bitten by the TikTok bug
In theory TikTok knows nothing about me. I have posted two videos: one of my grandsons kicking a football in…
Boris is about to give Silicon Valley censors more power than ever
Four years in the making, the Online Safety Bill has now been sent to senior ministers for review — a…
Why windfall taxes are a rotten idea
Annual profits of £9.5 billion at BP this week followed a £20 billion jackpot at Shell last week, thanks to…
The good and bad news about the Online Safety Bill
If you care about free speech, the just-published report of the Joint Committee on the Online Safety Bill – a…
Don’t let China’s climate sins cloak its crushing of Hong Kong
China’s failure to bring anything new to COP26 surprised no one. The world’s worst carbon emitter offered no advance on…
Are we ready for the metaverse?
Prepare for the ‘metaverse’
Nick Clegg's Facebook nightmare
There have been many ironic fates for the lead actors in the Coalition government. For David Cameron, the premier who…
The Facebook empire is beginning to crumble
When empires crumble they slide slowly at first, then the temple walls come crashing down. Facebook is not quite at…
WhatsApp collapse throws Tory plots into chaos
The world’s oldest democratic party has had a few problems with technology in recent years. Famously it was the 2018…
The rise of Taliban Twitter
The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan was swift, but this victory wasn’t won overnight. For years, the Taliban has been waging…
Beware Boris's sinister crackdown on free speech
A Conservative government that boasts it is a defender of free speech against the attacks of ‘the woke’ is about…
Television, not social media, is fracturing our society
All it took for the Twitter mob to descend on me was a retweet from Michael Gove. Message after message…
What happens when Facebook pays for news?
The recently departed head of MI6, Sir Alex Younger, wants to balance China’s ideological antagonism to the West with the…
The problem with Facebook's 'Supreme Court'
He might now be one of the most powerful men in global media, but I find whenever I see a…
How middle-class is your dad?
The politics and posturing of ‘middle-class dads’
Facebook has called the Australian media’s bluff
In 2021, it’s not uncommon to hope that everyone involved in an argument can lose, or to suspect that pretty…
How Facebook became a freedom-gobbling corporate monster
Southwark Playhouse is beating the latest lockdown with a zingy new musical about social media. The performers, Francesca Forristal and…
The big tech bullies
I was in the kitchen preparing the family’s dinner when the inauguration of Joe Biden was on TV, so I…
My historical re-enactment group’s battle with Silicon Valley
The Wimborne Militia of Dorset prides itself on being the only formally commissioned ‘private army’ in England. We’re well known…
The tech supremacy: Silicon Valley can no longer conceal its power
Can anyone stand up to big tech?
Was what I said on Facebook really 'hate speech'?
Facebook has been accused of failing to combat extremism and hate-speech among its users. But as I found out this week,…
Unanswered questions for Big Tech
It’s been a full week since the New York Post published their first story about Hunter Biden’s laptop, which is…
House Republicans accuse Democrats of ignoring censorship in Big Tech report
Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee are releasing their own report on Big Tech on Tuesday, countering a Democratic report…
Mark Zuckerberg’s quest for redemption
Stung by recent criticism, and fearing major regulation, Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, has announced the establishment of…
The creep of internet censorship
Kristie Higgs, a 44-year-old school assistant, didn’t realise that criticising the sex education curriculum at her son’s school on Facebook…
