Glad to see our findings in How Media Ownership Matters confirmed and extended - will read this closely ! global.oup.com/academic/pro...

The takeaway: 👉 Accommodating the radical right on immigration doesn’t win back voters. 👉 It alienates the progressive base. 👉 And it raises the salience of the very issue the radical right owns. In short: it’s electoral self-harm.

How should we measure media power and concentration in hybrid media systems? Mariia Aleksevych and I just published a new open-access article in Media and Communication @cogitatiomac.bsky.social with a methodological proposal: www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcomm...

In einem Sammelwerk (im Nomos Verlag) zum Thema "Medienregulierung" haben Mitarbeiter (J. Trappel, St. Gadringer, Th. Steinmaurer, T. Tomaz) des FB KoWi einen Buchbeitrag geschrieben: bit.ly/buchbeitrag_... @nomosverlag.bsky.social @jotbox.bsky.social @talestomaz.bsky.social

Noch nie habe ich das von Piketty beschriebene Problem r > g anschaulicher erklärt gesehen als in diesem Video von Gary Stevenson:

A reminder that the only reason Iran is a theocratic authoritarian regime is that in 1953, the US and UK (via the CIA and MI-6) decided to do a “regime change.”

Jim O’Neill — the coiner of BRIC

Prof. @talestomaz.bsky.social of the University of Salzburg unpacks how digital habits, tech shifts, and economic pressures are reshaping media across Europe. Read more from his ReMeD project insights 👇

It’s worth reminding ourselves that a lot of the AI hype about how “everyone is using it now” is just manufacturing consent. A lot of people aren’t using AI. A lot of people started using it because they feel cultural pressure, but they would happily walk away from it.

[New paper] Mastodon's rapid growth has exposed the decentralised, algorithm-free network to significant challenges. Charlotte Spencer-Smith & @talestomaz.bsky.social suggest paths for the platform to evolve, ensuring it remains true to its founding principles. Read: doi.org/10.14763/2025.1.1831

Read this @techpolicypress.bsky.social piece by the great @christopherali.bsky.social. What's happening to US broadband right now is criminal. The degree of Musk-driven corruption and hypocrisy in broad daylight is staggering: www.techpolicy.press/when-you-wis...

If the money spent on AI edtech could go toward schools instead, it would make education more accessible to all children, critics argue. “But it’s not sexy to say, ‘We need more teachers.’ It’s not sexy to say, ‘Hey, we need better buildings.’ What is sexy and exciting are these ‘amazing’ tools”

These fines signal the EC is willing to enforce EU laws despite US pressure. But are they enough? They fall far short of the 10% annual turnover mark & come over a year after the law took effect. For BigTech, this is just a small cost of doing highly profitable business in the EU shorturl.at/mg58S

🌍 Application deadline extended! Apply by April 30, 2025 for the DCLead Salzburg School: “Digital Communication and Sustainable Societies” (September 29 - October 2, Puchberg, Austria). 🎓 It is conducted in English and grants 5 ECTS credits. Find more information and apply here 🔗 dclead.eu

People spend a lot of time wondering why the left is worse at using independent media to control the national narrative. A useful exercise is to ask why the left is also worse at selling snake oil and pyramid schemes, because I think the reasons are basically exactly the same.

US censorship affecting research in Europe.

The Holocaust was organized on IBM punch cards. Hitler gave the head of IBM, Watson, a medal for his services. Later, they named their AI tech after him. Anyway, in unrelated news: #Democracy www.wired.com/story/doge-c...

The response to the predicted crash of the AI sector often is that "every crash leaves something useful behind" and that this time it will be models. I don't think that is the case. AI models age like milk and the infrastructures left behind won't be ones that are helpful for democratic societies.

What white America is now fighting for is not due process, it is fighting so that the racialised borders of unconstitutionality and state abuse stay where they are. Until it realises this, it may defeat Trump in 4 years, but it wont defeat Trumpism

The Israeli entrepreneur Shalev Hulio gained notoriety for designing Pegasus, the spyware used by governments to hack journalists and dissidents. Today, he is selling a new AI cyber security tool to European states and corporations. His secret asset? Austria’s former leader Sebastian Kurz. [Thread]

Nessa conversa sobre o livro do @bcmerchant.bsky.social sobre a real história dos luditas no início da revolução industrial eles falam algo q 🤯: foram a última geração a se relacionar com a tecnologia no tempo presente. Pois desde então estamos contaminados com a premissa+ pscrb.fm/rss/p/www.bu...

"Kratky würde jeder Sender das Doppelte zahlen", sagt Österreichs internationalster TV-Manager Gerhard Zeiler zu #ORF -Spitzengehältern Gehälter des mittleren ORF-Managements unverständlich: "Würde ich ändern" Warner Bros. Discovery-Manager im STANDARD-Gespräch: www.derstandard.at/story/300000...

[New special issue] #Contentmoderation on digital platforms: beyond states and firms! As content regulation becomes increasingly politicised, this issue edited by Anne Bellon & Romain Badouard explores the growing role of #civilsociety in #platformgovernance. ⅕ Read: doi.org/10.14763/2025.1.2005

I think liberals in the West need to understand that they have not stumbled across any kind of contradiction or hypocrisy in the Global far right. When they said “people have a right to free speech” they simply never saw racialised people as people to begin with 🧵

Google keeps doing everything it can to keep people using its second-rate search engine — including ignoring the law. It's time for EVPs @teresaribera.ec.europa.eu and @hennavirkkunen.bsky.social to act.

Great news for money launderers!

Yes, I’m sure people are underserved by arguments for free markets and personal liberty in the United States.

It is extremely worrying to see the US threatening retaliation in response to lobbying by Big Tech. Let’s be clear - the rules on how companies, regardless of their nationality, should behave towards 450m European consumers must be decided in Europe. www.beuc.eu/press-releas...

📣 Event alert / call for abstracts Come to Brussels on 18-19 Sept to present your work on Communication Law & Policy. This ECREA section has an open call running until 15 March. Don't miss the deadline! (And please help spread the word 😍) smit.research.vub.be/en/ecrea-com...

Die Linke stärkste Partei in Berlin

The young vote in Germany, by gender. 😳

The comeback of the Left in Germany is sensational. Almost written off ahead of elections, they won 6 districts and almost 9% of votes + are biggest party in Berlin and among young voters. Also only party to not campaign on anti-immigration but to focus on affordable rent and cost of living

Any countries building Starlink into their telecom systems should be thinking twice right now.

Oh, look what normal countries do when a former president leads a far right coup attempt.

A majority killed last week in #Sweden’s worst modern mass murder were immigrants. A mass killing forgotten in the news cycle. Immigrants accused by bigots of being lazy parasites, but who were active, engaged members of Swedish society. They deserve to be remembered as such.

Funny to see Western AI executives say the hype around DeepSeek is exaggerated when their entire industry is built on exaggeration of the capabilities and possible returns of Western generative AI.

Majority of victims of mass murder in Sweden last week were immigrants -- some w/multiple jobs -- studying to improve their lives. Many wanted to work in healthcare. These are the people smeared by bigots as "lazy immigrants" who "don't want to integrate" when seen on the street.

This is fantastic: a 68 country data set with perceptions of science, science communication and climate attitudes. Featured in @nature.com Led by the formidable @nielsmede.bsky.social What a resource! Now we ‘just’ need a 2025/26 update given how it’s all changing. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

we have written extensively on this very topic firstmonday.org/ojs/index.ph... dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1...

Ein paar Worte zur Lage der Medien.

Hallo Bluesky! 👋 Die Universität Salzburg🎓 freut sich auf einen respektvollen Austausch auf dieser Plattform. #universitätsalzburg #unisalzburg

Die medienpolitischen Pläne der FPÖ sind verheerend. Man muss es so deutlich sagen. www.derstandard.at/story/300000...

These are the relevant pages for the meetings of DG Comm: ec.europa.eu/transparency... DG Connect: ec.europa.eu/transparency... but as far as I can see there are no minutes yet. Waiting for!

Transparency geek news: from the 1st of January, the EU Commission started to proactively publish minutes of the meetings held between lobbyists and staff with management function (from DG to head of units). It's short, and not very detailed, but still a step toward transparency

sifting through submitted applications for phds & postdocs for the accountability lab & it breaks my heart to see a huge proportion of applicants are steeped in EA, long-termism, & other scientifically hollow ideologies…most think “AI safety” is THE paradigm to correct much of the industry’s ills 1

Yep, the problem definitely is that we don’t have enough men in charge. 🫠🤬 www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

In diesen düsteren Zeiten braucht es dringend eine neue Debatte über Wirtschaftspolitik und greifbare Alternativen zum Neoliberalismus & zum Aufstieg der extremen Rechten. Deshalb haben wir @surplusmagazin.bsky.social gegründet! Adam Tooze @mauricehoefgen.bsky.social @lukasscholle.bsky.social

State power matters! If anyone wants some perspectives on Meta's tortured position that fact-checking is "censorship" in the US but "the basis to prevent the spread of large scale misinformation and disinformation" in the EU, check out the work of e.g. Simran Agarwal and @gorwa.ca 1/6