Asia’s booming online learning industry – Rest of World

For ed-tech giants like Yuanfudao and Byju’s, business is booming. But are students learning anything? | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 3 years ago

Forget Tesla: Millions in China are embracing tiny off-brand competitors

Millions of people in China are buying off-brand electric cars, which are cheap, tiny, barely regulated, and extremely useful. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 3 years ago

Koo became India’s Hindu nationalist–approved Twitter alternative

Aprameya Radhakrishna insists his app is apolitical, even if India’s right-wing party has driven its success. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 3 years ago

Four Countries, One Clubhouse

Why the buzzy audio platform is taking off everywhere from Japan to Nigeria. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 3 years ago

In Myanmar, one blackout ends, another begins

Towns in Rakhine and Chin states have been without a network for 18 months. Then, the Tatmadaw turned the signal back on. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 3 years ago

The mysterious photo of a purple flower that receives 78M hits each day

How India’s TikTok ban may have inadvertently caused a random photo to become extremely popular. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 3 years ago

Southeast Asia’s hottest tech deal would devastate gig workers

If ride-hailing giants Grab and Gojek come together, the new quasi-monopoly would have little incentive to improve working conditions. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 3 years ago

Where the internet was delivered by a donkey

When Kyrgyzstan moved all education online during the pandemic, some remote schools were left behind. Connecting them meant delivering them an “internet in a box.” | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 3 years ago

How misinformation fueled a coup in Myanmar

After weeks of spreading lies about an election result, the Burmese military cut access to the internet, then took power. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 3 years ago

Covid-19 overwhelmed a leading group fighting disinformation online

Debunk EU found itself inundated with a flood of conspiracy theories. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 3 years ago

The house that Bitcoin built

For three years in the late 2010s, a hacker haven in Buenos Aires was home to the country’s crypto scene. Why did everything fall apart? | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 3 years ago

Iran’s biggest taxi app survived U.S. sanctions and app ban – Rest of World

After Google and Apple pulled its app, Snapp’s cabs came to a literal halt, but the company survives. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 3 years ago

Silicon Valley’s Double Standard

If social media platforms can silence the most powerful office in the world, why can’t they do the same for India’s anti-Muslim politicians? | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 3 years ago

China is home to a growing market for dubious “emotion recognition” technology

A new report says the tools have troubling implications for human rights. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 3 years ago

India has its own Donald Trumps, but they're still on Facebook and Twitter

If social media platforms can silence the most powerful office in the world, why can’t they do the same for India’s anti-Muslim politicians? | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 3 years ago

Telegram Has a Nazi Problem

Telegram was designed to help pro-democracy activists, but lax content rules have made it a go-to platform for extremists. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 3 years ago

The ten most pirated international movies

“Parasite,” “Peninsula,” “One Piece,” and “Ip Man” all feature. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 3 years ago

WhatsApp risks losing its most loyal customers: Indian uncles and aunties

A disastrous privacy policy rollout has Indian consumers up in arms. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 3 years ago

For foreign startups, all roads lead to Delaware

American VCs and foreign investors alike prefer their startups to be based in the tiny state. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 3 years ago

China wants to build an open source ecosystem to rival GitHub

With GitHub in the crosshairs of Chinese censors, Beijing is backing Gitee as its official hub, an open-source institution tailored for a closed internet. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 3 years ago

Where surveillance cameras work but the justice system doesn’t

On the evening of October 9, 2013, 50-year-old elementary school teacher Laura Ramírez was run over by a car and killed on Avenida Dr. José María Vertiz near downtown Mexico City. The vehicle fled the… | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 3 years ago

Kunil Shah says Big Tech has India all wrong

Others come to India for the “next billion” users. Shah’s new app caters to the 1%. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 3 years ago

An acclaimed pianist got his hands back

João Carlos Martins gave up playing after high-tech treatments failed. Then a pair of low-tech gloves brought the music back. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 3 years ago

India’s booming dark data economy

Thanks to lax privacy laws and high consumer demand, details on everything from how you shop to who you date are all for sale. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

Regulating Journalism to Death

How India’s new restrictions on digital media will be used to limit free speech | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

A man who built Venezuela’s only delivery app

Vicente Zavarce, who started Yummy, bet big on his home country — and won. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

The domain name is the new natural resource

Tuvalu’s domain name could be the path to its economic future. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

The rise of Japan’s loyalty point influencers

Rewards programs have fostered an unexpected internet subculture in the country. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

When Humor Becomes Horror

Feel-good moments are difficult to come by on Twitter in Pakistan. In between the political infighting and trolls, though, there was a brief moment where the ugliness the platform often brings out in… | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

How Indian is an Indian phone?

Facing a nationalist backlash, Chinese phone maker Xiaomi has rebranded itself as a local manufacturer in India. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

The Hills Are Alive – Would You Climb a Mountain for Internet Access?

A protest movement against deliberately slow internet is galvanizing a remote region of Pakistan. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

Indian developers are racing to replace TikTok

In the wake of India’s ban on Chinese apps, local developers are scrambling to come up with the next best thing. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

Niobium: The mighty element you’ve never heard of

Ongoing tensions over the rare earth metal are shaping the future of China and Brazil. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

Returning to China’s Walled Garden

China’s tightening control over its internet is narrowing the divide between online and offline identity. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

What's on Healthcare Worker's Homescreens

Their phones are a snapshot of how healthcare workers around the world are coping with the pandemic | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

Facebook’s experimental hate-speech policy seems to be working

Accused of enabling genocide, the social media giant has temporarily changed its rules in Myanmar to prevent abuse and misinformation. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

South Korean e-commerce titan Coupang falters as rapid growth hurts its workers

Coupang wanted to make e-commerce more ethical. But as demand spiked during the pandemic, the company’s workers suffered. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

Selfies and Sharia Police

For years, the platform was a space for selfies and free expression. Now, it’s driving political change. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

Colombia is using advertising data to track coronavirus

The same data that tells advertisers you have been shopping for a couch is being used in Colombia to track Covid-19. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

Jumia was destined to dominate ecommerce in Africa

Experts say there’s still hope for the startup, despite a recent slump in sales. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

Kicked off Weibo? Here’s what happens next

It’s an ominous shift for China’s only forum for public discussion. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

As Covid-19 surged, Facebook sent its content moderators back to work

Employees told Rest of World the contractor they work for is taking advantage of an economic crisis. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

Burning threads: How an internet forum became ground zero for Hong Kong protests

How a raucous internet forum became the rudder steering the Hong Kong protests | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

Who’s afraid of a meme? Pakistan’s TikTok ban is not like the others

For the country’s underclass, the platform was a new medium for dissent. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

The Life and Death of SNET, Havana's Alternative Internet

As Cuba sluggishly got its population online, the shadow internet developed by volunteers provided a lifeline for thousands of people. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

Audrey Tang on her “conservative-anarchist” vision for Taiwan’s future

Audrey Tang, who has a radical vision for the country, says there’s a high-stakes balancing act between mass digital surveillance and good governance. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

The man behind Latin America's “anti-bank”

How David Vélez built an “anti-bank” in Brazil that now has a $10-billion valuation. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

How Iranian diaspora is using old-school tech to fight internet shutdown at home

With the threat of another big internet blackout looming, companies are creating workarounds for Iranians using satellite dishes as conduits for the web. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago