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 | 4 years ago

The ten most pirated international movies

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


@restofworld.org | 4 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 | 4 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 | 4 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 | 4 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 | 4 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 | 4 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 | 4 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

India built a high-tech surveillance to manage 250M festivalgoers

Indian authorities had to manage 250 million festivalgoers. So they built a high-tech surveillance ministate. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

Death Decreed over Zoom

Virtual courts were meant to be the solution to a congested system in Nigeria. Then it was used to sentence a man to death. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

Designed in Minecraft, Built IRL

In Gaza, citizens are imagining what public spaces could be, and then actually building them. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

In China, therapy is going mobile, fueled by a rising middle class

The country’s booming middle class is driving the market for digital self-help. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

Digital Banking, Now Halal

A council of clerics and 154 fatwas determine if a fintech startup gets the certification it needs to reach the country’s Muslim consumers. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

An Israeli dealer pioneered the smartphone drug marketplace

Silk Road is dead. Meet the next generation of digital black markets for illegal drugs: fully decentralized, pay-by-crypto, and end-to-end encrypted bazaars. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

On Zoom, Y Combinator’s foreign startups have a leg up

Without the long haul to Palo Alto, foreign founders could tend to their startups back home and remotely woo investors. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

WhatsApp Schools in Lebanon

After the catastrophic blast in Beirut this month, more than 55,000 students were left without classrooms. For them and many others, Lebanon’s “WhatsApp schools” are the only solution. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

Virtual worship was already on the rise in India. Then Covid-19 hit

India is leading the world in virtual religion: live streams from holy sites, extensive footage of festivals, VR temple experiences, online prayer orders, and even social networks. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

Saudi Arabia's women gamers want to be taken seriously

No longer confined to the privacy of their rooms, Saudi women are creating their own culture. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

You Spy. We Chat

Navigating China’s censorship and India’s apps ban, Tibetan refugees rethink their dependence on WeChat. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

What China's national security law means for Hong Kong's status as a data hub

Global data centers look for new homes as Beijing ramps up control over Hong Kong. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

A man who wants to “democratize” AI

The AI talent shortage isn’t going away anytime soon. Fusemachines CEO Sameer Maskey says he’s found a solution. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

Social robots are here to manage our emotions – Rest of World

Emotional-support robots are changing the dynamics of hospital care. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

From social media darling to America’s most wanted: Your guide to TikTok

How did a Chinese video-sharing platform become a matter of national security? | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago