2023 Impact Report

The global reach and impact of our journalism in 2023 | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 16 hours ago

What it takes to raise a $300 million VC fund for Africa

Tidjane Deme talks about convincing investors to back Africa-focused tech funds amid a global funding slump. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 22 hours ago

TSMC’s debacle in the American desert

Missed deadlines and tension among Taiwanese and American coworkers are plaguing the chip giant’s Phoenix expansion. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 22 hours ago

Why African tech companies are ditching Google for a small Indian competitor

Zoho has positioned itself as a cheaper alternative to Google and Microsoft, attracting the attention of African startup founders. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 1 day ago

Indonesia taps influencers to convince people to move to its new, under-construction capital

Social media stars are downplaying fears of deforestation and boredom in Nusantara. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 days ago

Bangladesh built a tech park for 100,000 workers. Now it’s a ghost town

The facility was partly funded by the World Bank and touted to become the country’s “cyber capital.” | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 5 days ago

The regional flavors of labor-on-demand

A new report digs into the social dynamics of gig work. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 5 days ago

AI “deathbots” are helping people in China grieve

Avatars of deceased relatives are increasingly popular for consoling those in mourning, or hiding the deaths of loved ones from children. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 6 days ago

How RRR’s success brought a wave of Telugu-language movies to Netflix

Netflix in the U.S. now has more content in Telugu than in German, Russian, or any dialect of Chinese. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 6 days ago

How we’re tracking AI incidents around global elections

Rest of World is collecting examples of AI being used for campaigning, misinformation, and memes in a regularly updated tracker. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 7 days ago

The co-founder driving India’s two-wheeler EV revolution for over a decade

Tarun Mehta is the co-founder and CEO of Indian electric two-wheeler company Ather Energy. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 7 days ago

2024 AI Elections Tracker

As dozens of countries head to the polls, we’re monitoring the way AI is being used to inform, misinform, and entertain voters. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 7 days ago

The startup offering free toilets and coffee for delivery workers — in exchange for their data

Argentine startup Nippy aggregates data from gig workers and sells it to companies like Mastercard and Movistar, who in turn offer workers their services. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 8 days ago

This delivery app takes away health insurance when workers don’t meet quotas

Rest of World spoke with 40 riders for Swiggy in India. Many described losing coverage when they needed help the most. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 11 days ago

What Elon Musk doesn’t understand about Brazil

You can’t fight for free speech in Brasilia from Texas. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 12 days ago

Chip dreams: Young tech workers are flocking to Taiwan

Southeast Asians are heading to Taiwan to train for semiconductor jobs, which is helping to fill a talent gap at the world’s top producer. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 12 days ago

India’s electric rickshaws are leaving EVs in the dust

Little-known e-rickshaw companies like YC Electric are at the forefront of the country’s EV revolution. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 14 days ago

The YouTube co-founder connecting Taiwan with Silicon Valley

Steve Chen on the strengths and weaknesses of Taiwan in cultivating tech startups. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 14 days ago

Shein and MercadoLibre are fighting over vendors in Brazil’s largest garment market

After the pandemic pushed Brazilian manufacturers and store owners to digitize their businesses, e-commerce platforms began pulling out all the stops to lure vendors. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 15 days ago

In Southeast Asia, Ramadan is an online shopping bonanza

An e-commerce battle brews between Shopee, Lazada and TikTok Shop with the continued rise of livestream selling. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 18 days ago

Jumia Food’s shutdown left hundreds of drivers jobless, unable to withdraw earnings

Former gig drivers in Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda are still feeling the pinch after Jumia Food abruptly exited seven African markets. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 19 days ago

What India can tell us about Netflix’s future

Disney, Ambani, and the Netflix niche. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 19 days ago

China is betting on battery swaps to tackle EV chargers shortage

Rarely seen globally, there are already thousands of battery swap stations across China. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 20 days ago

How tech can help the Latin American textile industry compete with Chinese fast fashion

Melina Cruz Villafaña, Maqui’s chief revenue officer, says data-driven textile manufacturing is more cost-effective and eco-friendly. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 21 days ago

Uber’s largest vehicle financing partner is an African startup with global ambitions

From India to the U.K., UAE, and Thailand, Nigeria-founded Moove is chasing profitability. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 21 days ago

Las compañías de autos eléctricos quieren el litio de Argentina. Poco queda para sus ciudadanos.

A los habitantes de la Isla Paulino se les prometió baterías de litio para reducir el uso de generadores. El proyecto se frenó. Mientras tanto, las exportaciones de litio crecen. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 22 days ago

EV companies are hungry for Argentina’s lithium. Little is left for Argentines

Local projects stall as the mineral’s fourth-largest producer exports to the U.S. and China, and courts Elon Musk. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 22 days ago

ShopeeFood drops non-compete clause after Rest of World reporting

Drivers for the Vietnam delivery company had used workarounds but feared detection. After Rest of World's reporting, the clause was dropped. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 26 days ago

Brazil banned these killer kites. Influencers are keeping the black market alive

By advertising on Instagram and TikTok, and selling through marketplaces, vendors are finding their way around the ban. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 26 days ago

Scale AI’s Remotasks platform is dropping whole countries without explanation

Workers in Kenya, Nigeria, and Pakistan were booted off the AI-training service earlier this month. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 26 days ago

Meta’s long-standing problem with “shaheed”

An overdue ruling from the Oversight Board. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 26 days ago

ByteDance shuts down its WhatsApp clone in Africa

TikTok’s owner launched LetsChat in 2021, aimed at young Africans and boosted by heavy marketing, but it couldn’t crack WhatsApp’s dominance. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 27 days ago

The changing face of protest

Mass protests used to offer a degree of safety in numbers. Facial recognition technology changes the equation. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 27 days ago

Reliance and Disney team up to crush Netflix and Prime Video in India

Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance and The Walt Disney Company have joined forces creating a hard-to-beat streaming entity in the country. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 28 days ago

The tech executive who believes AI needs more voice-based learning systems

Bayo Adekanmbi explains why voice-based learning is the best way to increase AI adoption across Africa. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 28 days ago

China’s EV price war is killing brands and infuriating consumers

Fast depreciation in an already slow market has panicked car buyers, many of whom are venting their frustrations on social media. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 29 days ago

Uber drivers are melting amid Nigeria’s historic heat wave and record fuel prices

As temperatures soar and fuel prices triple, drivers are having to choose between their health and livelihood. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 29 days ago

How Prime Video failed so spectacularly in Africa

Filmmakers, critics, and users blame the platform’s struggle in Africa on poor user experience, a lack of local content, and mediocre publicity. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 1 month ago

You can’t play on both sides of the Great Firewall

What the TikTok ban really means for U.S. companies. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 1 month ago

Indonesia’s e-bike shops are building their own batteries

Battery-pack builders chase maximum range, despite safety risks. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 1 month ago

Portraits of gig workers in rare moments off the clock

Rest of World shadowed workers in São Paulo, Lagos, Dhaka, and Jakarta to get an intimate look at how they spend their breaks between orders. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 1 month ago

The Ghanaian founder challenging Google

Paul Azunre welcomes Big Tech making AI tools in African languages: “It is good to have some competition.” | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 1 month ago

Catching a break: How gig workers find rest

Rest of World asked over 100 gig workers across 10 cities how they take a break between tasks. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 1 month ago

Pay to work: Rappi now charges delivery drivers in Brazil a weekly fee

In January, the Colombian delivery giant implemented a $2.40 weekly fee for delivery workers in Brazil to use the app. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 1 month ago

Gig workers on delivery apps rent accounts to get around bans

Gig work platforms prohibit the rental of accounts but the practice has become a popular — but risky — way to sidestep bans. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 1 month ago

Why are Apple and Tesla losing ground in China?

The Chinese market isn’t quite as untapped as U.S. companies thought. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 1 month ago

Visa and Mastercard are pouring money into Africa

From a startup accelerator to funding startups and even investing in telecom companies, the two U.S. giants are steadily increasing their presence on the continent. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 1 month ago

Why African startups don’t always need to expand across the continent

PiggyVest co-founder Odunayo Eweniyi says fintech products aren’t necessarily replicable in other African countries. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 1 month ago