Nishant Shah
Nishant Shah is a professor of new media and the co-founder of The Centre for Internet & Society, Bangalore
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More From Nishant Shah
Mark Zuckerberg’s gamble and the risks of privatising digital public spacesSubscriber Only
January 16, 2025 08:46 IST
Meta’s recent move of doing away with fact-checking and relying on a Community Notes model undermines the very nature of oversight and shows the need to have more accountability and governance structures for these big corporations
Thu, Jan 16, 2025
In tech, 2025 should be a year of hope, with some caveatsSubscriber Only
January 01, 2025 07:30 IST
Even as technologies become more consolidated and corporatised, the efforts of people who fight to keep the internet free, open and empathetic are what make it worth maintaining.
Wed, Jan 01, 2025
The move to BlueSky doesn’t feel like migration. It feels like divorceSubscriber Only
November 26, 2024 12:32 IST
I had no love lost for X. Like many others, I am happy to step out of this toxic relationship. But like sage dating advice, I am not going to swipe right and hook up with BlueSky on a rebound.
Tue, Nov 26, 2024
Why the case against Wikipedia in India is a challenge to freedom of speech and informationSubscriber Only
September 17, 2024 14:00 IST
It stems from a failure to understand that Wikipedia is an open-source model with standards of citation, sourcing and presentation. An attack on this sets a wrong precedent where any form of critical information that powerful organisations do not like can be censored, or indeed become grounds for punishment
Tue, Sep 17, 2024
Antitrust deja vu: Ruling against Google is reminiscent of a similar one against Microsoft in 2001Subscriber Only
August 12, 2024 15:09 IST
Google is not just a product or a service we use, it is a universe we live in. And even within the jurisdiction of the US, it is not going to lead to any significant changes, apart from Google condescendingly allowing other services to enter a market that it has a majority share of
Mon, Aug 12, 2024
Julian Assange symbolises an idea — the freedom of informationSubscriber Only
June 25, 2024 18:02 IST
He has done more than an individual can and he has been supported by and inspired generations of internet activists who continue to take the risk and leak and spread information that is otherwise shrouded in silence in the name of national security
Mon, Jul 08, 2024
Deepfakes in elections: They have shaken our faith in our own judgementSubscriber Only
May 11, 2024 11:31 IST
As long as we keep accepting the collapse of context and information overload as our default modes of digital engagement, no amount of regulation is going to stop their circulation
Tue, May 14, 2024
With looming TikTok ban in the US, the death of the global internetSubscriber Only
March 21, 2024 07:36 IST
The regulation of TikTok might be geopolitical, but it is not because it came from China. It’s because TikTok is China, and it has become impossible to extricate government agenda, policies, and practices from the intentions and spread of these digital platforms.
Sun, Mar 24, 2024
No, data isn’t the new oil – Data Protection Bill needs to realise thatSubscriber Only
September 27, 2023 07:07 IST
Excessive focus on economic value presumes that all data can be generated and harvested, and valued only economically. This betrays the fact that data is embodied
Wed, Sep 27, 2023
How social media kills information by overproducing itSubscriber Only
October 11, 2020 06:30 IST
The digital space is essentially a space of erasure by dead information
Sun, Oct 11, 2020
Feel free to unfriendSubscriber Only
August 09, 2020 06:35 IST
Do we fight online because we want to or because algorithms make us?
Sat, Aug 08, 2020
What will happen to our rights in the new normal?Subscriber Only
May 17, 2020 07:00 IST
The digital is going to become a lever by which people are going to be laid off, their jobs replaced by automation.
Sat, May 16, 2020
A Recipe for DisasterSubscriber Only
April 25, 2020 18:31 IST
In the time of COVID-19, the trending of #foodporn points to a glaring inequality
Sat, Apr 25, 2020
Viral Trap: Remembering the human stories behind the coronavirus newsSubscriber Only
April 04, 2020 18:00 IST
Even as we're forced to consume news about the pandemic, we must not forget those who don't have our protection and privileges.
Sat, Apr 04, 2020
Social distancing: Time to find enduring ways of being togetherSubscriber Only
March 20, 2020 17:30 IST
The phrase of the season in the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic might very well become the phrase of the year. To curb community spread and our individual well-being, we must find meaningful ways of getting socially distant
Fri, Mar 20, 2020
How algorithm fuels misinformation mills around coronavirusSubscriber Only
March 06, 2020 17:30 IST
People either dismiss the crisis or avoid scientific measures of control and containment as they put their trust in fake news. A public caution and literacy about how to trust information online are needed.
Fri, Mar 06, 2020
What to keep in mind when personalising a digital imageSubscriber Only
February 21, 2020 17:30 IST
If we are okay with the idea that social media feeds curate and show us a friendscape that an algorithm decides, why is it difficult to imagine that it can also customise borders, divisions, and maps to the location of the user?
Thu, Feb 20, 2020
Why the digital world needs a new vocabulary to defend our rightsSubscriber Only
February 07, 2020 10:30 IST
You are never alone as things happen to your information and data, without your own consent and content.
Thu, Feb 06, 2020
Indian flag emoji as an icon of resistanceSubscriber Only
January 26, 2020 06:17 IST
In our digital conversations, it has come to stand in for national pride and celebration of our people.
Sun, Jan 26, 2020
The digital risks that come with recording these times of protestSubscriber Only
January 19, 2020 06:11 IST
These are all actions that make sure that the arc of history remains bent in the right direction, and that paid troll farms and hired authoritative cells do not capture the narrative.
Sun, Jan 19, 2020
How to stay sane and shut out toxicity in a time of polarisationSubscriber Only
January 05, 2020 06:21 IST
Trolls who engage in gaslighting end up digging personal histories, find other narratives that do not negate but deflect the main message of the persons, and also unleash viral abuse that makes the person believe that they might be wrong to even perceive an event as traumatic, let alone experience it.
Thu, Jan 02, 2020
Reduced to NumbersSubscriber Only
December 22, 2019 06:01 IST
Conceding our acts of being human to the facts of being digital
Sat, Dec 21, 2019
What Hello Kitty and the LOL Cat meme teach us about fake newsSubscriber Only
December 01, 2019 08:01 IST
Fake news reduces humans to entities incapable of truth-telling
Sun, Dec 01, 2019
Why we fight on Twitter equally over Ayodhya verdict and who a Big Boss contestant looks likeSubscriber Only
November 17, 2019 08:01 IST
The production of the mundane as the spectacular thanks to our screens is centrally responsible for the current nature of our internet interactions.
Sun, Nov 17, 2019
What our smart devices don’t tell us while giving us piles of informationSubscriber Only
November 03, 2019 07:43 IST
The visual predominance has become the default mode of being of our mobile-triggered lives, where every banal moment is potentially viral and presents us as perceptive and quirky and insightfully thoughtful.
Sun, Nov 03, 2019a better experience