SubscriptionsColumn / Investigation: The Dark Enlightenment
Big tech ideology, neo-reaction, eugenics rehabilitated as contrarianism, the Musk-Thiel-Yarvin axis, and the billionaire rejection of democratic governance.
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‘The Sullivan Review Treats Trans People as an Inconvenience Whose Experiences Can Be Dismissed as Invalid’
The Government has accepted a skewed report authored by people with ‘no skin in the game’, argues Helen Belcher
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Musk’s DOGE Is Inspired by Pro-Kremlin Monarchists and 1930s Technofascism
Musk’s top DOGE operative is linked to a Russian American network of anti-West pro-Kremlin monarchists inspired by the 1930s counter-democracy “Technocracy” movement, of which Musk’s grandfather was a member
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Trump’s War on ‘Woke’ and DEI: Incubated by a Nazi Eugenics Foundation
Mainstream American conservative icons Christopher Rufo, Peter Boghossian, and Richard Hanania – who inspired Trump’s assault on diversity – were bankrolled by the funder of a Nazi eugenics foundation
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Why Releasing Alaa Abdel Fattah Is the Right Thing to Do
Yasmine Ahmed talks to Lala Soueif who has spent almost 150 days on hunger strike in protest over her son’s imprisonment in Egypt
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UK Universities Accused of Training Police and Security Officers for Repressive Dictatorships Without Screening Students
Almost no checks are in place to ensure training is not used to clamp down on human rights and peaceful dissent, say campaigners
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From Murdoch to Musk: Hacking the State
While the media mogul spent more than half a century building up back-door political influence, the social media broligarch stormed into the US Government in just two years. Peter Jukes explores how the use of power through media has evolved
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Silicon Valley Whistleblowers Warn Elon Musk ‘Hijacking’ Republicans to Control Entire US Government
Former followers of the ‘Dark Enlightenment’ say a planned ‘neo-reactionary’ hollowing out of government is happening in real time
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Who Truly Profits from Porn?
The pornography industry is dominated by companies presenting a veneer of corporate respectability while thriving off exploitation. Iain Overton introduces his four part investigation
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‘If I Die, So Be It’: Mother of British-Egyptian Prisoner Alaa Abd El-Fattah Speaks Out on Hunger Strike
After 115 days without food, activist and mathematics professor Laila Soueif speaks about her British-Egyptian son’s ongoing detention and her determination to secure his release
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Elon Musk Is the One Bond Villain None of Us Asked For
A sinister far-right oligarch seeking to overthrow western governments from his seat in the White House is a story too strange for fiction
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Kemi Badenoch’s Refusal to Distance Herself From Elon Musk is an Act of Moral Cowardice
The Conservative Party leader’s refusal to criticise the X owner’s dangerous misinformation campaign against the UK should exclude her from ever returning to high office
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The Reform UK MPs Already Being Bankrolled by Elon Musk
Nigel Farage is already benefiting financially thanks to the billionaire owner of X
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The LGBTQ+ People Fleeing Donald Trump’s America
“We don’t feel safe here. It’s not just Trump, it’s the fact half our country voted for him”
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After Trump’s Return, Britain Is Next in the Firing Line of Putin’s War On Democracy
The real reasons lying behind Elon Musk’s relentless attacks on Keir Starmer and the UK Government
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Keir Starmer Considers Closing Elon Musk Donations Loophole to Stop ‘Foreign Interference’ in UK Elections
A rumoured $100 million donation from Musk to Nigel Farage’s Reform would be banned under the proposal
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Nigel Farage Teams Up With Extreme Anti-Abortion Group and Calls for Debate on Restricting Abortion Rights in UK
The Reform Leader is joining forces with a US-based Christian legal group, which campaigns for abortion to be outlawed around the world
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SmartSchoolBoy9: The Disturbing Story of How Social Media Algorithms Encouraged a Vigilante Mob
The rise of online sleuthing is leading to the ‘gamification’ of our lives at the expense of often deeply vulnerable people
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Notification Nation: How we all Became Slaves to our Phones
Big tech is holding us hostage to technology in ways that are dramatically altering how we function as human beings
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For Jamal Khashoggi’s Widow, his Brutal Murder was Just the Start of her Nightmare
Hanan El Atr Khashoggi’s engagement was the start of a nightmare that would involve murder, global espionage, and a years-long fight for justice
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X – Marks the Spot: Russia’s Second Front
Peter Jukes looks at the mounting evidence that Elon Musk is using his social media platform as a vector to attack Ukraine and support Putin’s murderous invasion
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How the Online Safety Act Risks Pushing Young People to Dangerous Spaces Online
Age-verification requirements offer a false sense of safety, and risk both privacy and national security
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Elon Musk: A Dangerous ‘Evolution’
Has the world’s richest man simply lost his marbles or been ‘radicalised’ by his own platform? David Troy traces his beliefs and behaviour to paint an altogether more concerning picture of the X owner’s political and cultural journey
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#MediaWatch: Supping with the Devil with a Long Spoon
As the TUC passes a motion warning of the “existential crisis” in British journalism, Peter Jukes asks for your help to deal with the dual threats of legacy media monopolies and big tech
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‘When Peaceful Protesters Face Harsher Sentences Than Violent Racists, Something has to Give’
Politicians have justified crackdowns on protest by claiming public support. But a new Demos report shows the reality is more nuanced.
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The Link Between Social Media Algorithms and Online Radicalisation
Social media algorithms show violent content to boys but that’s just the start of the problem according to a leading investigative journalist
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How US Religious Groups are Exporting Conversion Therapy to Europe
Facing increasing opposition in America from LGBTQ rights activists, growing numbers of US Christian organisations are looking further afield to countries in Europe where their ex-gay message has a better reception. A conference is due to take place in Poland in October
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Leading Labour MP Brands Twitter Owner Elon Musk a ‘Dangerous Narcissist’ as She Calls for Clampdown on Online Hate
Dawn Butler is running to lead the House of Commons’ committee on science and tech
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UK Riots: How the Right-Wing Press Fought to Stop Laws to Combat Online Disinformation
The story of how the Conservatives exempted their media supporters from laws against spreading dangerously false information online
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Lies and Violence: How the Southport Tragedy Turned into a Riot
The independent regulator Impress has called for new legislation to tackle the dangers of social media misinformation
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Southport Violence: ‘We All Need To Consider Our Role in the Wild West of Social Media Hypercriminality’
Key elements of misinformation about the Southport killings originated in a social media post by ‘Channel 3 News’
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Government Will Fight Human Rights Group And Defend Suella Braverman’s Anti-Protest Law in Court
New Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has a decision to make over the weekend
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‘OpenAI’s Scarlett Johansson Update Wasn’t About Bridging the Gap Between Tech and Creatives – It Was Just Sexist’
The CPT-4o update was removed just a week after going live and led to the A-lister releasing a statement
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European Parliament Elections: Experts and Law-Makers ‘Extremely’ Worried About Influence of Anti-Gender Movements
As Europe’s far-right movement gains alarming momentum, what are its funding, tactics – and prevention strategies?
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Government Urged to Drop Data Protection Reforms Which May Make Children an Easy Target
An open letter has been sent to Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, Michelle Donelan, urging her to ditch the bill which is back before the House of Lords today
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The Orbánisation of British Politics: Farage and Braverman Headline with Hungarian Prime Minister at National Conservatism Conference
NatCon Brussels is creating a network of radical right speakers from the UK, Europe and the US which often aim to roll back reproductive and sexuality rights
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Mask March Ban Has a Chilling Precedent for Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Activists in the UK
Refugees from Chinese oppression in Britain also believe the Government’s crackdown on face masks at demonstrations opens them up to reprisals
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‘A Voluntary Tech Agreement Will Do Little to Defend Electoral Integrity Against the Worst Uses of AI’
The Tech Accord to Combat Deceptive Use of AI in 2024 Elections is well-meaning but lacks detail and urgency, argues Emma DeSouza
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‘From Deepfakes to Assault in the Metaverse: The Urgency of Ethics in AI’
Deepfakes depicting Taylor Swift being assaulted in the stands at a NFL game demands a debate about regulating artificial intelligence, writes Patsy Stevenson
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Sweet Little Lies: The Surreptitious Spread of Police Polygraph Testing
With little public debate, and doubts about their reliability, Byline Times reveals the use of lie detectors is still increasing
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Sunak Focuses on Tiny-Chance of ‘Extinction by Robots’ While Elections Remain Wide-Open to AI Deepfakes and Disinformation — Report
While tech bosses and the PM concentrate on what could happen decades from now, artificial intelligence is already shaping our politics.
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Sexual Assault in the Metaverse
As the first police investigation into the gang-rape of a girl’s VR avatar is launched, Patsy Stevenson asks what is being done to protect women and girls in the virtual world.
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‘The Time for Human Rights is Now’
Human rights are about our relationship with those who wield public power, writes the CEO of the British Institute of Human Rights
