Stories and links that are of interest or relevance to leaders, strategists, campaigners and organisers.
Inequality and the economy
Inside ASIC’s escalating loan fraud probe
An FOI paper trail reveals how a fraud wave set off alarm bells over the banks’ vetting of third-party accountants, lawyers and real estate agents.
Workers’ pay has not kept pace with productivity growth for 30 years, research suggests
Research suggests that the typical worker’s pay has not kept pace with productivity growth in Australia for 30 years.
Affordability concerns are even more important to voters than in 2024
Inflation continues to dominate the issue landscape, and drag down the president
Neoliberalism has destroyed our social fabric in the name of profits
Privatisation has failed. It’s time to put public services back into public hands
Deborah O’Neill says KPMG scandal has seen more whistleblowers emerge in ‘shonky, dodgy sector’
The chair of the parliamentary committee overseeing KPMG’s audit scandal was not impressed with the firm’s evidence at last week’s hearing.
The new AI super-rich are reshaping the market for jets, yachts and cars
Those making fortunes in Silicon Valley are ditching the champagne for premium water while splashing their bitcoin
The AI investment race
The AI build-out ranks among the largest technology-driven investment booms in US history. We study a dynamic contest in which firms competing for a few dominant positions over-commit resources.
Pew Research says Gen Z thinks no one deserves a billion dollars
A new Pew Research survey reveals a striking generational divide over extreme wealth.
CEOs earn 614 times more than workers at US’s 100 lowest-paying corporations
Analysis by Institute for Policy Studies found that between 2019 and 2025, CEO compensation increased 41.4%
Global affairs
Trump has amassed staggering wealth in ‘most openly corrupt’ presidency
Ethics experts and Democrats express alarm as Trump uses office to grow his personal fortune to ‘unprecedented’ level
New CNBC Generation Lab poll shows almost half of 18- to 34-year-olds see democratic socialism positively
New CNBC Generation Lab poll shows almost half of 18- to 34-year-olds see democratic socialism positively and nearly 80% see the U.S. economy negatively.
The first anti-AI protester to be jailed has a message for OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta: ‘Regain your humanity’
Wynd Kaufmyn, 69, chained and locked the front doors of OpenAI’s headquarters last year with members of StopAI
NZ bookstores receive bulk orders suspected of being used to train AI
One seller said the orders were for non-fiction books published before the 1990s.
Unions
Lessons from education unions building power on AI
In partnership with nine unions, Connected by Data and the TUC worked across 7 months on an ‘action learning’ programme to test how to catalyse the movement’s capacity to understand, negotiate and advocate on AI from worker’s perspectives.
‘A reminder of why we have unions’: Matewan writer and director on the film’s lessons for the labor movement
John Sayles’s 1987 film, which dramatizes a 1920 labor conflict, shows how class solidarity can overcome prejudice
Workers’ rights
Union-Busters Are Using ICE to Intimidate California Wine Industry Workers
California’s wine industry runs on immigrant exploitation. Now migrant workers are unionizing.
Data, tech and privacy
Anger Over Data Centers Is Fueling a New Political Movement
Justin Pearson, a Tennessee lawmaker, has become one of the loudest voices amid a growing national backlash against the pollution and politics of America’s AI buildout.
POS tiktoker frames someone with AI, video proof will no longer be a thing (via Reddit)
But the video is likely also AI deep-fake slop designed to sell a gambling app.
This Tool Unmasks the Shadowy World of Ads that Track Your Location
It’s usually very difficult to investigate the advertising industry. A new tool called DecryptAds aims to make it much easier with a massive dataset anyone can query.
People are going to extreme lengths to stop themselves from being filmed through Meta’s ‘pervert glasses’
Methods include singing copyrighted songs to downloading scanner apps, but an attorney said not all of these will be foolproof.
Who Pays for the Surveillance State?
This report examines how Palantir is capturing ever larger government contracts while paying no US federal corporate income tax and shifting much of its foreign profits back to the US, avoiding taxes in Europe.
Teen Boys Are Using Meta Glasses to Terrorize Girls at High Schools and Middle Schools
Teen boys are using Meta’s AI glasses to harass and bully victims — overwhelmingly girls — at middle schools and high schools.
The White House says it no longer considers data storage and data centers ‘critical’ technology
The move raises some critical policy questions
AI and the future of work
We didn’t choose AI. Capital did.
The AI boom was planned by capital. When it collapses, capital must be made to pay.
How China gets better bang for its buck than America in AI
Its investment lags far behind America’s. Its models do not.
🔴 I paid $19 to see how the slop is made
Broken trust, AI backlash in the creator economy, and a journey down the rabbit hole of a faceless, generative-AI Instagram account.
These 3 charts show female-dominated jobs are actually the most exposed to AI
Of the top 20 occupations most at risk of being automated, 15 are dominated by women.
Royal commission announced in race to stop AI going rogue
South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas warned against the potential catastrophic societal costs of AI as he announced an inquiry into the technology.
Report supporting Australia’s teen social media ban appears to contain AI hallucinations, Senate hears
Exclusive: Guardian analysis finds one section of report includes links to academic articles that do not exist, but authors deny the references were made up by AI
Here’s how Thomson Reuters is loosening Claude’s costly grip
Thomson Reuters launches its first AI model, Thomson-1, as it seeks to rely less on Anthropic for its AI solutions.
Campaigning, communications and social media
Are Podcast Ads Worth It? Two Political Media Buyers Weigh in
Podcasts are emerging as a new frontier in political advertising as major digital audio platforms have begun pitching media buyers on their reach and influence among voters.
The Next Information War Is Already Here
AI systems are consuming false, misleading, and manipulated content from across the internet – and increasingly presenting it as authoritative answers to millions of users.
New front door to the internet: Winning in the age of AI search
Half of consumers are using AI-powered search today, and it could impact $750 billion in revenue by 2028. Do you have a gen AI engine optimization strategy?
Is Americans’ declining trust in media driven by political messaging?
A massive analysis of every speech given on the floors of Congress between 1939 and 2023 finds that criticism of the news media is remarkably tied to specific partisan interests and historical moments.
35 Percent of Young Trump Voters Say an Online Creator Changed Their Mind
Young Harris voters are in the same feeds at the same rate, but only 19 percent report being persuaded by an influencer.
A new media ecosystem is taking root on the left, reshaping Democratic politics
More progressive Americans are swearing off traditional media. They’re turning to independent podcasts, social media and digital news for information.
X’s Algorithm Feeds Off Ragebait and Impacts Democrats More, Study Finds
X is driving engagement by making users fight in the replies.
Hook and Squeeze
How Democratic consultants, committees, and party leaders built a fundraising spam pipeline that funnels money from a captive pool of elderly donors into their own operations.
Young voters get their politics from creators. Only some of them are moved by it.
Campaigns are spending real money on creator programs heading into 2026. The poll suggests voters are watching, but they are not sold on the arrangement, and disclosure does not fix that.
Society, media, news and culture
Why ‘social cohesion’ is a dangerous phrase in Australian politics
The establishment loves this phrase. But as Ed Husic found out, imposing consensus from the top isn’t democracy – it’s erasure.
The Limits of Left Populism
Neoliberals ignored people’s policy preferences for decades. Populism promises to give people what they want again. That’s its greatest strength – and its greatest weakness.
Big Food is fighting to tempt tastebuds in the era of weight-loss drugs
With GLP-1s threatening billions of dollars in sales, packaged-food makers are testing how to tempt the not-so-hungry.
Misogyny identified as biggest red flag for violent extremism
A new study finds that violent attitudes towards women are not just a social issue but a matter of national security.
Revealed: The Chart-Topping Music Producer and Animator Behind a Far-Right AI Rapper
The two men behind anti-immigration AI ‘musician’ Danny Bones can be identified for the first time. Harriet Williamson, Simon Childs and Effie Webb report.
Synthetic everything is warping America
It’s poisoning the signals people rely on to understand reality.
