Harini Calamur's Writings
Social Media
“Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one.”— A.J. Liebling Today, that freedom belongs not to journalists, but to billionaires. In the past, owning a press meant printing influence. Today, owning a platform means owning perception. Elon Musk…
This appeared in FPJ on 31st July 2023 There is a war between two of the richest men on the planet, both of whom want to control our hearts, minds, and attention with social media. Mark Zuckerberg has gone on record calling…
This appeared in FPJ in July 2023 In the era of social media, where ‘likes’ have become a currency of popularity and a measure of ‘coolness,’ a peculiar trend known as ‘wardrobing’ has surfaced. Also dubbed the ‘snap and send back’ culture,…
Elon Musk bought Twitter a month ago, and ever since that incident, it seems like a free for all slugfest. Musk conducted public polls to restore the accounts of many, including former US President Donald Trump, American Rapper Kayne West, Canadian Psychologist…
Mastodon, and sites like that, are part of the federated universe, what the original internet was supposed to be – a bunch of servers, interlinked and interoperable – that cater to different interests and needs. My column for the FPJ, Named after…
The Attention Economy is based around monetising our attention and engagement. But, we the user, are getting increasingly distracted. I write for the FPJ on the 28th of April Way back, in the early days of the internet, the technology landscape was…
This piece on Big Tech and censorship appeared in the FPJ on the 7th of June 2021 On the 1st of June this year, Nigerian President Mohammadu Buhari made his government’s equivalent of “goli maaro saalon ko” tweet. Sending out a stern…
This article appeared in the FPJ on 22nd February, 2021 Big Tech has grown to an extent where it can challenge the authority and might of the Nation State. And this power derivers from their monopoly control over our data sets arising…
This appeared in the FPJ, on the 15th of February As Twitter faces off with the Indian Government, it forms an interesting precedence for the way social media platforms interact in countries, and societies – and brings into question the role of…
i write for the FPJ on the link between Big Tech and Extremism Last week, a mob of white extremists, egged on by a President who refused to accept the November election results, attempted to overturn the US elections, and overthrow the…