Yes but I’d encourage a different view in which what they say, aided by WP’s open arms to country’s worst imaginable actors, becomes a hot button issue leading up to Nov’s GE. From films to reports, YouTube series to podcasts, there’s a universe of material fuelling violently splintered realities.
Indeed.
I fully expect partial readings, misrepresentations, & completely inaccurate, false frames around the report's findings - led by populist parties, & disinfo actors working in concert - to play out in the weeks, and months ahead leading up the general election, whipping up performative anger/angst.
Winston Peters is doing his own song, and dance on report's findings (generating 1000s of responses), which invariably will dovetail into what VFF/RCR et al will do to completely corrupt the report's findings (some of which is critical of official responses to C-19, but based on sound reasoning).
They entirely dismiss the Phase 2 report's scientific foundations as flawed assumptions, & also (now) frame the inquiry as the administrative state defending itself, serving to deepen distrust of consensus expertise. Encourages a wholesale retreat into a manufactured, nescient, alternative reality.
In a podcast today, RCR/VFF actors recast Phase 2's findings on information integrity (mis/disinfo etc) as a pretext for state censorship. They validate spread of false/inaccurate data by portraying it as suppressed truth whilst characterising the Commission as an instrument of official propaganda.
After milking it as much as it could during public hearings to grow their audiences, New Zealand's leading far-right, & anti-vaxx disinfo network now vehemently dismisses Phase 2's report - most likely because it doesn't embrace, & amplify their conspiracy mongering. Entirely expected. #nzpol
Financing the framework, fleeing the fallout: World Bank financing #digitalisation in Sri Lanka
www.linkedin.com/pulse/financ... (LinkedIn)
sanjanah.wordpress.com/2026/03/10/f... (WordPress)
#SriLanka #HumanRights
The report’s rather simplistic suggestion that better information will somehow suffice (suggesting authors never spoke to or learnt from disinfo experts) doesn't counter what was then, & still is a strategic, sustained, sophisticated, industrial-scale, coordinated assault on the national psyche.
Rec on transparency to protect public trust good, but fails to address nature of information integrity's collapse, impacting NZ post-pandemic. We mapped rapid evolution in how domestic actors weaponised false narratives to destabilise democratic processes. Continues at an accelerated pace today.
IMO, Phase 2 report skims over what The Disinformation Project documented as a more strategic, sustained shift towards extremist ideologies, & intentional radicalisation during Covid-19. In a quick reading, the official review overlooks the systemic complexity of NZ's media/information ecologies.
All good points. *Every single one of them* (& far, far more!) are those that The Disinformation Project, led by Kate Hannah, consistently, & in near real-time provided grounded, & gendered insights, & warnings around - incl. in our 1st public report. static1.squarespace.com/static/65c9c... #nzpol
To counter future information threats, the inquiry recommends a measured and transparent approach to strategic comms. To essentially strengthen information integrity, & bolster public confidence, report notes the govt should be open about the science, & evidence that underpin its decisions.
Authors highlight evidence which suggests that disinfo had tangible effects on vaccine acceptance/uptake during Covid-19's height. Distribution of anti-vaxx content, frequently focused on safety concerns, reduced the intent of some (incl vaxx hesitant) citizens to seek immunisation.
Report notes that proliferating sources of false/inaccurate content targeted specific areas of Ardern govt's Covid-19 strategy. Anti-government narratives and conspiracy theories gained traction during the '21 lockdowns, which appears to have weakened social licence required for such measures.
Report notes a surge of inaccurate international information reached New Zealand, complicating an already volatile environment. This influx of disinformation exacerbated vaccine hesitancy and social division at critical junctures in the domestic responses.
The Phase 2 report's out www.covid19lessons.royalcommission.nz/reports-less... Inter alia, it flags how mis/disinfo significantly impacted NZ's pandemic response. Both undermined efficacy of vaxx campaign and implementation of lockdowns, contributing to a measurable decline in public trust. #nzpol
“In this ‘everything and now’ society, people find it hard to understand that if we do not act now in the face of the climate crisis, the consequences will be even more serious” www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss-po...
It is true that Proton is located in Switzerland and responded to a legal request from the Swiss authorities. But it is also true that most people do not know what an MLAT is and there is a widespread misunderstanding that using Proton will protect your account from US govt requests.
"The decision to rely on a US provider for sovereign defence work is something that unsettles many analysts" | Palantir embedding staff in Defence and mining Australian data under contract with Trump-aligned company www.crikey.com.au/2026/03/09/p... @openpolicy.bsky.social
Unsurprisingly, President Trump lies about doing things to children. This time, it's killing them. | U.S. Tomahawk Hit Naval Base Beside Iranian School, Video Shows www.nytimes.com/2026/03/08/w... (Gift link)
Interesting thread.
A request to sound smart and inspirational can also be read as a remarkable self-awareness around the acute realisation that one is innately neither. Beyond NZ, I see an increasing disconnect between what's written or posted to social media by politicians, & their actual moral compass/competencies.
NZ citizens deserve to know when an algorithm is quietly doing the work of elected officials. Major implications for, inter alia, policymaking, democratic accountability, and even national security (esp. given use of commercial AI for confidential/sensitive matters). @openpolicy.bsky.social
MPs are using OIA exemptions designed to protect candid policy deliberation to hide AI chat logs. One minister used AI across 53 logs to shape RMA and infrastructure policy, structuring thinking, framing options, drafting correspondence, but then refused to release any of it.
‘I want to sounds smart and inspirational’: How ministers use AI newsroom.co.nz/2026/03/06/h... #nzpol Excellent capture, & use of OIA requests by @marcdaalder.bsky.social
This looks useful. | Social Media Ban for Kids - What the Evidence Shows socialmediaban.lisboncouncil.net @legallyfeminist.bsky.social @openpolicy.bsky.social
On this score, wrote this almost exactly a year ago. Sacrificing veracity for virality: Topham Guerin’s influence operations, and democratic implications sanjanah.wordpress.com/2025/03/05/s...
Exclusive: US investigation points to likely US responsibility in Iran school strike, sources say
www.reuters.com/world/middle...
