<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div>Hi there,</div><div><br></div><div>2022 is almost over. Next year, Billions will continue to do what it does - provide a scan of sorts across the social / media / digital / rights landscapes. We’ll also try to be a bit more ambitious - but in the spirit of social media - what we’ll actually plan do is going to remain vague and undefined :)</div><div><br></div><div>For those looking for longer-form end-of-year message - please take a look at what <a href="https://twitter.com/MedvedevRussiaE/status/1607487338401206273?s=20&t=Dpkc8niFdUqQaWMQGwh7GA"><b>Dmitry Medvedev</b> had to say</a>. Note the classic amplification trick of name-dropping a high profile user! </div><div><br></div><div>That’s it for 2022. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWXazVhlyxQ">Happy partying</a>. </div><div><br></div><div>See you next year. Best, Sam.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2022/12/29/suicidal-thoughts-strike-every-day-indias-sextortion-scourge"><b>‘Suicidal thoughts strike every day’: India’s sextortion scourge</b></a> , 29 Dec 2022 , Aljazeera </div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://therecord.media/this-app-will-self-destruct-how-belarusian-hackers-created-an-alternative-telegram-for-activists/"><b>This app will self-destruct: How Belarusian hackers created an alternative Telegram for activists</b></a> , 29 Dec 2022 , The Record - </div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/12/twitter-sells-blue-checks-tumblr-allows-nudes-2022s-biggest-big-tech-u-turns/"><b>Twitter sells blue checks, Tumblr allows nudes: 2022’s biggest Big-Tech U-turns</b></a> , 27 Dec 2022 , Ars Technics - Gmail stops filtering political spam, Meta allows some death threats, and more.</div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://restofworld.org/2022/crypto-winter/"><b>Crypto miners and traders are closing up shop across Asia</b></a> , 21 Dec 2022 , Rest of World - From Jakarta to Kazakhstan, the picture is bleak. “We will sell our graphics-processing units to gamers,” says one crypto miner.</div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/12/15/23505370/twitter-files-elon-musk-taibbi-weiss-covid"><b>Why the Twitter Files actually matter</b></a> , 15 Dec 2022 , Vox - Twitter’s previous management made some controversial political decisions. Some of them haven’t held up.</div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/wxnaqz/ai-isnt-artificial-or-intelligent"><b>AI Isn’t Artificial or Intelligent</b></a>, 7 Dec 2022 , Vice - How AI innovation is powered by underpaid workers in foreign countries.</div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-022-01527-x"><b>Growing polarization around climate change on social media</b></a> , 24 Nov 2022 , Nature Climate Change </div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://disinformationchronicle.substack.com/p/punching-down-how-the-anti-disinformation?utm_source=substack&utm_campaign=post_embed&utm_medium=web"><b>Punching Down: How the "anti-disinformation" movement worked with Big Tech to protect Big Pharma</b></a> - 22 Nov 2022 , Disinformation Chronicle</div><div><br></div><div><br></div></body></html>