lokman tsui
@lokman.org
writer, (recovering) academic, amateur activist. teach at graduate institute of journalism, national taiwan university. fellow @citizenlab.ca. he/him. writing a personal history of home and authoritarianism.
Taiwan exposes China’s transnational repression 12:39 Attacks on Beijing’s critics show how intimidation campaigns are spreading beyond China’s borders https://taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/6413140 #news #taiwan
Taiwan exposes China’s transnational repression | Taiwan News | Aug. 2, 2026 12:39
Attacks on Beijing’s critics show how intimidation campaigns are spreading beyond China’s borders | Aug. 2, 2026 12:39
taiwannews.com.tw
How much could a single underscore in a username really matter? Just ask Brandon Klayme, who served 18 months in prison before realizing how authorities arrested, charged, and convicted the wrong man. www.wired.com/story/a-typo...
A Typo Landed an Innocent Gamer in Prison for 18 Months
How much could a single underscore in a username really matter? Just ask Brandon Klayme, who served 18 months in prison before realizing how authorities arrested, charged, and convicted the wrong man.
wired.com
Yesterday, WIRED learned that Madison Square Garden was suing us for our accurate reporting. We stand by our work. That’s why we’re removing the paywall from two of the MSG stories they don’t want you to read, making them free for everyone.
goddamn i love @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social's writing. re-reading her essay "blue is the distance" in "a field guide to getting lost". this sentence stands out to me:
Our stories cross borders. Our challenges do, too. Help Global Voices remain a lifeline for independent media worldwide. Support our #GVSpotlight thematic coverage with a donation! globalvoices.org/2026/06/17/s...
Support Global Voices’ Spotlight: Statelessness
Every month, Global Voices will be choosing an urgent theme to explore in depth across all our regions. In July we're exploring how statelessness can negatively impact people’s lives.
globalvoices.org
i feel like an adult whenever i actually finish a stick of lip balm.
rest in peace, mister lam. grateful i was able to buy a few books from you the last time i visited your bookstore. we talked and you asked what my plans were. i mentioned maybe coming to taiwan and you gave me good and careful advice that i still keep in mind. www.scmp.com/news/hong-ko...
Lam Wing-kee, Hong Kong bookseller detained in mainland China, dies
Lam, who eventually moved his Causeway Bay Books to Taiwan, was one of five booksellers who disappeared in 2015 and resurfaced across border.
scmp.com
WhatsApp catches NSO Group targeting its platform in violation of court orders. Files injunction. Also announces it's donating to the Spyware Accountability Initiative. about.fb.com/news/2026/06...
Fighting Spyware: An Update From WhatsApp
WhatsApp caught and disrupted spear phishing attempts linked to NSO, a spyware firm blacklisted by the US government.
about.fb.com
In liberal democracies, “AI safety” usually means protecting people from powerful systems. In China, it increasingly means protecting the Party from people. My 12-minute Oslo Freedom Forum keynote on why Beijing’s approach to AI should worry us:
Fergus Ryan | Authoritarians and AI: What the Research Shows | Keynote
During the Freedom Tech track at the 2026 Oslo Freedom Forum, Fergus Ryan, senior China analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, examines how authoritarian regimes are using AI to monitor citizens, censor information, spread propaganda, and suppress dissent. Drawing on years of research
youtu.be
because the legal system wasn’t rigged enough already hongkongfp.com/2026/06/08/b...
HK leader to have power to certify any criminal case as national security
The Hong Kong government has proposed to the legislature that the chief executive have the power to certify any criminal case as a national security case, which has a binding effect on the courts.
hongkongfp.com
it is starting to become a yearly tradition that i do a run of 6.4km on this day in which nothing happened. this is the first time im doing it in taipei. thinking it might be appropriate to do this run around what used to be known as the CKS memorial square, now known as liberty square 自由廣場.
New survey data from Hong Kong Watch helps quantify the scale of the problem – including among Hong Kongers not engaged in public activism.
Transnational Repression of Hong Kongers in the UK Is Disturbingly Common
New survey data from Hong Kong Watch helps quantify the scale of the problem – including among Hong Kongers not engaged in public activism.
buff.ly
The former 🇵🇱 Polish justice minister, wanted for misuse of public funds & abusing Pegasus spyware (as we @citizenlab.ca discovered, against the device of now PM Tusk's lawyer and others), has fled Hungary after the election to the 🇺🇸 US, at the invitation of Trump www.politico.eu/article/ex-p...
Former Polish Justice Minister Ziobro reportedly flees to US
Zbigniew Ziobro is wanted in Poland over the alleged misuse of public funds and the deployment of Pegasus spyware against political opponents.
politico.eu
“This is not a conclusion. It is a record. Records are where accountability begins.” lezismore.org/rightscon202...
Excluded Even Online: One Taiwanese Account of RightsCon 2026 - 濡沫 Lez is more
A first-person account from a Taiwanese session organizer at RightsCon 2026, the global digital rights summit canceled in Lusaka after Access Now refused conditions that would have excluded Taiwanese ...
lezismore.org
As many are aware by now, @accessnow.org 's annual @rightscon.org was cancelled because of pressure on the host govt Zambia 🇿🇲 by China 🇨🇳 www.rightscon.org/rc26-stateme... In their statement, @accessnow.org rightly flags this is as an example of transnational repression
A statement to our community about why RightsCon 2026 will not take place in Zambia
Our official statement to the digital rights community about why RightsCon 2026 will not take place in Zambia
rightscon.org
Texas tech now bans students from writing about LGBTQ issues in any form. Mentions of gender identity, orientation etc in textbooks must be skipped. Deafening silence so far from all the brave heterodox free speech absolutists www.erininthemorning.com/p/texas-tech...
Texas Tech Issues Ban On Students Writing On LGBTQ+ Topics
The ban applies to theses and dissertations, and is expected to begin going into effect on a rolling basis.
erininthemorning.com
I wrote about China’s expanding social media monitoring and manipulation industry: the firms building and deploying bot networks for party-state actors and expanding into Western platforms. You can read the piece here: www.gmfus.org/news/outsour... A few points about the industry🧵
Outsourcing Influence
gmfus.org
New from me: a Chinese student at University of Sydney went missing and allegedly has been sentenced to six years in China, for participating in protests in Australia, including solidarity protests for China’s ethnic minority groups: www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
Student allegedly jailed in China for six years after taking part in pro-democracy protests in Australia
Exclusive: The Australian government has been urged to take stronger action to protect overseas students from political repression
theguardian.com
The recent decision by a major UK museum, the Victoria & Albert, to comply with Chinese censors is emblematic of broader trends in information manipulation & interference targeting European cultural institutions that must be challenged, @article19.bsky.social www.article19.org/resources/eu...
Europe: China’s censorship of cultural institutions must be challenged - ARTICLE 19
Governments and cultural institutions in Europe must challenge attempts from China to close down exhibitions and censor publications.
article19.org
A court filing by the Hong Kong Government has revealed that the amount in assets they intend to confiscate which are purportedly linked to Jimmy Lai’s national security crimes is worth over HK$127 million apnews.com/article/hong...
Hong Kong government seeks to seize millions from jailed activist Jimmy Lai
The Hong Kong government is seeking to forfeit funds and corporate shares linked to the crimes of jailed former media tycoon Jimmy Lai.
apnews.com
Joel Chan@kjoules.org · 4mo agoA 60-minute court hearing will take place on July 8 to determine whether the Hong Kong government can confiscate the frozen assets connected to Jimmy Lai’s national security offenses www.scmp.com/news/hong-ko...
You know what would be amazing, if Vance can negotiate an agreement where Iran doesn't enrich above 3.67% (far below weapons grade); gets rid of 98% of its stockpile of uranium; has weekly inspections by the IAEA; and commits to all of this for at 10 years. Oh, yeah, that was the Obama Iran deal.
PLA declares live-fire exercises in Yellow Sea today, interpreted here as a slap in the face for Cheng Li-wun’s claim to be able to reduce tensions with her trip to China. I suspected this would be the case, the PLA doesn’t really seem to know to hold off news.ltn.com.tw/news/politic...
鄭麗文訪中喊「和平之旅」又被打臉 中共突宣布今黃海實彈射擊 - 政治 - 自由時報電子報
中國國民黨主席鄭麗文近日率團前往中國展開其所謂「和平之旅」，期盼藉由交流降低兩岸敵意，外界關注習鄭會是否會依計畫舉行。然而，就在國民黨積極配合北京營造「和平」氛圍之際，中共當局卻再度打臉鄭麗文，於今（9）日上午突襲宣布在黃海北部進行實彈射擊。中國官媒「央廣網」報導今天引述中國海事局網站消息指出，大連海事局發布航行警告，4月9日10時至16時，黃海北部部分海域實彈射擊，禁止駛入。
news.ltn.com.tw
honest and vulnerable. powerful words by masha. in solidarity.
mahsa alimardani@mahsaalimardani.bsky.social · 4mo agoWe didn't deserve this day.
Iran won’t close the Strait Iran better open the Strait Iran has 2 days to open the Strait Iran has a week to open the Strait NATO, open the Strait I’ll bomb your critical infrastructure if Strait isn’t opened I don’t care about the Strait No ceasefire till Strait is open
fantastic overview by the reuters team on the damage beijing’s insecurity has done to hong kong and its people in the last few years. www.reuters.com/world/asia-p...
Awaiting justice: The impact of Hong Kong’s national security laws
Beijing’s sweeping national security law, imposed in 2020, has reshaped Hong Kong’s political landscape. With a conviction rate exceeding 90%, many people remain behind bars, and the city’s democratic...
reuters.com
my level of stress has crossed a threshold where i think it would be funny if trump attended the birthright citizenship oral argument and scotus incoherently ruled in his favor 6-3. cortisol levels so high that i can't stop lolling about all my family members in danger. wouldn't it be funny tho
A Dutch court has ruled Grok must stop generating non-consensual undressing images of Dutch residents worldwide and child sexual abuse material in the Netherlands, with €100,000-a-day fines for non-compliance, reports Ramsha Jahangir.
Dutch Court Orders X, Grok to Stop AI-Generated Sexual Abuse Content
Dutch court bans Grok's nudify tool and hits xAI with €100,000-a-day fines in Europe's first binding injunction against an AI image generator.
buff.ly
