How Recommender Algorithms Threaten Election Integrity
A study by ApTI examined how Facebook, Instagram and TikTok recommendation algorithms delivered political content during Romania’s 2025 presidential election. Using four controlled accounts, the researchers found that algorithms routinely overrode explicit user choices, showing adult users political posts from accounts they did not follow and delivering extensive political material to a simulated under‑age account. During the legally mandated electoral silence, political content did not decline; on TikTok, 80 % of the under‑age feed consisted of political messages. The findings raise concerns about algorithmic influence on election integrity and compliance with national laws and the EU Digital Services Act.
European Commission’s Plans Will Lead to Worse Regulations
EDRi warns that the European Commission’s plan to amend the Better Regulation framework will degrade EU lawmaking by introducing procedural shortcuts, reducing scrutiny, and favoring private interests. The civil‑society group submitted evidence highlighting failures in impact assessments, a politicised ‘urgency’...
Africa Must Build Its Own AI Future
Professor Mpho Primus, speaking at the ITWeb Data Insights Summit 2026, warned that Africa faces a choice between passively consuming foreign AI or shaping its own digital destiny through an Ubuntu‑centred governance model. She highlighted that the continent’s real data...
Find Public Health Resources Succeeds Initial User Testing
UK Health Security Agency’s Find Public Health Resources service has completed its alpha assessment, satisfying all 14 government service standards. The platform offers an e‑commerce‑style interface allowing health professionals and the public to locate, download, and order vaccination and infectious...
AI Planning Tool Expands Its Testing Landscape
PlanAI, a large‑language‑model tool created by the UK Ministry of Housing’s Digital Planning team, has moved from a Cambridge pilot to stress‑testing in five additional planning authorities. The system slashes consultation summarisation from 18.5 hours to 16 minutes by automatically categorising feedback...
NHS Business Services Authority Improves Online Baby Loss Certification
The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) has completed a beta reassessment of its Baby Loss Certificate service, achieving compliance with all 14 government service standards. The digital service, created after the Pregnancy Loss Review, now offers bereaved parents formal recognition...
War CIO Seeks Private Partners to Help Modernize Acquisition
The Pentagon launched the Business Operators for National Defense (BOND) program, recruiting up to 250 senior industry executives to work directly with acquisition, engineering, and sustainment teams. The initiative aims to cut bureaucratic delays, speed weapon fielding, and strengthen supply‑chain...
White House CTO Outlines Federal AI Agenda
White House CTO Ethan Klein outlined a federal AI agenda that links government, industry, academia, and philanthropy around three pillars: U.S. leadership in emerging tech, revitalizing the science enterprise, and broad societal benefit. The plan calls for a national AI...
Government Explores Unified ID and Verification System for Businesses
The UK Department for Business and Trade has signed a 10‑week, £300,000 contract with Deloitte to explore a unified digital business ID that would provide a single login and a cross‑government business entity directory. The discovery phase will assess existing...
GDS Public Sector Monitoring ‘Finding and Fixing over 100 Critical Vulnerabilities a Month’
The Government Digital Service’s Vulnerability Monitoring Service (VMS), launched in summer 2024, now has over 700 public‑sector organisations signed up and is detecting more than 100 critical vulnerabilities each month. Offered free through the National Cyber Security Centre, the service...
Singapore & Its 4 Major Telcos Fend Off Chinese Hackers
Singapore’s Cyber Security Agency and the nation’s four major telcos (M1, Simba Telecom, Singtel, StarHub) launched the "Cyber Guardian" operation, expelling the China‑linked threat actor UNC3886 after an 11‑month campaign. The attackers breached critical network segments but did not steal...
EFF to Wisconsin Legislature: VPN Bans Are Still a Terrible Idea
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has sent a letter to Wisconsin’s entire legislature urging a vote against S.B. 130 and A.B. 105, bills that would ban VPN use and impose invasive age‑verification on certain websites. The measures have cleared the...
DriveOhio Data Keeps Eyes on Road Assets
Honda and DriveOhio completed a two‑year pilot of a Proactive Roadway Maintenance System in Ohio, using test vehicles equipped with vision and LiDAR sensors to scan roughly 5,000 km of roads. The system achieved 99% accuracy detecting damaged or obstructed signs,...
NB Releases New Digital Health Strategy
New Brunswick’s government unveiled a comprehensive digital health strategy aimed at creating a modern, connected, and patient‑centred system. The plan expands the “digital front door,” modernizes electronic health records, and introduces AI‑driven tools to streamline provider workflows. It allocates a...
Infoway Pulls the Plug on PrescribeIT
Canada Health Infoway announced that its e‑prescribing platform PrescribeIT will be discontinued on May 29, ending a program that has cost more than $250 million since its 2017 launch. The service never achieved scale, with fewer than 5 percent of prescriptions routed through...
Digital Government Index and Open, Useful and Re-Usable Data Index
The OECD has published the 2025 results of its Digital Government Index (DGI) and the Open, Useful and Re‑usable Data Index (OURdata), benchmarking how governments are building human‑centred digital services and open‑data frameworks. The indices draw on policies and initiatives...
Indonesia and Vietnam Explore Digital Payment Collaboration
Indonesia and Vietnam are initiating talks to cooperate on digital payment technologies, targeting greater transparency, efficiency, and financial inclusion. The discussions, held in Hanoi, focus on leveraging Vietnam’s real‑time monitoring capabilities to help Indonesian MSMEs maintain accurate records and access...
Hong Kong Fortifies Cybersecurity Training in the AI Era
Hong Kong released its Cybersecurity Outlook 2026, revealing that nearly 30% of local firms lack dedicated security staff and only 26% of SMEs have such roles compared with 59% of large enterprises. To address the talent gap, the government, HKPC...
Thailand: Using Technology and Data to Restore Coastal Ecosystems
Thailand’s National Science and Technology Development Agency and the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources have signed a five‑year memorandum of understanding to apply data‑driven science, digital monitoring and genomic research to coastal and marine ecosystem management. The partnership will...
‘We’re Not Through’: More Hybrid QM Data Collection Likely Ahead for Nursing Homes
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is expanding its hybrid quality‑measure (QM) methodology, merging Minimum Data Set (MDS) information with Medicare claims to improve accuracy. Recent OIG reports on antipsychotic medication use and falls with major injury prompted...
2026 Diplomacy: Own the Data Layer Before the AI Layer
The U.S. State Department is prioritizing data infrastructure over artificial‑intelligence hype, releasing an Enterprise Data Strategy before its AI plan. A new secure platform, Data.*State*, will centralize diplomatic data and AI tools, while the department aims to double domestic data...
FCC Waivers Cover Moves of EAS Gear
The FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau issued two waivers this month allowing broadcasters to temporarily take Emergency Alert System (EAS) equipment offline while relocating it. Fort Myers Broadcasting received approval to move EAS gear for three Florida stations,...
What Is Alpha, The AI-Only School Of The Future?
Alpha School, an AI‑only private K‑12 institution founded in 2014, delivers all core instruction, grading and administration through generative‑AI platforms. The model compresses reading and math into two daily hours, while the remaining time focuses on entrepreneurship and life skills,...
San Jose Can Protect Immigrants by Ending Flock Surveillance System
San Jose’s police department has logged more than 261,000 automated license‑plate reader (ALPR) searches in just over a year—roughly 700 daily—without warrants, raising privacy alarms. Neighboring jurisdictions such as Mountain View, Los Altos Hills, Santa Cruz, East Palo Alto and...
Fort Pierce, Two Years Later: Fiber, Smart City, and Steady Growth - Episode 677 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast
In this episode, host Jason Mittler updates listeners on Fort Pierce’s fiber rollout two years after its launch, highlighting continued network expansion, the city’s smart‑city initiatives, and steady subscriber growth. He discusses targeted digital‑equity programs in the Lincoln Park neighborhood that aim...
Data Governance Without the Jargon: 30 Questions and Answers to Clarify Terms and Trends
Data governance has morphed into a catch‑all term covering quality, metadata, privacy, compliance, and digital strategy, creating ambiguity that blurs responsibilities and stalls decisions. A new resource, "What Is Data Governance? 30 Questions and Answers," builds on the Broadband Commission’s Data...
New Report Helps Journalists Dig Deeper Into Police Surveillance Technology
A new "Selling Safety" guide, co‑authored by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Center for Just Journalism and IPVM, equips reporters with tools to cut through the hype surrounding police surveillance technology. The report details how vendors market devices as silver‑bullet...
WEST 2026: Digital Transformation Teams Are a Core Part of the Marines’ AI Strategy
The Marine Corps has fielded six Digital Transformation Teams (DXTs) and plans two additional deployments to complete coverage across its three Marine Expeditionary Forces. These teams operationalize the service’s 2024 AI strategy by piloting AI solutions, managing risk, and closing...
Almost Half Expect Data Centers to Be Campaign Issue: Polling
A Politico/Public First poll shows almost half of respondents expect data centers to become a campaign issue in their area within five years. While 37% currently support a new facility, support erodes when potential electricity bill increases are disclosed, dropping...
State and Local Governments Can Avoid Costly Mistakes in Application Modernization
State and local governments are accelerating application modernization without fully assessing security and interdependencies, leading some to halt cloud migrations. CDW’s chief architect Greg Peters warns that legacy mainframes and tightly coupled applications require coordinated upgrades across multiple systems. To...
EU Top Court New Search Tool Dubbed a ‘Disaster’ by Lawyers
The European Court of Justice launched a redesigned InfoCuria portal in January, but lawyers and scholars quickly labeled it a “disaster.” The new search engine omits fundamental filters such as case number, language, and judge rapporteur, forcing users to rely...
Aware Points to Independent PAD and Bias Testing as Remote ID Pressure Mounts
Aware announced that its biometric platform has earned independent validation for presentation‑attack detection (PAD) at ISO/IEC 30107‑3 Levels 1‑3, completed bias testing under ISO/IEC 19795‑10, and participated in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s 2025 Remote Identity Validation Rally. The company ties these...
WSO2 Joins MOSIP and IIIT-Bangalore to Refresh eSignet Authentication for National IDs
WSO2 has partnered with IIIT‑Bangalore and the MOSIP project to overhaul eSignet, the open‑source authentication layer used in national digital ID systems. The effort focuses on boosting scalability, OpenID Connect‑style flows, and offline QR support for low‑connectivity environments. By integrating...
Indicio Introduces Wallet-Based Passport Verification for AI Travel Chats
Indicio has launched Proven AI for Digital Travel, enabling travel companies to verify a passenger’s digital passport within chatbot and AI‑assistant interactions. The solution uses a wallet‑held Digital Travel Credential (DTC) that is cryptographically validated without querying a central database. By...
Mapping Energy Data to Help Community Spaces Take Part in Electricity Network Flexibility
mySociety partnered with the Social Investment Business to build a mapping tool that matches community organisations with UK electricity network flexibility tender zones. The platform layers flex‑tender boundaries from six distribution network operators with data on community assets, energy poverty...
Somalia Cleared to Adopt EAC E-Passport, Envoy Says
Somalia has been granted official authorization to adopt and print the East African Community (EAC) e‑Passport, a key step in its regional integration. The decision was handed to Somalia’s Minister of Internal Security and the Director‑General of Immigration in Dar...
From Citizen Ideas to Bills
The Brazilian Senate launched an artificial‑intelligence platform that automatically matches citizen proposals from the e‑Cidadania database with draft legislation. Unlike the previous system, the tool surfaces ideas even when they lack the traditional endorsement threshold, allowing consultants to embed public...
International News in Brief: Bill Passed on Sharing of Health Information in Singapore; National EHR in Guyana, Spain to Improve...
Singapore passed a Health Information Bill requiring all licensed providers to share key patient data via a national EHR, with cybersecurity safeguards and a 2027 rollout. Guyana launched a national EHR that includes online appointments and imposes hefty fines for...
JT/DL: ICE's Surveillance State; the Doorbell Cam Problem; Tracking Court AI
In this episode, the hosts examine ICE’s expanding surveillance apparatus, highlighting recent reports of AI-driven errors, school‑camera collaborations, and the revocation of a Global Entry after facial‑scan detection. They also discuss the broader privacy concerns surrounding doorbell cameras and Iran’s...
SOCOM: The Speedboat the Services Built
The episode examines how USSOCOM’s acquisition model delivers combat capabilities in months rather than decades by embedding operators and acquisition professionals together, recruiting seasoned service acquisition officers, and maintaining a small, flat decision structure. It highlights concrete examples such as...
Executive Vice-President Virkkunen in India for Summit on Artificial Intelligence
Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen will represent the European Union at the AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi, underscoring the EU’s push for stronger AI cooperation with India. She will lead an industry roundtable on AI skills and talent mobility...
Queen Victoria Hospital Paves the Digital Way for Treating Patients in Minor Injuries Unit
Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has rolled out the Archie electronic patient record (EPR) system in its Minor Injuries Unit (MIU), marking a rapid digital transformation. Within three months, the MIU recorded 16,465 annual patient visits and achieved a...
The German Digital Healthcare Act (DVG) at Seven Years: Review of the DiGA Ecosystem and Its Impact on European Health...
Seven years after Germany’s Digital Healthcare Act (DVG) introduced the world’s first reimbursement pathway for digital health apps, the DiGA ecosystem has matured from speculative beginnings to a €234 million market serving nearly one million prescriptions. The fast‑track approval process accelerated...
Strategic Commissioning Plan for Leicestershire and Northamptonshire ICBs Notes Digital to Transform Population Health, Neighbourhood Health, and Prevention
The Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland ICB and Northamptonshire ICB have released a five‑year strategic commissioning plan to 2031 that places digital and data at the core of population health, neighbourhood health and prevention initiatives. A new digital and data strategy...
The Missing Layer in Smart Waste Systems: Resident Engagement
The Senate passed the bipartisan STEWARD Act to expand recycling infrastructure and modernize data collection. While the legislation improves physical assets, it overlooks the human element that ultimately determines curb‑side success. Residents often face confusing, localized rules, leading to contamination...
IOCO Goes Desert Storming with Saudi Arabia Cloud Expansion
Johannesburg‑listed iOCO is expanding its cloud practice in Saudi Arabia through a partnership with Amazon Web Services. The move targets Saudi government agencies and enterprises as the kingdom pushes its Vision 2030 digital modernization agenda. iOCO will invest in local delivery...
Commission Launches Investigation Into Shein Under the Digital Services Act
The European Commission has opened formal proceedings against fast‑fashion giant Shein under the Digital Services Act (DSA). The probe targets Shein’s addictive design features, opaque recommender‑system algorithms, and the sale of illegal items, including child sexual abuse material. Regulators will...
Two Years of Digital Services Act Allows 50 Million Content Moderation Decisions by Platforms to Be Reversed
The EU's Digital Services Act (DSA) has enabled users to overturn nearly 50 million content‑moderation decisions in its first two years. About 30% of the 165 million appeals filed through platform internal mechanisms have been reversed, showing the law’s enforcement strength. In...
Planning Inspectorate Expands Digital Appeals Service
The Planning Inspectorate will extend its digital Appeal a Planning Decision platform to cover enforcement, enforcement listed‑building and lawful‑development‑certificate appeals starting 26 February 2026. The rollout follows a pilot with Cornwall Council, Havering and Brent, which validated the system’s functionality. New features...
Digital Permits 2026: From Regulatory Mandate to Industrial Excellence
The RavaBIM 2026 seminar examined Finland’s shift from PDF‑based permitting to mandatory BIM/IFC submissions, highlighting both regulatory progress and lingering gaps in standards and technical capacity. Panelists stressed that regional disparities, especially among smaller municipalities and modest design firms, demand focused...