Rest of World - Reporting Global Tech Stories

India’s crackdown on a new WhatsApp feature risks setting a global precedent

If Meta complies or modifies its app for India, it risks creating a “slippery slope” that emboldens governments worldwide to demand changes to encrypted messaging apps.

By Ananya Bhattacharya

A soccer player in a blue jersey points upward while a large goldfish swims nearby, both in a stylized blue backdrop

Global Dispatch

Can AI beat a goldfish at calling the World Cup?

As chatbots compete to forecast the tournament, an unlikely rival from a Toronto fish tank continues to outperform them.

By Indranil Ghosh

Global

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Nearly four billion Internet users live outside the West, building and using tech products & platforms that most Americans have never heard of.

By Rest of World Staff

A person in a white shirt climbs a wooden ladder leading into a dark hole, set against a blue circuit board background

Innovation

The Gulf has billions to spend on AI. It still needs Nvidia

Saudi Arabia and the UAE are trying to diversify their AI supply chains, but geopolitical constraints and Nvidia's technological lead leave them with few viable alternatives.

By Indranil Ghosh

A couple, hand-in-hand, walks through a vibrant market street filled with colorful fabrics and soft sunlight

Ideas

The problem AI content moderation cannot solve

Meta and other big tech companies are increasingly using AI for content moderation, but as the backlash to Muse Image shows, it cannot protect users because it does not account for consent.

By Hera Hussain

Aerial view of a collapsed building with the word "SOS" visible on a concrete slab, surrounded by debris and rescue workers — Miguel Medina/AFP via Getty Images

Innovation

AI powers citizen-led disaster relief from afar for Venezuela

After the earthquakes, developers and citizens used AI to build websites and apps to help locate missing persons and coordinate relief efforts amid a slow government response.

By Daniella Fernández and Andrea Paola Hernández

A world of tech in your inbox

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Editor's picks

2025

2024

2023

An artistic collage featuring three men's faces and a satellite dish, overlaid with text about Starlink terms and policies.

🏆 Society for News Design

A collage of images taken from a group on WhatsApp, showing a man holding a candle against a purple background. The images are set against a green background used on WhatsApp.

Inside the BJP's WhatsApp Machine

How India’s ruling party uses the app to campaign free from public scrutiny

May 14, 2024

A black and white illustration with aqua highlights showing a large protest being surveilled by CCTV cameras and a drone.

The changing face of protest

Mass protests used to offer safety in numbers. Facial recognition technology changes the equation

March 27, 2024

🏆 Society for News Design

A photo of a man sitting on a motorbike on a busy street in Lahore, Pakistan.

Riders in the Smog

After equipping gig riders across South Asia with pollution monitors, the readings were off the charts

February 27, 2024

An illustration showing emoji characters sitting on a blue text bubble laughing hysterically.

How different languages laugh online

Laughter is universal, but lol is not

December 18, 2023

🏆 National Magazine Award

A photo showing a cluster of Shein shipping bags laid out on a yellow background.

China, the World's Shopping Cart

E-commerce platforms like Shein and Temu are going global with big ambitions

November 14, 2023

🏆 National Magazine Award

A photo collage showing a grid of square images with portraits of people, exteriors of buildings, city streets, and plates of food.

How AI is reducing the World to Stereotypes

3,000 AI images analyzed to show how image generators see cultures

October 10, 2023

🏆 Online Journalism Award

40 Companies Beating the West

Faster, smarter, more adaptable: The emerging market pioneers outmaneuvering Silicon Valley

October 5, 2023

🏆 National Magazine Award

A photo of a woman with red hair drinking from a cup with a straw while seated at a computer in an internet cafe.

Inside the World's last internet cafes

Documenting them before they vanish

July 25, 2023

Welcome to the Ambaniverse

It's Mukesh Ambani's world — we're just living in it

November 15, 2022

🏆 Society for News Design

Chinese citizens use puns to get past internet censors

Chinese social media companies and users are locked in a never-ending battle

October 11, 2022

🏆 Society for News Design

How to Buy

E-commerce isn't the same around the globe

May 31, 2022

In the dark

60 countries, 935 internet shutdowns: How authoritarian regimes found an off switch for dissent

April 26, 2022

🏆 Society for News Design

Charts

A view of Rest of World through all our charts and graphics.

Explore charts >

1 July 2026

China’s smartphone reading boom

See details >

China’s smartphone reading boom
Share of foreign-born talent in Science & Engineering roles in the U.S.
H-1B applications decline under Donald Trump's presidency
Far more Chinese clean tech outbound FDI has been announced than actually completed
China's exports eclipse outbound FDI in EV and battery manufacturing
Chinese FDI announcements in clean tech in the last decade
Shifting foreign production plans for Chinese EV and battery makers
Where does AI spending go?
How much do AI models cost?
Global EV sales last year exceeded 20 million for the first time
Policies announced in 2025 to support EV adoption
Share of electric car sales in top EV markets

Can AI beat a goldfish at calling the World Cup?

The problem AI content moderation cannot solve

AI powers citizen-led disaster relief from afar for Venezuela

The Gulf has billions to spend on AI. It still needs Nvidia

India’s crackdown on a new WhatsApp feature risks setting a global precedent

Older adults know AI is slop. They just like it

Your next nurse may monitor you from the Philippines

Data centers should benefit the cities that power them

China’s AI boom is creating a different kind of entrepreneur

China’s web novel platforms embraced AI. Now they are fighting it

India is testing an alternative to Silicon Valley’s AI playbook

China’s EV makers are taking over the European factories Ford and Nissan can’t fill

India’s crackdown on a new WhatsApp feature risks setting a global precedent

Can AI beat a goldfish at calling the World Cup?

Support Our Global Journalism

The Gulf has billions to spend on AI. It still needs Nvidia

The problem AI content moderation cannot solve

AI powers citizen-led disaster relief from afar for Venezuela

A world of tech in your inbox

Big Tech is moving data out of the Gulf through Iraqi oil pipelines

War in the Gulf could tilt the cloud race toward China

“Data embassies” and safeguarding digital assets during wartime

Meta’s Oversight Board races to govern the AI surge

Countries are outlawing online gambling ads. Meta is selling them anyway

Indigenous creators are clashing with YouTube’s and Instagram’s sensitive content bans

Can AI beat a goldfish at calling the World Cup?

The Gulf has billions to spend on AI. It still needs Nvidia

China’s web novel platforms embraced AI. Now they are fighting it

A Mexican surveillance giant you’ve never heard of is now watching the U.S. border

“This is unprecedented”: America’s AI boom is leaving the rest of the world behind

Death of an Indian tech worker

China’s EV makers are taking over the European factories Ford and Nissan can’t fill

What happened to China’s overseas EV factory boom?

China and the West are taking opposite paths on EV battery recycling

Silicon Valley’s lure is fading for India’s tech talent

U.S. companies have an AI problem. Indian IT wants to be the solution

India’s VCs are beating American investors at home

China’s EV makers are taking over the European factories Ford and Nissan can’t fill

When Americans choose Chinese AI

China builds a rival satellite constellation as SpaceX goes public

Editor's picks

After Musk joined Trump, countries rolled out the red carpet for Starlink

When the world connected on Skype

Digital Divinity

Inside the BJP's WhatsApp Machine

The changing face of protest

Riders in the Smog

How different languages laugh online

China, the World's Shopping Cart

How AI is reducing the World to Stereotypes

40 Companies Beating the West

Inside the World's last internet cafes

Welcome to the Ambaniverse

Chinese citizens use puns to get past internet censors

How to Buy

In the dark

The Global Gig Workers

Is AI a bubble? Davos leaders say no

Vietnam’s tech manufacturing boom goes bust

Amazon is betting on speed in a market that may not need it

Brazil’s AI-powered social security app is wrongly rejecting claims

Singapore doubles down on lab-grown meat as Silicon Valley backs off

Can social media age verification really protect kids?

Charts

China’s smartphone reading boom

China’s smartphone reading boom

Share of foreign-born talent in Science & Engineering roles in the U.S.

H-1B applications decline under Donald Trump's presidency

Far more Chinese clean tech outbound FDI has been announced than actually completed

China's exports eclipse outbound FDI in EV and battery manufacturing

Chinese FDI announcements in clean tech in the last decade

Shifting foreign production plans for Chinese EV and battery makers

Where does AI spending go?

How much do AI models cost?

Global EV sales last year exceeded 20 million for the first time

Policies announced in 2025 to support EV adoption

Share of electric car sales in top EV markets

The problem AI content moderation cannot solve

India’s crackdown on a new WhatsApp feature risks setting a global precedent

Data centers should benefit the cities that power them