James Farrell

James Farrell is the former editor-in-chief of Chiang Mai CityNews, where he wrote and managed daily news, features, op-eds and blogs on a diverse range of topics. Prior to this, in the same city of Northern Thailand where he lives, he was the longstanding deputy editor of the monthly magazine Citylife. He has written on culture, politics, travel, tech, business, human rights, for local, national, and international news services and magazines. He has a keen interest in the role technology is playing in the transformation of society, culture and politics, especially in developing nations. This is reflected in his not-so-successful first novel.

Latest from James Farrell

State of California partners with Apple and Google to launch COVID-19 contact tracing app

After testing at the University of California at Berkeley last month, the state of California will get its first COVID-19 tracing app, CA Notify, starting this Thursday. In a tweet today, California Governor Gavin Newsom thanked Apple Inc. and Google LLC for partnering with the state, adding that the technology is opt-in. If people choose ...

DOJ sues Facebook alleging it discriminated against US workers

The Department of Justice filed a complaint today accusing Facebook Inc. of discriminating against the U.S. workforce regarding its hiring practices. Prosecutors accuse Facebook of purposefully hiding jobs from the U.S. workforce and ignoring them for 2,600 positions that had an average salary of $156,000. The lawsuit alleges that Facebook “diverged from its normal recruiting ...

Google accused of breaking labor laws for firing staff behind protests

A complaint was filed today by the National Labor Relations Board accusing Google LLC of breaking U.S. labor laws. The company is accused of illegally spying on workers and also questioning them, before firing staff who were behind protests in 2019. The workers were also trying to form a union. The complaint names former employees ...

Facebook Oversight Board announces its first cases to review

Facebook Inc.’s Oversight Board announced today that it has chosen its first batch of cases to review. The board, which was announced at the beginning of the year, is made up of academics, media specialists and human rights advocates from around the world. These people are tasked with looking at problematic content that Facebook has taken ...

Apple hit with 10 million euro fine in Italy after being accused of misleading customers

Italy’s antitrust watchdog has fined Apple Inc. €10 million ($12 million) for not being clear about how water-resistant some of its iPhones are. The watchdog, the Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato, said in a press release today that Apple had falsely advertised that the models iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone XR, iPhone XS, ...

Tensions rise as India bans yet more Chinese apps

India announced this week that it has banned 43 more Chinese apps on top of the 175 apps that were banned this year, something that drew complaints from the Chinese government today. “This action was taken based on the inputs regarding these apps for engaging in activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, ...

After election, Facebook changed algorithm to highlight authoritative news sources

In response to a surge of misinformation on its platform after the election, Facebook Inc. reportedly made changes to its algorithm to favor more reliable news sources. According to a report published in the New York Times today, after the election, staff at Facebook told Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg that they were seeing an alarming rise ...

Twitter is now adding warning labels when people try to like misleading tweets

In its battle to fight the spread of misinformation, Twitter Inc. announced today that it will now add a warning label when a user tries to like a tweet containing dubious information. “Giving context on why a labeled tweet is misleading under our election, COVID-19, and synthetic and manipulated media rules is vital,” said the ...

Digital media merger: BuzzFeed is buying HuffPost from Verizon

Two of the largest digital media companies, Buzzfeed News and Verizon Media-owned HuffPost, today said they’ve agreed to join forces. Buzzfeed said as part of a stock deal it will acquire HuffPost, although the two entities will stay as they are in terms of branding. BuzzFeed’s founder, Jonah Peretti (pictured), who co-founded the Huffington Post, ...

Facebook content moderators are demanding a safer working environment

More than 200 moderators who work for Facebook Inc. in various countries have signed an online letter published today asking that the company allow them to work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. The letter, which was sent to Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg and Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, was also addressed to the CEOs of ...