Balance is a platform and publication that explores how digital technology, power, and possibility intersect through stories, analysis, and creative expression from around the world.
by Saritha Irugalbandara The global push for age-verified social media use has accelerated since Australia introduced strict age-based access restrictions for under-16s using social media in December 2025. As per the Online Safety Amendment (Social media Minimum Age) Bill a year earlier, companies are mandated to take “reasonable steps” to
Across the Global South, 2025 feels like a turning point. Not because technology suddenly arrived but because the gap between what digital platforms promise and what they actually deliver became impossible to ignore. From Colombo to Kathmandu, Lagos to Jakarta, Mumbai to Manila, people are confronting the same core question:
by Stephanie Nicolle A Sri Lankan gig worker, popular for his delivery vlogs, begins filming another package run. Strong winds shake his motorbike as he rides along the Southern coastline, prompting him to briefly stop. His phone receives an alert: Cyclone Ditwah is imminent, and his route is at high
by Irma Garnesia This essay is based on interviews with journalists, editors, lawyers, fact-checkers, activists, and digital rights advocates between May and August 2025 as part of the Australian National University’s ‘Information Abundance in Southeast Asia’ project. It contends that Indonesia’s current digital ecosystem systematically leaves women vulnerable
by Vaishali Soni The Promise We Logged Into Advertising. Agenda. Anxiety. Brainrot. Diabolical. Doomscrolling. Echo chambers. Polarising. Unavoidable. Voice. In 2025, Point of View in collaboration with Quicksand organised multi-city consultations across India — Goa, Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, and Hyderabad — with women, gender-diverse people, sex workers, people with disabilities, designers, technologists,
by Samik Kharel Over three months after a Gen Z uprising toppled Nepal’s government, the revolution has not ended. What began in September 2025 as protests against a sweeping ban on major social-media platforms has since evolved into something far more complex- an ongoing struggle over political meaning, legitimacy,
by Divine Nwobodo Chidera In a shared workspace in Yaba, Lagos, a software developer is training a small language model to understand Yoruba proverbs. The system translates the words accurately, yet consistently misses the wisdom hidden in pauses, tone, and cultural context. “It understands the sentence,” she says, “but not
Britain’s AI “sovereignty” is a mirage — US tech giants are wiring the country’s future to their own machines, bending policies, narrowing choices, and leaving citizens with the costs of capture.
From Sri Lanka to Bangladesh, Indonesia to Nepal, youth are rising. In streets and online, they expose corruption and demand change — showing both the power and limits of tech.
Across the Global South, Digital Public Infrastructure is being sold as a leap forward for inclusion and modern governance. But as Pamodi Hewawaravita reveals, these systems often deepen exclusion, entrench surveillance, and blur the line between public good and private control.
Miraj Chowdhury examines how the Trump administration’s alliance with Big Tech is reshaping not just US regulation but global digital governance — with far-reaching consequences for rights, power and accountability.
From app removals in China to quiet compliance in Hong Kong, Benjamin Ismail traces the rise of platform-enabled censorship and the complicity of global tech giants in enabling digital authoritarianism.