James Griffiths
@jamestgriffiths.com
🇨🇦 Asia correspondent, @theglobeandmail.com
📚 Author, ‘The Great Firewall of China’ and ‘Speak Not’
📍 Hong Kong
🔒 jgriffiths.852
📚 Author, ‘The Great Firewall of China’ and ‘Speak Not’
📍 Hong Kong
🔒 jgriffiths.852
Pinned
James Griffiths
@jamestgriffiths.com
· Sep 9
Leaked files show a Chinese company is exporting the Great Firewall’s censorship technology
Geedge Networks is providing censorship capabilities to foreign governments, including those in Myanmar, Pakistan, Ethiopia and Kazakhstan
www.theglobeandmail.com
As part of a consortium of researchers and journalists, I spent the better part of a year digging into leaked documents from Chinese security company Geedge, which plays a pivotal role exporting the Great Firewall around the world: www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/15c699a...
those scientists are soon to be going on ~an adventure~
February 12, 2026 at 11:35 PM
those scientists are soon to be going on ~an adventure~
Reposted by James Griffiths
Plus, no one look at actual evidence, just keep listening to the hype-driven narratives of the tech industry and treat them as though they’re factual and reliable!
February 12, 2026 at 4:46 AM
Plus, no one look at actual evidence, just keep listening to the hype-driven narratives of the tech industry and treat them as though they’re factual and reliable!
Reposted by James Griffiths
The risk isn’t the technology. The risk is in people who should know better getting whipped up in the hype and helping normalize tech’s narratives so we don’t pay attention to (and rein in) what they’re actually doing in the present.
February 11, 2026 at 6:15 PM
The risk isn’t the technology. The risk is in people who should know better getting whipped up in the hype and helping normalize tech’s narratives so we don’t pay attention to (and rein in) what they’re actually doing in the present.
Reposted by James Griffiths
10 years ago they told us AI and self-driving cars were going to wipe out up to half of all jobs. They didn’t.
But while everyone was talking about whether they would, companies rolled out algorithmic management and used digital tech as a pretext to reclassify workers as contractors.
But while everyone was talking about whether they would, companies rolled out algorithmic management and used digital tech as a pretext to reclassify workers as contractors.
I'm not even saying that's the most *likely* possibility, but it's just very clear that the likelihood of that outcome as increased and even if there's, like, a 1 in 10 change that "AI replaces most to all white collar jobs in 10 years" that's an *enormous* risk to the social order!
February 11, 2026 at 6:13 PM
10 years ago they told us AI and self-driving cars were going to wipe out up to half of all jobs. They didn’t.
But while everyone was talking about whether they would, companies rolled out algorithmic management and used digital tech as a pretext to reclassify workers as contractors.
But while everyone was talking about whether they would, companies rolled out algorithmic management and used digital tech as a pretext to reclassify workers as contractors.
"You have to remember that the 'artificial general intelligence will destroy the world' narrative is a marketing strategy."
www.garbageday.email/p/a-comfort-...
www.garbageday.email/p/a-comfort-...
A comfort blanket for the managerial class
Read to the end for a good focaccia recipe
www.garbageday.email
February 12, 2026 at 4:48 AM
"You have to remember that the 'artificial general intelligence will destroy the world' narrative is a marketing strategy."
www.garbageday.email/p/a-comfort-...
www.garbageday.email/p/a-comfort-...
"This week has shown us that the supply of 'greater fools' that bitcoin relies on is drying up. The fairy tales that have been keeping crypto afloat are turning out to be just that."
www.ft.com/content/2b03...
www.ft.com/content/2b03...
Bitcoin is still about $69,000 too high
The crypto crash is coming — and the landing won’t be pretty
www.ft.com
February 8, 2026 at 9:10 AM
"This week has shown us that the supply of 'greater fools' that bitcoin relies on is drying up. The fairy tales that have been keeping crypto afloat are turning out to be just that."
www.ft.com/content/2b03...
www.ft.com/content/2b03...
Winter Olympics rules, especially figure skating, the best Olympic event.
February 7, 2026 at 2:26 PM
Winter Olympics rules, especially figure skating, the best Olympic event.
Reposted by James Griffiths
i set up openclaw on my work machine to have it get my apes back from gas town but instead they are partying with said stolen apes on moltbook, this is the last time i'll ever listen to jimmy fallon
February 3, 2026 at 7:45 PM
i set up openclaw on my work machine to have it get my apes back from gas town but instead they are partying with said stolen apes on moltbook, this is the last time i'll ever listen to jimmy fallon
Reposted by James Griffiths
My story on Elon Musk cutting safeguards at xAI is on the front page of today's @washingtonpost.com. I’m also among 100’s of reporters laid off. I absolutely loved my job my brilliant coworkers & the thrill of reporting @ the center of forces upending the world: AI & Silicon Valley’s political power
February 4, 2026 at 7:40 PM
My story on Elon Musk cutting safeguards at xAI is on the front page of today's @washingtonpost.com. I’m also among 100’s of reporters laid off. I absolutely loved my job my brilliant coworkers & the thrill of reporting @ the center of forces upending the world: AI & Silicon Valley’s political power
Reposted by James Griffiths
"rich dipshit owner doesn't understand the industry he's bought into and clumsily destroys what made it good" feels less like a narrative unique to the washington post and more like the music that's been playing in the background of all our lives for at least 40 years
February 4, 2026 at 2:53 PM
"rich dipshit owner doesn't understand the industry he's bought into and clumsily destroys what made it good" feels less like a narrative unique to the washington post and more like the music that's been playing in the background of all our lives for at least 40 years
Japanese politics is wild.
"the established left-wing parties – the JCP [Communist Party] and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) – are more fiscally hawkish than virtually every other party"
observingjapan.substack.com/p/what-the-c...
"the established left-wing parties – the JCP [Communist Party] and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) – are more fiscally hawkish than virtually every other party"
observingjapan.substack.com/p/what-the-c...
What the candidates believe | Japan Daily Briefing
Surveys point to several major divides among -- and within -- the parties
observingjapan.substack.com
February 5, 2026 at 8:12 AM
Japanese politics is wild.
"the established left-wing parties – the JCP [Communist Party] and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) – are more fiscally hawkish than virtually every other party"
observingjapan.substack.com/p/what-the-c...
"the established left-wing parties – the JCP [Communist Party] and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) – are more fiscally hawkish than virtually every other party"
observingjapan.substack.com/p/what-the-c...
Reposted by James Griffiths
people in sf are scrunging their bungos. they’re wiring fleebs to their pudbots
The AI evangelists want us all to conveniently forget that they were all telling us we had to buy bored apes or we would be left out of the Economy Of The Future four years ago.
January 25, 2026 at 5:50 PM
people in sf are scrunging their bungos. they’re wiring fleebs to their pudbots
Reposted by James Griffiths
I think it's best for everyone to understand that the unified class project of billionaires right now is to do to white collar workers what globalization and neoliberalism did to blue collar workers.
February 4, 2026 at 7:41 PM
I think it's best for everyone to understand that the unified class project of billionaires right now is to do to white collar workers what globalization and neoliberalism did to blue collar workers.
Reposted by James Griffiths
The entire annual operating losses of the Washington Post amount to a single-digit percentage of the everyday noise in the signal of its owner's finances
For scale, Bloomberg lists the most recent daily market fluctuation in Jeff Bezos' net worth as -$3.71 billion
February 4, 2026 at 11:21 PM
The entire annual operating losses of the Washington Post amount to a single-digit percentage of the everyday noise in the signal of its owner's finances
I don't always understand his Canadian sports columns, but my colleague Cathal Kelly (and fellow Beijing 2022 survivor) is always a must read at Olympics time: www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/olymp...
February 4, 2026 at 11:21 PM
I don't always understand his Canadian sports columns, but my colleague Cathal Kelly (and fellow Beijing 2022 survivor) is always a must read at Olympics time: www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/olymp...
Reposted by James Griffiths
"Those who were laid off include Caroline O’Donovan, the Post’s beat reporter covering Amazon"
Jeff Bezos’ Washington Post Cuts 30% of Staff, Laying Off More Than 300 Employees Including Amazon Beat Reporter
The Washington Post, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is enacting layoffs that will eliminate "hundreds" of jobs.
variety.com
February 4, 2026 at 5:12 PM
"Those who were laid off include Caroline O’Donovan, the Post’s beat reporter covering Amazon"
Reposted by James Griffiths
For scale, Bloomberg lists the most recent daily market fluctuation in Jeff Bezos' net worth as -$3.71 billion
February 4, 2026 at 11:06 PM
For scale, Bloomberg lists the most recent daily market fluctuation in Jeff Bezos' net worth as -$3.71 billion
"If Bezos took one per cent of his net worth and put it into a trust that would endow the paper with the resources to do the good journalism that it’s been doing, he would be remembered as the savior of the Post and not the destroyer." link.newyorker.com/view/65b735b...
The New Yorker Daily Newsletter
link.newyorker.com
February 4, 2026 at 11:13 PM
"If Bezos took one per cent of his net worth and put it into a trust that would endow the paper with the resources to do the good journalism that it’s been doing, he would be remembered as the savior of the Post and not the destroyer." link.newyorker.com/view/65b735b...
Reposted by James Griffiths
much of the high-end Beijing nightlife was in PLA-controlled areas, largely because they had the immense advantage of only requiring you to bribe one guy a month, which is basically just tax.
covid finally killed Maggie's, I believe (for context for others, this was an infamous hotspot of Mongolian and Russian pros, located in a complex controlled - like a large stretch of central Beijing - by the PLA)
February 3, 2026 at 5:14 AM
much of the high-end Beijing nightlife was in PLA-controlled areas, largely because they had the immense advantage of only requiring you to bribe one guy a month, which is basically just tax.
Reposted by James Griffiths
it is currently eating itself alive with internal paranoia and denunciations because it is being subject to a rolling purge that likely has very little to do with military modernization and everything to do with corruption networks, and which - since it seems to have turned around personnel issues
February 3, 2026 at 5:01 AM
it is currently eating itself alive with internal paranoia and denunciations because it is being subject to a rolling purge that likely has very little to do with military modernization and everything to do with corruption networks, and which - since it seems to have turned around personnel issues
Incredible graphic from NYT showing the depth of Xi Jinping's purge of China's military leadership in recent years: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
February 3, 2026 at 5:22 AM
Incredible graphic from NYT showing the depth of Xi Jinping's purge of China's military leadership in recent years: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
"Standing up for women’s rights is increasingly sensitive in China where the government views feminism as disruptive, especially as officials push women toward more traditional roles in hopes of reversing falling birthrates." www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Secret Filming of Women Thrives in China as Officials Silence Activists
Hidden cameras capture women in intimate moments without their consent, yet the authorities do little to stop it.
www.nytimes.com
February 3, 2026 at 2:04 AM
"Standing up for women’s rights is increasingly sensitive in China where the government views feminism as disruptive, especially as officials push women toward more traditional roles in hopes of reversing falling birthrates." www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Shout out to @dispatchmedia.bsky.social which is consistently publishing some of the most interesting, well written features on the UK (and occasionally US) out there. Their weekend newsletter, which highlights content elsewhere too, is also great.
dispatch-media.com/how-to-be-ha...
dispatch-media.com/how-to-be-ha...
How to be happy in England
A visit to England's happiest town • On the saddest day of the year • How does Skipton do it?
dispatch-media.com
February 2, 2026 at 9:27 AM
Shout out to @dispatchmedia.bsky.social which is consistently publishing some of the most interesting, well written features on the UK (and occasionally US) out there. Their weekend newsletter, which highlights content elsewhere too, is also great.
dispatch-media.com/how-to-be-ha...
dispatch-media.com/how-to-be-ha...
"The Hong Kong government and even Beijing, they just don't want any problems. They don't want to deal with anything."
Former govt advisor Chan basically admits loudest conservative voices in HK able to censor things they don't like because the government can't be bothered standing up to them.
Former govt advisor Chan basically admits loudest conservative voices in HK able to censor things they don't like because the government can't be bothered standing up to them.
Zolima Magazine: Is West Kowloon Cultural District too big to fail? zolimacitymag.com/is-the-west-...
Chairman Bernard Chan:
Chairman Bernard Chan:
January 30, 2026 at 1:44 AM
"The Hong Kong government and even Beijing, they just don't want any problems. They don't want to deal with anything."
Former govt advisor Chan basically admits loudest conservative voices in HK able to censor things they don't like because the government can't be bothered standing up to them.
Former govt advisor Chan basically admits loudest conservative voices in HK able to censor things they don't like because the government can't be bothered standing up to them.