Articles & Case Studies

Jul 18, 2026

We explore how application packing grew into a mature commercial industry dominated by a handful of Chinese vendors. We examine why the resulting supply of opaque, anti-analysis binaries has become, by 2026, a security and supply-chain problem for the West.

Jul 12, 2026

We explore how Grindr’s code and third-party dependencies changed before, during, and after the U.S. government forced its Chinese owner to divest the company. We examine which Chinese-operated services disappeared, what remained, and how new dependencies later re-entered.

May 31, 2026

Through Russia’s long and contradictory relationship with Telegram, we explore how digital dependence hardens into infrastructure and why sovereign control becomes difficult once a platform is woven into state and social life.

May 22, 2026

By descending through the layers of the technology stack, we analyze how digital power is built through dependencies that are often invisible until they become politically consequential.

Oct 12, 2025

We introduce why apps should be studied as high-frequency signals of political economy, revealing how sanctions, regulation, ownership shifts, and technical dependencies leave measurable traces in software.