Articles & Case Studies
Our recent work
Examining the technical architecture of an app that has been reported to combine gamified rewards, behavioral reporting, and oversight into possible political influence on university campuses.
Chinese “Study Abroad” App
Telegram and the Politics of Digital Dependence
Through Russia’s long and contradictory relationship with Telegram, this case study explores how digital dependence hardens into infrastructure and why sovereign control becomes difficult once a platform is woven into state and social life.
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.
Journey to the Center of the Stack
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.
Appthropology: Apps as a Lens for the Global Political Economy
