Increasing literacy rates in India still a challenge

In this edition we look at persuasive tech, or how digital technology is designed to facilitate addiction. While there's growing recognition of the problem, users are still not aware of how exactly it happens. We're joined by Pierre Louette, the chairman & CEO of French media Les Echos-Le Parisien along with our tech editor Peter O'Brien to shed light on the strategies.

Fact-checkers in India have a hard time quashing quick-spreading misinformation online. Low media literacy and cultural biases have caused people to follow through on dangerous impulses.

Despite mass protest following the death of the writer Mushtaq Ahmed in prison, authorities in Dhaka have said they will not revoke the act.

At the National Museum of Korea in Seoul, models showcase creations designed by Park Youn-hee during a pre-recording for the 2021 Fall/Winter Seoul Fashion Week, which is to be held online this year due to the pandemic.

Media outlets and activists fear that new regulations give unchecked powers to the government to censor digital content and curb press freedom.

In the show this week, we tell you more about Europe's so-called Digital Green Pass. This vaccination passport will help identify people who have received the Covid-19 jab or are already immune. The EU says it will facilitate safe free movement within the bloc, but the system is already raising privacy concerns among the French.

The buyer of a $69 million digital artwork in the form of "non-fungible tokens" (NFTs) says he felt a "soul connection" with the artist as both men started as relative amateurs in their field but found success after years of hard work. Singapore based Vignesh Sundaresan, also known as MetaKovan, defends the price he paid for the collage of 5,000 pieces of art created on consecutive days, which has transformed its creator, real name Mike Winkelmann, into the third-most valuable living artist.

NFTs – or non-fungible tokens – are effectively a digital proof of sale, and it's fair to say they’re having a moment. Most recently an iconic YouTube home video from 2007 called "Charlie bit my finger" has been sold for a six-figure sum as an NFT, with the family who made it pledging that the winning bidder is now "the sole owner of this lovable piece of internet history". So how exactly do NFTs work? And could they transform the way we do business in the future? We speak to financial technology expert James Bowden, a lecturer at the University of Strathclyde.

The US has suspended tariffs against six countries in a row over taxing tech giants. But the levies could still be imposed if an international agreement on digital tax isn't reached. Also in the show: the International Labour Organization says more than 100 million people have been plunged into poverty during the pandemic, and the world's largest meat-processing company recovers from a cyberattack.

EU lawmakers have backed a proposal allowing for digital proof of COVID vaccinations or negative tests. The measures are aimed at enabling restriction-free travel within the EU as the summer tourism season begins.

Berlin intends to roll out a digital immunity certificate by the end of June, making it easier to prove that a person has been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. But critics warn the timeframe is too ambitious.

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