Kia ora! WTF now?! makes its way to you from Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand this week. I have been across the ditch to speak at the Wikimedia Aotearoa New Zealand (WANZ) Wellington WikiCon 2026. It has been amazing to be so warmly welcomed to Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington and to WikiCon (even when the weather has not been so warm!) It has been great connecting with New Zealander Wikimedians to talk about the work Wikimedia Australia (WMAU) is doing to better recognise and respect Indigenous and Cultural Intellectual Property (ICIP).
This week we got word that the preeminent digital rights conference RightsCon will not take place in Zambia. Behind the official messaging is a narrative of foreign interference by China which casts a long, dark shadow over civil society and human rights online.
In the music world, a plan is afoot to bring BMG and Concord together to form a combined leading independent music company. Also, Spotify has given human musicians a green tick of verification. It’s part of the steaming giant’s attempts to respond to AI music slop.
There are also quick updates on UQP cancelling Bila, A River Cycle and the Paramount–Warner Bros. acquisition. Plus , virtual pets seem to be a thing in vibe coding while Ask Jeeves has left the internet.
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Rapid-fire
A short list of other things:
- Congratulations to the inaugural honourees of The Luminas: Majida Abboud-Saab OAM, Lorena Allam, Jan Fran, Oodgeroo Noonuccal, Rhoda Roberts AO and William Yang. And congratulations to Diversity Arts Australia and Media Diversity Australia for establishing this new national honours program. Shoot through
- The North Australian Festival of Arts (NAFA) has announced its new leadership team: Kyle Page as Artistic Director and Fabienne Cooke as Executive Director. Shoot through
What’s been going on?
Here's WTF happened this week:
RightsCon in Zambia cancelled just days before it was due to start
RightsCon, the world's largest human rights and technology conference, which was to take place this week in Lusaka, Zambia, was abruptly cancelled. Organiser Access Now alleges the cancellation was due to pressure from the Chinese governmetn over planned participation of Taiwanese civil society groups.
RightsCon – the world’s largest human rights and technology conference – has been cancelled just days before it was due to commence in Lusaka, Zambia (it was to run Tuesday 5–Friday 8 May 2026). In early March the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Technology and Science Dr Brilliant Habeenzu expressed optimism for the event on behalf of the Zambian Government, but on Wednesday 29 April 2026 it was announced in a statement by Zambian Minister for Technology and Science Felix Mutati shared by ZNBC Today on Facebook that the event was postponed. Later that day, another statement, this time by the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Information and Media Thabo Kawana, reinforced the postponement.
