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 Denmark empowers citizens to copyright themselves against deepfakes

 Could you say with 100% certainty which image is the real Tom Cruise? Perhaps not — and this is an increasingly strong trend around the world.

• A test conducted with 2,000 people by software company iProov showed that only 0.1% of the volunteers could distinguish real content from so-called deepfakes.

With this in mind, Denmark intends to change national law so that every citizen has control over their own face, voice, and body.

The plan is to use copyright rules to combat deepfakes — videos, audio, and images created by AI without consent.

From non-consensual pornography to financial scams, deepfakes are becoming a serious problem around the world.

Under the proposal, platforms will be required to remove fake content, and those affected will be able to seek compensation. However, those who post such content will not be punished — for now. The measure also protects artists from having their performances cloned by AI, setting an unprecedented precedent in Europe, just as Denmark took over the presidency of the EU Council.

It’s a big difference: Unlike other countries that address the issue through criminal law, the European country wants to use copyright law to ensure that each person has ownership over their own digital identity.

Personal Opinion: Denmark is stating the obvious. I find it absurd that it is not taken for granted that we have rights over our own image and our face. However, it is a great step towards an increasingly digitalized world, where the real and the fake are getting almost impossible to differentiate.

PS: If you are curious about the subject, click here and take a quick test to assess your analytical skills. As for the photo above, the one on the left is the original.

What else in on

• Argentina: The country saw extreme poverty rates plummet. In the first half of 2025, extreme poverty fell to 7.4%, down from 18.2% only a year ago. Why? Monthly inflation has fallen below 2% for two consecutive months, compared to over 200% at the end of 2023. (Read)

• Mexico: Talking about poverty… Mexico has lifted 13.4 million people out of poverty since 2018. The percentage of Mexico’s population living in poverty declined from 41.9% to 29.6% during this period - the most effective poverty reduction in the country’s history. Yay! (Read)

• Italy: It's not exactly breaking news... But Italy has given the green light to the world's largest suspension bridge. Since the 1960s, politicians have been flirting with the idea - that has always been stuck in a limbo between engineering and politics. (Read)

• Japan: The city of Toyoake, in central Japan, wants to convince its residents to spend less time on their cell phones. The proposal is that smartphone use should not exceed two hours per day. (Read)

• Spain: In August, Spain experienced the most intense heatwave ever recorded in its history. The episode lasted 16 days and surpassed the record set in July 2022, with temperatures 4.6°C above normal. (Read)
  

 Don’t Click Play by Ava Max: Ava Max recently said in a Rolling Stone interview that she’s “the most mismanaged pop star ever.” While I’d argue that crown could also go to Zara Larsson, I do agree: Ava Max could’ve been much bigger if the right people had invested the right money in the right places.

For a while now, she’s felt like an artist trapped in a cycle. On one hand, her music hasn’t evolved much; on the other, her songs still manage to pull solid streaming numbers and radio play.

• That tension is clear in Don’t Click Play. Very early on, it becomes obvious how much this album mirrors her last one, Diamonds & Dancefloors (2023). Many tracks could easily be swapped between the two records. The upside is that she’s left behind the overuse of samples that once defined her. The downside is that little here feels new or distinctive.

At times, the songs sound like they could belong to almost anyone in mainstream pop — Gaga, Bebe Rexha, Dua Lipa, Tate McRae. But here’s the twist: the songs work. Most of them are pure dance-floor fuel, the kind that made me want to hit a club immediately (something I haven’t done in ages). They’re catchy, polished, and easy to enjoy — just not boundary-pushing.

So here’s my verdict: if you like glossy, high-energy pop that doesn’t aim to be deep or innovative but reliably delivers, Don’t Click Play is worth your time. If not, you’re not missing much. (Rating 6.5/10)

Best songs: Lovin Myself, Don’t Click Play, Word’s Smallest Violin, Sucks To Be My Ex

Lately, I’ve been diving deep into the concept of conditioning — how so much of the way we think isn’t really “ours,” but something we’ve been taught and reinforced since childhood. The stories we tell ourselves, how we see time, what we believe is possible or “right” — all of it shaped by culture, upbringing, and the society around us.

This flips everything we’ve ever known.

• In Western culture, time is treated like a commodity — something to spend, save, waste, or race against. Life is all about chasing a “better” future, evolving, progressing. But Mbiti offers something radical: Time isn’t something we move through — time is something events create. A conversation, a ritual, a season — these don’t just happen in time; they produce time.

Think of it this way: A man sitting on a park bench on a Tuesday afternoon isn’t wasting time. He’s not “spending” it, nor “losing” it. According to Mbiti, he’s either waiting for time or even creating it. That flips the script on how we feel when we choose not to be “productive.” In African thought, that quiet moment isn’t idle — it’s meaningful.

• How much of our anxiety, endless planning, and fears are tied to this Western obsession with a future that may not even exist the way that we imagine it. What if that fixation is just conditioning — one that we could unlearn?

Conditioning is powerful. And maybe maturing is about recognizing that some of the “truths” we carry are just inherited perspectives — and that other ways of seeing the world are not only possible, but deeply human. Imagine unconditioning yourself. What rhythms, responses, or perspectives could replace the chase?

So here’s what I’m doing this week: Trying to stop treating the future like a finish line, and instead learning to trust the sasa I’m in right now.

ps: This was just a brief explanation of a small part of a huge piece of culture. Totally recommend searching on your own for a more meaningful understanding.

With love,

Micael.

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