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"From reality TV show Big Brother to warnings about surveillance, George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four has had a lasting impact on modern society. With the very idea of truth under attack, the Guardian's Dorian Lynskey explains why, 70 years after publication, the dystopian classic might matter more than ever."

"n the terrifying dystopia of 1984, Orwell writes of a world where everything from the past to the future can be rewritten in every form. "If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable - what then?" If your newspapers, television programs, websites, and books can be written and rewritten, who can ascertain the truth? Some of these questions are philosophical, not fully answerable by the greatest thinkers in history. However, they are not entirely without merit. Over the past few years we have seen the evolution of the "post-truth era" wherein people are not only content with being lied to, they expect it. Social media and the democratization of the Internet has played an integral role in the heralding of this new age. According to a recent Pew Research Center study, 68% of Americans check social media for news updates, with one-fifth of them stating they use platforms for this purpose regularly."

"China's social credit system isn't a world first but when it's complete it will be unique. The system isn't just as simple as everyone being given a score though"

"The tech giant records people's locations worldwide. Now, investigators are using it to find suspects and witnesses near crimes, running the risk of snaring the innocent."