Justin Ling
Justin Ling traces how politics, security and technology overlap, using investigative reporting and columns to show how hidden systems shape public life. He is a staff columnist for the Toronto Star, focusing on politics and policy with a particular emphasis on big tech, national security and the machinery of the state. His work carries over from a long investigative career across major outlets, where he pursues undercovered and misunderstood stories and pushes them into mainstream political debate.
Politics, policy and institutional power
Ling’s politics coverage centres on how laws, institutions and political actors wield power, rather than on day-to-day tactics. He writes columns that unpack complex statutes and regulatory frameworks, including pieces on reforming outdated laws and holding high-profile public figures accountable for seeing those reforms through. In his political opinion writing, he connects questions of international law and liberal norms to concrete choices by governments, such as arguing for cutting diplomatic ties over human-rights and rule-of-law concerns.
Across this work, he treats politics as a system of rules, oversight and responsibility, and uses clear, direct prose to show where that system fails and how it might be repaired.
National security, defence and surveillance
National security is a core strand in Ling’s reporting, and he approaches it through both policy and technical detail. Biographical notes on his work describe years spent covering defence, intelligence, policing and cyber issues, including stories on law-enforcement access to encryption keys, cellphone surveillance hardware and large-scale child exploitation investigations.
He carries that experience into his current commentary by treating debates over security powers, spy agencies and police tools as political questions, not purely operational ones. His reporting often shows how surveillance technology and security institutions expand without transparent authorization, and how that expansion interacts with civil liberties, democratic oversight and partisan politics.
Big tech, misinformation and information warfare
Ling’s Toronto Star role explicitly includes a focus on big tech, and he has built a broader portfolio around misinformation and information warfare. Professional biographies describe him covering technology, social platforms and “big tech” from a political angle, looking at how companies and algorithms influence public discourse, regulation and democratic processes. His newsletter and speaking work highlight the rise of conspiracy theories, political polarization and organized disinformation campaigns, which he then threads back into coverage of legislation, platform accountability and state responses.
In columns and reported features alike, he treats technology companies as political actors, examining their relationships with governments, security agencies and the broader information ecosystem.
Conflict, foreign policy and underreported abuses
Ling writes regularly on conflict and foreign policy, with an emphasis on the human-rights and rule-of-law dimensions of international crises. His bylines at outlets focused on global affairs show coverage of terrorism, espionage, illicit financing and diplomatic strategy, framed for readers who may not follow these files closely. In opinion pieces on issues such as severing diplomatic ties with Israel over violations of international law, he brings together legal analysis, human-rights reporting and the politics of alliance management. His book-length work on serial homicides and cold cases illustrates a parallel interest in how institutions fail vulnerable communities, and that concern runs through his writing on policing, conflict and accountability.
The through-line in this strand of his coverage is a focus on abuses that fall between beats - where security, foreign policy and domestic politics meet, and where neglect allows harm to persist.
Investigative depth across multiple platforms
Ling maintains a multi-platform presence that reinforces his political columns with investigative projects, long-form reporting and podcast work. He has reported for a range of national and international publications and hosted narrative podcasts that dig into cold cases and systemic failures around policing and marginalized communities. His newsletter gives him space to follow threads on misinformation, security and politics over time, and those threads frequently inform or complement his columns for the Toronto Star.
Across formats, he tends to return to the same core questions: how power operates in the shadows, how institutions respond to pressure, and how technology and security reshape the political landscape.
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Aishwarya Dudha
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