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The latest news, analysis and opinion on Internet. In-depth analysis, industry insights and expert opinion.
An Iranian woman walk near a huge anti-US billboard hanging at the Enqelab square in Tehran, Iran, on January 31. Photo: EPA-EFE
Middle East

US lawmakers push for VPN funding so Iranians can access internet

Government officials have advocated for funding anticensorship technology to help Iranians access the internet amid the Islamic Republic’s restrictions.

Artificial intelligence

ByteDance ‘strengthening safeguards’ after Seedance AI video controversy

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China technology

Opinion | ‘Becoming Chinese’ memes reflect a world shaped by China’s ascent

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Russia

WhatsApp accuses Russia of blocking service to force users to state ‘super-app’

WhatsApp and Telegram sound the alarm as the Kremlin chokes off Western apps to promote MAX, a state-backed rival modeled after China’s WeChat.

Meta criticises Russia for erasing WhatsApp from national records, calling the shift to state-run MAX a setback for safety. Photo: Reuters
Mainland China

Baidu unveils AI-driven Wikipedia challenger in bid for global users

BaiduWiki, a version of the firm’s Baidu Baike online encyclopaedia, is available in English, Spanish, French, Russian and Japanese.

India

India tightens social media grip as Meta, YouTube, X face 3-hour takedown rules

New rules tighten compliance deadlines, forcing platforms to remove flagged AI-generated content and misinformation within hours or face legal action.

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Sex and relationships

Why dating in Hong Kong is so hard and how people spend thousands on agencies

Hong Kong matchmakers share how they’re helping people find love in a city where everyone is both extremely busy and wants a younger partner.

Where does Hong Kong turn to when digital romance fails? More of the city’s bachelors and bachelorettes are trading algorithms for professional human matchmakers. Illustration: Henry Wong
Hong Kong

2016 trends from Pokemon Go to poke bowls amid viral internet nostalgia

Looking back at 2016 is viral online, but what was hot back then? We look at food, travel, health and pop culture trends from a decade ago.

Banking & finance

HSBC suffers temporary system shutdown, stopping services in Hong Kong

The bank’s mobile app and in-person services at several branches were unavailable for up to several hours for some customers during the outage.

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Artificial intelligence

China’s cloud giants race to support Moltbot, the ‘AI that actually does things’

Hyperscalers embrace the AI agent, which can execute tasks without step-by-step instructions, but privacy concerns loom large.

The global AI industry is moving towards developing AI agents capable of autonomously executing tasks on behalf of users. Photo: Shutterstock
TV shows and streaming video

YouTube star IShowSpeed shows ‘another Africa’ on his 20-country tour

African-American influencer has busted cliches by showing a continent ‘on the move’ during his trip, which has resonated with fans at home.

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American YouTube, Instagram and Twitch megastar IShowSpeed meets fans in Accra, Ghana, during his Africa tour. The influencer has shown a modernising continent, and has taken in the odd football match along the way. Photo: AP
Semiconductors

Hygon’s chips ‘safe’ from AMD security flaw amid China’s tech self-reliance push

That result shows Hygon’s efforts in redesigning the chip architecture licensed from AMD with self-developed innovations.

Artificial intelligence

DeepSeek taps Alibaba open-source AI technology to boost OCR performance

The Chinese AI start-up says its latest OCR model delivers stronger performance after adopting an Alibaba-developed open-source model.

European Union

EU opens probe into Musk’s Grok over sexual AI deepfakes

Brussels targets X with a new probe into ‘digital undressing’, vowing to protect women and children from illegal AI content.

The EU will investigate Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot for allegedly sharing illegal content, risking a hefty fine. Photo: TNS
France

Macron pushes forward France’s social media ban for under 15s

France’s health watchdog said that 90 per cent of children between 12 and 17 use smartphones daily to access the internet.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron wearing sunglasses as he waits for Lebanon’s Prime Minister prior to their meeting at the Elysee presidential palace in Paris, on Friday. Photo: AFP
China’s internet censorship

Xibei vs the influencer: why Beijing called time on a restaurant food feud

Communist Party mouthpiece says it’s worrying that online posts can create a crisis for a long-standing business.

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United States

Bezos’ Blue Origin to deploy thousands of satellites to rival Musk’s Starlink

The TeraWave plan coincides with a rush to build data centres in space that can meet the soaring demand for large-scale AI data processing.

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World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos

Duel in Davos: Macron’s ‘Top Gun’ shades charm internet, get mocked by Trump

The French leader’s US$770 sunglasses, which he wore as he criticised the US president, have sparked a flood of social media memes.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron wears sunglasses as he attends the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters
Japan

Japan arrests man for selling AI-generated celebrity porn

A 31-year-old in Japan arrested for using generative AI to create and sell 520,000 explicit images of celebrities for US$70,000 in profit.

China stock market

China’s advances in AI fuel tech stock boom, help it shake off economic malaise

China’s rise recasts the country from a low-cost base to a credible US tech challenger, just as global capital hunts for next growth engine.

Artificial intelligence

Tencent seeks cooperation with other AI firms to better serve vulnerable users

Tencent Research Institute looks to build expert data sets for AI models that could broadly benefit the world’s second most populous nation.

Tencent Research Institute is looking to improve the output of generative AI services when interacting with the elderly and other vulnerable users in society. Photo: Shutterstock
Iran

Iran’s leader says ‘thousands’ killed in protests, Trump a ‘criminal’

The comments by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are the first admission by Tehran on the death toll from the unrest.

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Protesters gather as vehicles burn, amid anti-government protests in Tehran, Iran, in this screen grab from a social media video released on January 9. Photo: Social media via Reuters
X (formerly Twitter)

Musk’s xAI sued over Grok deepfakes – this time, by mother of his child

Ashley St Clair, mother of Musk’s 13th child, said that in one photo, an image of her at 14 was altered to show her in a bikini.

Hong Kong society

Hongkonger missing in protest-hit Iran safe and ‘in touch’ with authorities

Immigration Department says it has also advised the woman to leave Iran as soon as possible.

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Malaysia

X marks the bot: Malaysia says Grok ban may be lifted if it is proven to be safe

Though X has deactivated several prompts, more changes need to be made to ensure the site’s safety, Malaysia’s communications minister says.

Screens display the logo of Grok and its founder Elon Musk. Photo: AFP
Artificial intelligence

Musk’s Grok barred from undressing AI images after global backlash

‘Spicy Mode’ feature had allowed users to create sexualised deepfakes of women and children.

Grok has been allowing users to manipulate images of women and children to sexualise them. Photo: dpa
Regulation

Beijing opens antitrust investigation into Trip.com before Lunar New Year break

The Trip.com case shows how China’s regulatory inquiries into various online platforms have become the norm.

Indonesia

Indonesian comedian hit with blasphemy complaints over Netflix jokes

Pandji Pragiwaksono’s unfiltered set took aim at the president, but it was a quip about religious groups that triggered police reports.

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