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Jumat, 26 April 2024

askST: How will a US TikTok ban affect users in Singapore and elsewhere? - The Straits Times

TikTok, which has 170 million users in the US at stake, has said it would challenge the ban in court. PHOTO: REUTERS

SINGAPORE - Popular short-video app TikTok might face being banned in the US after President Joe Biden on April 24 signed a Bill that will force its Chinese parent firm ByteDance to sell the social media platform.

The app would be banned in the United States if ByteDance fails to do so.

TikTok, which has 170 million users in the US at stake, has said it would challenge the ban in court.

ST spoke to communications and political science experts to find out how the ban will affect users both in Singapore and abroad, and whether other countries will also consider a similar ban on the social media app.

Q: How will the US ban on TikTok affect users in Singapore and globally?

A: In the short term, TikTok users in Singapore will not be significantly impacted, said Dr Tracy Loh, a senior lecturer at the Singapore Management University.

Should the ban take effect, TikTok will be removed from Apple’s and Google’s app stores in the US so new users would not be able to download it.

Existing TikTok users would still be able to use the app but would miss updates, security patches and bug fixes.

But this could mean US content creators might put out less content on TikTok or migrate to another platform, said Dr Loh, who specialises in social media campaign strategies.

This could push TikTok users here and abroad to move to those alternatives, such as Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts.

Businesses dependent on the US market for sales might also be affected, Dr Loh said, adding that TikTok videos often direct viewers to the websites of such businesses.

Q: If I visit America on holiday, can I still use TikTok?

A: Even if visitors to the US cannot download TikTok from the Google and Apple app stores, there are workarounds to access TikTok, said Singapore University of Social Sciences’ (SUSS) associate professor Brian Lee.

One way is through virtual private network (VPN) apps, but this could violate TikTok’s terms of service, he added. A VPN service allows users to disguise the location of their devices.

Another way to access TikTok is to install a SIM card which is not registered in the US into a phone, said Prof Lee.

Q: Will other countries ban TikTok as well?

A: A “domino effect” might follow with other countries, especially those allied with the US, to potentially ban the social media application, said Prof Lee, who is head of SUSS’ communication programme

It could prompt other countries to study how TikTok would compromise data privacy and national security, and to what extent, he added.

He noted that several countries including India and Nepal had banned TikTok before the US Bill.

India banned 59 Chinese mobile apps, including TikTok, over national security and privacy concerns in 2020.

“Even though both ByteDance and the China government have denied such (security) claims, it is likely that those countries that have banned or temporarily banned TikTok or other Chinese apps previously will impose stricter rules on TikTok if the US bans TikTok eventually,” Prof Lee said.

That said, not all states will follow the US’ footsteps.

National University of Singapore associate professor of political science Chong Ja Ian said: “It is a matter for each individual state as they assess their own security risks, need to protect citizens’ privacy, and data protection considerations.”

Q: Why does the US want to ban TikTok?

A: The new law comes amid a four-year battle over TikTok between the US and China.

Widespread fear that TikTok might share the data of its US users with the Chinese government led the US Senate on April 23 to vote in favour of the TikTok Bill.

US Senator Marco Rubio, a top Republican on the Intelligence Committee, said: “For years, we’ve allowed the Chinese Communist Party to control one of the most popular apps in America. That was dangerously short-sighted.”

In response, the Chinese Foreign Ministry condemned the legislation, adding that “though the US has never found any evidence of TikTok posing a threat to the US’ national security, it has never stopped going after TikTok”.

Q: How did TikTok respond to the Bill?

A: ByteDance now has to sell TikTok within the next nine months.

The social media giant has said it would challenge the move in court.

If TikTok receives a preliminary injunction from the court, the forced sale process is paused. This would provide TikTok more time to operate freely in the US.

In a TikTok video on April 24, chief executive Chew Shou Zi said the social media app will continue to operate.

He said: “Rest assured – we aren’t going anywhere. We are confident and we will keep fighting for your rights in the courts.”

@tiktok
Response to TikTok Ban Bill
♬ original sound - TikTok - TikTok

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2024-04-26 11:49:00Z
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Japan town to block Mount Fuji view from troublesome tourists - The Straits Times

The viewpoint above is particularly popular because the majestic volcano appears behind a Lawson convenience store, which is ubiquitous in Japan. PHOTO: AFP

TOKYO – A huge black barrier to block Mount Fuji from view will be installed in a popular photo spot by the Japanese authorities exasperated by crowds of badly behaved foreign tourists.

Construction of the mesh net – 2.5m high and the length of a cricket pitch at 20m – will begin as early as next week, an official from Fujikawaguchiko town said on April 26.

It is regrettable to have to do this “because of some tourists who can’t respect rules”, leaving litter behind and ignoring traffic regulations, he told AFP.

It is the latest direct action in Japan against overtourism after residents of Kyoto’s geisha district banned visitors from small private alleys in 2024.

Record numbers of overseas tourists are travelling to the country, where monthly visitors exceeded three million in March for the first time ever.

Mount Fuji, Japan’s highest mountain, can be photographed from many spots in the resort town of Fujikawaguchiko.

But this viewpoint is particularly popular because the majestic volcano appears behind a Lawson convenience store, which is ubiquitous in Japan.

Due to this visual juxtaposition, “a reputation has spread on social media that this spot is very Japanese, making it a popular photo location”, said the town official, who declined to be named.

The mostly non-Japanese tourists are overcrowding a stretch of pavement next to the Lawson shop, he said.

After traffic signs and repeated warnings from security guards fell on deaf ears, the town in Yamanashi region decided on the huge screen as a last resort.

The measure is also meant to protect a nearby dental clinic against the onslaught of tourists.

They sometimes park there without permission and have even been seen climbing on the roof of the clinic to get the perfect shot, the official said.

The town wishes it had not come down to this, he said, adding that the current plan is for the screen to be maintained until the situation improves.

Tourism to Japan has been booming since pandemic-era border restrictions were lifted, and the government has been working hard to boost visitor numbers.

But this has not been universally welcomed – including in Kyoto, where locals have complained of snap-happy tourists harassing the city’s immaculately dressed geisha.

This summer, hikers using the most popular route to climb Mount Fuji will be charged US$13 (S$17.70) each, with numbers capped to ease congestion.

Other top destinations worldwide are also struggling with visitor numbers, and on April 25, Venice began charging day trippers for entry to tackle mass tourism. AFP

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2024-04-26 04:50:00Z
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'I lost all hope': Taiwanese youth struggle with depression amid low wages, high housing prices - CNA

Experts say low wages and high property prices are among factors contributing to the decline of mental health among young Taiwanese. Many do not think they can afford to buy a home, let alone have a family – leading them to think they have no future.

Last year, more than 215,000 Taiwanese under the age of 30 took medication for depression symptoms – over double the number recorded a decade ago.

However, the number of people living with the condition is likely much higher. According to some studies, less than 30 per cent of people with depression seek medical attention.

The Guardian newspaper reported that between 2014 and 2022, the suicide rate among Taiwanese aged 15 to 24 more than doubled, even as the overall rate declined.

SOCIAL MEDIA PLAYS A PART

Taiwanese social enterprise Teacher Chang Foundation, which offers mental health counselling, said about a quarter of those reaching out to its counsellors are below 30 years old.

The chairwoman of its Taipei branch, Ms Liu Su Fang, said her young clients often express doubts about whether their job will lead to good prospects, or if they will be able to attain a steady income and stable livelihood.

“Some even worry whether they would be able to afford a home, or have a family,” Ms Liu said.

Another non-profit organisation John Tung Foundation said the prolonged use of social media has contributed to low self-esteem among young people and made them more susceptible to symptoms of depression.

“Our study shows that those who spend more than six hours a day on the internet, their depressed level would be higher than other young people,” said the foundation’s mental health centre director Yeh Ya Hsing.

“One reason is because when you’re on social media, you are more prone to make comparisons such as: Why is everyone so happy? Why is everyone better than me? Why are they prettier?”

Mr Ivan Yeo, deputy director and lived experience lead at Asian Family Services in New Zealand, pointed to another factor: the COVID-19 pandemic.

During that period, there was also an increase in knowledge and understanding of what mental health was, Mr Yeo told CNA’s East Asia Tonight programme.

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2024-04-26 06:18:00Z
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Kamis, 25 April 2024

Blinken to meet Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing - CNA

The disputed South China Sea also remains a flashpoint, while the US is eager to see more progress on the curbing of China's supply of the chemicals used to make fentanyl.

Todd Robinson, Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, and Nathaniel Fick, ambassador-at-large for cyberspace, are among the officials and envoys accompanying Blinken.

Wang laid out China's position, saying the US must not step on "red lines" covering sovereignty, security and development interests - an apparent reference to Taiwan, the democratically-governed island that China claims as its own, and the disputed South China Sea.

Blinken is likely to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping today before he returns to Washington in the evening, although neither side has yet confirmed a meeting.

He is also meeting China's minister of public security, Wang Xiaohong.

Ahead of the talks, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also signalled that the Biden administration was not taking any options off the table to respond to China's excess industrial capacity.

Yellen told Reuters Next in an interview in Washington that China exporting its way to full employment is not acceptable to the rest of the world.

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2024-04-26 01:01:19Z
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Trump's three US Supreme Court appointees thrash out immunity claim - CNA

WASHINGTON: When the US Supreme Court ultimately rules on Donald Trump's claim of presidential immunity from prosecution, a third of those deciding the matter will be justices he appointed to their lifetime posts.

Those three - Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch - posed questions from various angles as the nation's top judicial body heard arguments on Thursday (Apr 26) in a case that provides a vital test of the power of the presidency. They comprise half of the court's 6-3 conservative majority.

"We're writing a rule for the ages," conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch, said during the arguments.

A key question, Gorsuch said, is "how to segregate private from official conduct that may or may not enjoy some immunity".

Gorsuch also said that "fear that their successors would criminally prosecute them for their acts in office" might be an incentive for presidents "to try to pardon themselves".

"I mean, we've never answered whether a president can do that," Gorsuch said.

Trump appealed after lower courts rejected his claim of presidential immunity in a criminal case brought against him by Special Counsel Jack Smith on four charges related to efforts to overturn Trump's 2020 election loss. Trump is the Republican candidate challenging Democratic President Joe Biden in the Nov 5 US election in a rematch of the election four years ago.

Barrett questioned D John Sauer, the lawyer arguing for Trump, about his contention that a president must be impeached and removed from office by Congress - something that has never happened in US history - in order to be prosecuted for an official act taken while in office.

"OK," Barrett told Sauer. "So there are many other people who are subject to impeachment, including the nine sitting on this bench, and I don't think anyone has ever suggested that impeachment would have to be the gateway to criminal prosecution for any of the many other officers subject to impeachment. So why is the president different when the (Constitution's) impeachment clause doesn't say so?"

Sauer cited reasoning by a Justice Department official dating to the 1970s.

Barrett followed up on liberal Justice Elena Kagan's hypothetical question on prosecuting a president who orders a coup.

"You're saying," Barrett asked Sauer, "that he couldn't be prosecuted for that, even after a conviction (in an) impeachment proceeding if there was not a statute that expressly referenced the president and made it criminal for the president?"

A president could be prosecuted under that scenario, Sauer said, only if the criminal law specifically references that it applies to a president.

Sauer cited Article II of the Constitution, which delineates presidential powers, as the "source" of immunity from prosecution, even though it is not specifically mentioned in the 18th-century document that laid out the American form of government.

"Then, on the source of immunity, it's not explicit in the Constitution?" Kavanaugh asked Sauer.

Kavanaugh noted that executive privilege - the legal principle that allows certain presidential records and communications to be shielded from lawmakers and the courts - is not explicit in the Constitution even though the Supreme Court has found that Article II allows for it.

"And the same principle, presumably, would apply to executive immunity being encompassed within that executive power as historically understood?" Kavanaugh asked.

"That's absolutely correct," Sauer responded.

Kavanaugh asked Michael Dreeben, the lawyer representing the special counsel, "Do you agree that there's some aspects of Article II presidential power that are exclusive and that Congress cannot regulate and therefore cannot criminalize?"

"Absolutely," Dreeben said.

For other official acts that the president may take that are not within that exclusive presidential power laid out in the Constitution, Kavanaugh asked whether "Congress has to speak clearly to criminalize official acts of the president by a specific reference."

Dreeben said that he did not think Supreme Court precedents on the issue "speak that broadly."

Barrett's appointment in 2020 after the death of liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg pushed the court's conservative majority to 6-3, from 5-4.

Gorsuch was appointed in 2017 to fill a vacancy left by the 2016 death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia after the Republican-led Senate refused to consider Democratic President Barack Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland for the post. Kavanaugh was appointed in 2018 after conservative Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement.

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2024-04-26 00:14:39Z
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Malaysia ex-PM Mahathir facing anti-graft probe in a case involving his sons - CNA

KUALA LUMPUR: Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad is among individuals being investigated in connection with a graft probe involving his sons, the head of Malaysia's Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) said on Thursday (Apr 25).

The investigation comes amid a widening crackdown on graft involving prominent political figures, including those seen as close to 98-year-old veteran leader Mahathir, a long-time foe of current Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

Anwar has denied targeting political rivals, saying the investigations are part of the government's efforts to tackle high-level corruption.

The MACC in January served Mahathir's businessmen sons, Mirzan and Mokhzani, with notices to declare their wealth as part of investigations into offshore financial and business records revealed by a group of news organisations.

The MACC's chief commissioner, Azam Baki, on Thursday declined to elaborate on the investigations facing Mahathir or his sons.

"Let the investigations conclude first, until an appropriate time when we can state the findings of the case," he told reporters in televised remarks.

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2024-04-25 11:15:00Z
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Malaysia ex-PM Mahathir under investigation, anti-corruption agency says - South China Morning Post

Malaysia’s anti-corruption authorities on Thursday for the first time confirmed their investigation into Mahathir Mohamad, ending weeks of speculation over whether the former prime minister would be entangled in a corruption crackdown that has implicated several of his family members and allies among the business elite.

Earlier this year, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) charged three people, including two tycoons, for corruption and summoned Mahathir’s two eldest sons for questioning over their assets.

MACC Chief Commissioner Azam Baki said the agency’s probe into Mahathir is linked to the notice issued to his sons requiring that they declare their assets.

“I would like to confirm that in this investigation, he is among those being investigated,” Azam said at a news conference broadcast on national television.

Malaysia mourns helicopter crash victims, some accuse military of poor planning

“I do not wish to reveal the details of the offence committed … let the investigations take their course until a time we feel is suitable.”

Last week, Mahathir challenged investigators to prove that he had allegedly abused power while in government, citing the notice sent to his sons in which he said the MACC had concluded that he had committed the offence.

“As far as I know I have never been investigated. But the MACC notice said I have committed an offence,” the two-time prime minister said in a statement.

Last month, Mahathir’s two eldest sons said the MACC had ordered them to assist in investigations into their father in a case where he was the “primary suspect”. The MACC said it could not say what the investigation was about, Mokhzani, one of Mahathir’s sons summoned by the agency, said in a Bloomberg report.

Party time? PKR’s hazy post-Anwar leadership succession clouds 25th birthday

Mahathir, who was released from hospital in late March after nearly two months of treatment for an infection, has repeatedly questioned the basis of the ongoing corruption sweep, which he describes as politically motivated.

Critics have accused Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim of using the MACC to launch a witch hunt against his 98-year-old mentor turned arch-rival.

Mahathir had in 1998 sacked Anwar as his deputy, who was later jailed on charges of corruption and sodomy. Anwar and his supporters have denied any wrongdoing. Both leaders spent the next two decades in a bitter feud that defined Malaysia’s politics.

In January, the MACC sent a notice to Mokhzani, 63, and his 65-year-old brother Mirzan – both tycoons in their own right – requiring them to declare their assets. Its investigations followed leaked offshore business records that named the siblings, released in recent years by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, a global media network.

02:16

10 killed in mid-air helicopter collision at Malaysia naval base

That same month, prominent businessman and long-time Mahathir associate Daim Zainuddin and his wife Nai’mah Abdul Khalid were charged separately with failing to declare their assets.

Malaysia’s “Casio King”, tycoon Robert Tan Hua Choon, was charged in early April with allegedly making false declarations in 2019 to win a US$840 million contract to run the federal government’s fleet of vehicles.

The 83-year-old businessman, widely seen as close to Daim, had previously secured a similar multi-billion ringgit concession to manage the government’s vehicle fleet that ran for 25 years starting in 1993, during Mahathir’s first term as PM.

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2024-04-25 10:36:05Z
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