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☆ Australia bans TikTok on federal government devices
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Chris Lau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Australia has joined other Western countries in banning the use of TikTok on government devices as the Chinese-owned video app comes under increasing pressure over claims it presents a security concern. So far, there’s no evidence the Chinese government has accessed TikTok user data, and no government has enacted a broader ban targeting TikTok on personal devices. During a high profile congressional hearing on the matter, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew was grilled about the tech firm’s alleged ties to the Chinese government. Chew has said the Chinese government had never asked TikTok for its data and that the company would refuse any such request. For its part, China’s Commerce Ministry said it would “firmly oppose” any decision resulting in the forced sale of TikTok, adding that it would “seriously damage” global investors’ confidence in the United States.

☆ Paternity leave: In Japan, it's four weeks, but men are too afraid to take it
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( Chris Lau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Japanese men are entitled to four weeks of flexible paternity leave, on up to 80% of their salary, under a bill passed by the Japanese parliament in 2021. While it is illegal to discriminate against workers who take maternity and paternity leave in Japan, Iwahashi said workers on fixed-term contracts were particularly vulnerable. And anyway, “A little tweak on paternity leave won’t significantly change a declining birth rate,” he added. He also unveiled a plan aimed at boosting the uptake of paternity leave by encouraging firms to disclose their performance. But he saw a silver lining in encouraging paternity leave.

Hong Kong CNN —Chinese authorities have closed the Beijing office of Mintz Group, an American corporate due diligence firm, and detained five local staff, the company said Friday. In a statement provided to CNN, Mintz Group, which is based in New York, said it had not received any official legal notice regarding a case against the company and had requested that authorities release its employees. It also follows unusually direct comments by Chinese leader Xi Jinping targeting the United States, accusing Washington of trying to “contain” and “suppress” China. In 2013, Shanghai authorities arrested Peter Humphrey, a former British journalist turned corporate investigator, and his American wife and business partner Yu Yingzeng, who operated consultancy company, ChinaWhys. Humphrey was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison, while Yu received a two-year sentence.

☆ New Zealand to become the latest country to ban TikTok in parliament
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Chris Lau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Hong Kong CNN —New Zealand will ban TikTok on all devices with access to its parliament by the end of this month, becoming the latest country to impose an official bar on the popular social media platform owned by a Beijing-based tech conglomerate. Led by the United States, a growing number of Western nations are imposing restrictions on the use of TikTok on government devices citing national security concerns. The United States, UK and Canada have ordered the removal of the app from all government phones, citing cybersecurity concerns. The short video sharing app has more than 100 million users in the United States alone. China has accused the United States of “unreasonably suppressing” TikTok and spreading “false information” about data security.

☆ Hi-res art scans from Taiwan's National Palace Museum leak online -- and turn up for sale on Chinese online shopping platform
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Chris Lau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

The National Palace Museum in Taipei said Tuesday it had reached out to Taobao, a shopping website popular in mainland China, to prevent the images from spreading. “We are looking into it and have hired lawyers to raise to Taobao about the intellectual properties and damages involved,” said deputy museum director Huang Yung-tai. In its statement, the National Palace Museum said they first identified the leak in June last year and it launched an investigation into the matter two months later. The National Palace Museum’s collection is a major bone of contention between Taiwan and China. Much of its vast collection of artifacts were once housed at the Palace Museum in Beijing’s Forbidden City – treasures that have already survived two wars.

Several businesses specializing in selling lingerie through livestreaming have had their sessions cut short after they featured a female model and their brush with internet censorship came to light in January. A man poses in a white dress and robe set posted on Chinese video-sharing platform Douyin on December 17, 2022. The emergence of male lingerie models has caused mixed views online in China, from merriment and annoyance to reluctant acceptance. Male models are not the only workaround. Even outside of China, platforms such as Facebook and Instagram have faced criticism for restricting the sharing of images involving partial nudity, especially of women.

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