Two British studies report Omicron patients were hospitalised less than those with Delta; South Korea reports a record 109 deaths from Covid in one day as pressure on medical services mountsChina locks down 13 million people in northern city of Xi’anRi…
China Regulators Suspend Alibaba Cloud Partnership Over Log4Shell Reporting
AltMachine writes: “Chinese regulators on Wednesday suspended an information-sharing partnership with Alibaba Cloud Computing, a subsidiary of e-commerce conglomerate Alibaba Group, over accusations it failed to promptly report and address [the Log4She…
To protect the future of the internet, US-led tech diplomacy must change tack
The TechCrunch Global Affairs Project examines the increasingly intertwined relationship between the tech sector and global politics.
The long haul of Microsoft’s China localization
In 2019, when LinkedIn began asking for Chinese users’ phone numbers, it was clear that the professional social network would have to follow a different set of rules in the country. But it realized simply setting up the real-name verification regime required by Chinese authorities wasn’t enough; it faced a mounting task of balancing censorship […]
Voi scooters raises $115M Series D round as it preps to enter new cities — and for an IPO
The European e-scooter market is currently the main battleground for companies playing in the micromobility space, taking advantage as they are of Europe’s relatively compact cities and the desire of populations to move to more sustainable transportation. In 2021, players like Tier, Voi and Dott continued to raise VC backing. But the war for funding […]
India’s Cars24, a used-vehicle sales platform, raises $400M, now at a $3.3B valuation, to double down on growth
With supply chains in the automotive industry continuing to be disrupted due to Covid-19, demand has surged in the used-car market. Today, one of the startups that’s seeing a lot of growth as a result of that is announcing a big round of funding to further tap the opportunity. Cars24, a startup out of India […]
Putin and Xi’s evolving disinformation playbooks pose new threats
The TechCrunch Global Affairs Project examines the increasingly intertwined relationship between the tech sector and global politics.
Beatings, Doxxings, Harassment: the War Over Chinese Wikipedia
The Wikimedia Foundation banned seven high-level users in September and temporarily demoted a dozen others for abuses “unprecedented in scope and nature.” Slashdot reader harrymcc explains:
The foundation accused these volunteers of biasing it in favo…
Gift Guide: Extremely Online books
If you can’t read a good book without stopping every few pages to tweet about it, you might be what we call Extremely Online. You unabashedly distinguish between real life and digital life by using phrases like IRL versus URL, you disabled the Screen Time app on your iPhone because you don’t need that kind of judgement. Maybe you’re so online that it’s your job to write about social media, and even when you’re not working, you’re still thinking about the vice grip that Meta has on your life. Okay, that last one hit a bit too close to home.
Amazon Partnered With China Propaganda Arm
Amazon bent over backwards to sell kindle and cloud services in China, Reuters reported on Friday. The company attempted to curry favor with Beijing by promoting President Xiâ(TM)s books as “best sellers,” censoring reviews of propaganda films and…