Tag - social

 
 

SOCIAL

Demonstrators inside the U.S. Capitol after breaching barricades on Jan. 6, 2021
WORLD / Society
Jan 8, 2025
Violent extremism lingers online with U.S. flagging less content
Donald Trump’s return to the White House promises to cement the hands-off approach toward online behavior.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg tries on a pair of Orion augmented reality glasses at the Meta Connect annual event at the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, California, on Sept. 25.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 8, 2025
Meta shelves fact-checking in policy reversal ahead of Trump inauguration
It plans to implement on Facebook, Instagram and Threads a system of "community notes" similar to that used on rival X.
Runaway youths have recently been gathering in areas such as the Toyoko area of the Kabukicho entertainment district in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward, where they often get into trouble.
JAPAN
Jan 7, 2025
Japan to allow youths to stay at shelters without parental consent
Those under the age of 18 will be able to use shelters even if obtaining prior consent from those with parental authority is expected to be difficult.
Signage at the TikTok offices in Singapore, on Aug. 4, 2023
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 7, 2025
TikTok ban thrusts Apple and Google into U.S.-China geopolitical fray
TikTok creators are posting videos promoting ways to get around a looming shutdown of the app in the U.S., which could spell trouble for companies required to enforce the ban.
TikTok has discovered that their TikTok Live feature has facilitated money laundering, allowed users to sell drugs and fund terrorism, according to a new lawsuit, which also accuses the social media company's livestream feature of exploiting and "grooming” minors to perform sexual content.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 6, 2025
TikTok’s live video feature ‘groomed’ minors, Utah AG claims
Tiktok has emphasized its commitment to enforcing its policies and said it shut down more than 45 million streams last year.
Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol rally near his official residence in Seoul on Friday morning. Right-wing YouTube​rs helped Yoon win his election. They are now his allies in the wake of his botched imposition of martial law.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 5, 2025
How fear and conspiracy theories fuel South Korea’s political crisis
Right-wing YouTube​rs helped President Yoon Suk Yeol​ win his election. They are now his allies in the wake of his botched imposition of martial law.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk attends a conference organized by the European Jewish Association in Krakow, Poland, in January 2024.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jan 4, 2025
Musk projects his hard-right influence in Europe
The multibillionaire has demanded new elections in Britain, promoted Germany's far-right, blasted the European Commission — and that's just the start.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World / The Year Ahead
Jan 3, 2025
AI has not yet destroyed democracy
The worst predictions about AI disrupting the democratic process were not borne out in 2024.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump speaks to Brendan Carr, his intended pick for Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), as he attends a viewing of the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket, in Brownsville, Texas, on Nov. 19.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 31, 2024
Social media companies face global tug-of-war over free speech
Trump’s return to the White House is expected to widen the free speech divide that has long existed between the United States and Europe.
According to the National Police Agency, a total of 3,326 romance scam were reported in the first 11 months of this year, more than double that in the same period of last year.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 30, 2024
'For our future together': The rising threat of romance scams in Japan
The prevalence of such scams, which prey on the lonely, has led authorities to step up measures to crack down on scammers who are often not even in the country.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump filed a brief on Friday urging the Supreme Court to pause a law that would ban TikTok the day before his Jan. 20 inauguration if it is not sold by its Chinese owner ByteDance.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 28, 2024
Trump asks Supreme Court to pause law threatening TikTok ban
Trump said the court should give him time after his Jan. 20 inauguration to "seek a negotiated resolution” of the dispute over the social media platform.
International students and others participate in a disaster preparedness drill in Osaka City, where disaster information was conveyed in foreign languages.
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2024
Noto quake inspires more focus on getting disaster info to non-Japanese
The earthquake that struck the Noto Peninsula on Jan. 1 highlighted the need to help foreign nationals who do not speak Japanese be more informed.
A disinformation graphic spread via Telegram before a Russian offensive in Ukraine's Kharkiv region. The Kremlin has deployed its sophisticated propaganda machinery to justify its offensive in Ukraine, and China is learning from Russian influence tactics.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 25, 2024
China is taking a page from Russia’s disinformation playbook
Russian and Chinese influence operations are increasingly similar and complementary, showing how the two regimes are collaborating to dominate the information space.
Christians take selfies after a Christmas Eve Mass at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Banda Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia, on Tuesday, ahead of the 20th anniversary of a magnitude 9.1 earthquake that struck the coast of Sumatra on Dec. 26, 2004, triggering a huge tsunami across the Indian Ocean.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 25, 2024
Blogs to Bluesky: Social media shifts responses after 2004 tsunami
In two decades, the online social media landscape has experienced a vast change, allowing information — as well as rumor and misinformation — to flow in real time.
Tomoko Yamashita, head of the NPO that runs Park. Youth & Books & Design, says she wants to make the facility a place where older teens can feel secure.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Dec 23, 2024
New facility offers truant high school students a place to feel at home
Himitsukichi, a nonprofit group, has renovated an old, vacant house to turn it into a site for older teens.
The rise of TikTok has drawn intense scrutiny, particularly over its links to China.
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
Dec 22, 2024
One billion users, but controversies mount up for TikTok
In Washington, the platform has been accused of espionage, while the EU suspects it was used to sway Romania's presidential election in favor of a far-right candidate.
Fire trucks gather around a building in Sapporo’s Susukino entertainment district on Nov. 26.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 20, 2024
Sapporo arson suspect dies in hospital
Police still intend to submit the arson case to prosecutors and are committed to piecing together the events that led to the blaze.
A screen shot from YouTube user @lagelda shows the simplicity of going viral in Japan in 2024: A cat dancing to EDM in front of a green screen.
LIFE / Digital / Japan Pulse
Dec 17, 2024
Curiosity didn’t kill the meme: Why cats still rule Japanese YouTube
Cat memes continued to thrive and evolve in 2024. In Japan, they're not just for jokes — they’re for storytelling, venting and a little therapy.
185 content moderators sued Meta last year, saying they had lost their jobs for trying to organize a union.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 16, 2024
Meta contractor dismissed threats to moderators by Ethiopia rebels: court documents
Court documents say that Meta allegedly ignored advice from experts it hired to tackle hate speech in Ethiopia.
Children eat at a <i>kodomo shokudo</i> in the city of Osaka. The number of such cafeterias, which provide free or low-cost meals to children in need, has surpassed 10,000 nationwide.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 13, 2024
Number of cafeterias for children in need hits record high in Japan
There are now more kodomo shokudo, which offer free or low-cost meals, than elementary and junior high schools.

Longform

Eme-Ima Kitchen is one of over 10,000 kodomo shokudō in Japan. A term first used in 2012 to describe makeshift eateries offering free or cheap meals to disadvantaged kids, it now refers to a diverse range of individuals, groups and organizations working to provide not only food but a sense of belonging to both children and adults.
Japan’s ‘children’s cafeterias’ are booming — but is that a good thing?