In a meeting at Beijing’s Diaoyutai state guest house, where China’s leaders have traditionally received senior foreign visitors, Xi said he was very happy to see the Microsoft MSFT.O co-founder and philanthropist after three years, and that Gates was the first American friend he had met this year.

“I often say the foundation of US-China relations lies with its people. I place my hopes on the American people,” a video published by state broadcaster CCTV showed Xi as saying.

“With the current global situation, we can carry out various activities beneficial to our two countries and people, activities that benefit humanity as a whole,” he said.

Gates, who arrived in Beijing on Wednesday, June 14, said he was “honored” to have the chance to meet. “We’ve always had great conversations and we’ll have lot of important topics to discuss today…. It’s very exciting to be back.”

In a post on his personal blog, Gates said he and Xi had discussed global health and development challenges such as health inequity and climate change.

Xi stopped traveling abroad for nearly three years as China shut its borders during the coronavirus pandemic and his international meetings since the reopening have mostly been with other state leaders.

A number of CEOs have visited China since it reopened early this year, but most have met with government ministers.

Gates stepped down from Microsoft’s board in 2020 to focus on philanthropy in the fields of global health, education and climate change.

The last reported meeting between Xi and Gates was in 2015, when they met on the sidelines of the Boao forum in Hainan province. In early 2020, Xi wrote to Gates thanking him and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for pledging assistance to China, including $5 million for its fight against COVID-19.

Xi also discussed the global rise of artificial intelligence(AI) with Bill Gates and said he welcomed US firms including Microsoft bringing their AI tech to China, two sources familiar with the talks said.

One of the sources said they also discussed Microsoft’s business development in China.

Not pursuing hegemony

The mood of the foreign business community towards China has turned more cautious as Sino-US tensions intensify and Xi increases China’s focus on national security.

Gates’ visit comes ahead of a long-delayed trip to China by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken aimed at stabilizing relations between the world’s two largest economies and strategic rivals.

Blinken had a tense call with China’s foreign minister Qin Gang on Wednesday, during which Qin urged the United States to stop meddling in its affairs and harming its security.

During his meeting with Gates, Xi said China would not follow the old path of a “strong country seeking hegemony” but would work with other countries to achieve common development, according to the People’s Daily newspaper. China often accuses the United States of pursuing hegemony.

Apart from meeting Xi, Gates gave a speech at the Global Health Drug Discovery Institute about the need to use technology to solve global health challenges during his visit.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Beijing municipal government, which founded the institute with Tsinghua University, also pledged to each provide $50 million to bolster the institute’s drug discovery capacity. – Rappler.com

“Ngayong gabi (June 15) ay namalayan namin na na-hack ang opisyal na Facebook account ng Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino. Humihingi po kami ng paumanhin sa mga nakatunghay sa larawan na hindi angkop na matagpuan sa aming page. Ginagawa na po namin ang lahat upang maalis ang naturang larawan, ngunit sa ngayon ay hindi pa namin ma-access ang account. Maraming salamat po sa inyong pang-unawa,” Barrios-Taran wrote.

(Tonight, we noticed that the official Facebook page of the Komisyong ng Wikang Filipino was hacked. We apologize to everyone who saw the image that is inappropriate for our page. We’ve done what we can to remove the said image, but as of now, we can’t access the account. Thank you for your understanding.)

An image showing a scantily clad woman was seen as an ephemeral Story post on the KWF page.

The KWF’s official statement said that the page was hacked through a piece of malware that was able to bypass Facebook’s security protocols. The agency has reported the incident to the National Bureau of Investigation’s cybercrime division and to the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).

In April, the Davao traffic office’s page was vandalized with soft porn videos. In August 2022, the KWF website became inaccessible after it barred the distribution of books it deemed “anti-government.” – Rappler.com

During Summer Game Fest: Play Days, I was fortunate enough to take part in a hands-off preview of Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon where producer Yasunori Ogura walked us through a live gameplay presentation… but not before explaining the game and its features first.

You can imagine that the wait to see actual gameplay was unbearable for every one of us in the room during that time, even though it was just a few minutes.

Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon is the latest installment in the long-running mech action series that gives players the power to create their own Armored Cores to take into battle. If you’ve played any of the previous games, you’ll know that the crux of the game lies in its customization and taking these mechs to battle with a plethora of parts to choose from that will give players unmatched freedom and playstyle diversity.

Ogura discussed 3 pillars that the team at FromSoftware took into account while developing Armored Core VI – 3D level design with a sense of scale, assembling the battle design, and experiencing a sense of accomplishment through overcoming difficulties. These are clearly evident in other titles from the developer, and players can expect these trademark elements to once again make an appearance in the game.

While similar, the game has a fundamental difference that separates it from the rest – the use of a mech. With the mech as the main focus of the game, traversal and movement all take on a larger sense of speed and scale, which directly feeds into level design. Players can expect levels to be vast with a sense of verticality that can only be possible with a mech’s mobility and cannot be reproduced with a human protagonist.

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A hands-off demo was shown to us and was controlled expertly by a FromSoftware Staff member, and immediately you can see how huge the levels are, with multiple levels of verticality that can be taken advantage of with the boosters of the mech. Movement is smooth and fluid, and dodging enemies will require agility from the player. Not all platforms will be connected to each other, so players will have to use their boosters to traverse the level with some light platforming.

Basic enemies are quite easy to kill, as the mech used can utilize a number of weapons such as missiles and a beam sword. Players can even use a scan ability to see enemy placements through walls that will allow for pre-planning. Even these basic enemies have sufficient firepower, so maneuvering while on land or in the air against multiple enemies at the same time is crucial to survival. Boosters will also help players close the gap in an instant, giving players an option to take the fight to the enemies when the need arises.

Another thing in Armored Core VI that’s immediately noticeable is the pace during battles. These encounters are frenetic and fast-paced, and will require players to act accordingly. While offense is oftentimes the best solution, strafing and using shields while looking for opportunities to counterattack will be crucial tools for survival. Players will have to learn to weave in and out in quick succession, something that isn’t normally possible with previous titles like Elden Ring.

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Towards the end of the demo, we were treated to a quick look at customization options, where we can see multiple back unit, generator, and leg options with varying stats like attack power, impact, total rounds, weight, cooling, and much more. This is Armored Core at its best, so many minutes and hours will be spent choosing which setup works the best for given situations. There’s a lot to take in, and we can only assume that all of these statistics will need to be taken into consideration when building a mech.

As is a trademark with Armored Core games, changing these components will also change not only the way your mech will look like, but also how it will perform. We didn’t get to see too much variety for now, but we can only assume that FromSoftware will be including most or all of the parts from previous titles like tank legs, reverse joints, and much more, all of which will bring noticeable changes to playstyle.

Closing out the Armored Core VI demo was an impressive battle against a boss, which was many times bigger than the player mech. The battle is definitely a careful dance, and bosses can be staggered to allow for more damage. Player skill will be equally as important as the loadout used, so careful planning is also required. It’s been confirmed that these boss battles will be a definite highlight of the game, and it’s easy to see how that’s the case with this single fight.

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Just through these small gameplay snippets, Armored Core VI is definitely shaping up to be another must-play FromSoftware title. While some gameplay elements will be similar to past FromSoftware games, the overall feel of using a mech and the advantages that come along with it is a critical difference, and the gameplay we saw captured that essence perfectly.

We’re still a couple of months away from release but can tell you right now that the wait is truly unbearable. It’s been a long time coming for Armored Core fans, and with all of the learnings throughout the years, FromSoftware looks poised to deliver another banger. – Rappler.com

This article also appears on One More Game, Rappler’s coverage partner for Summer Game Fest 2023.

Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon is launching on August 25, 2023, for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, and PC.

It’s been 25 years since Bethesda – the studio behind the acclaimed Elder Scrolls and Fallout games – released an original IP, and Starfield is a mammoth of a game that takes us to the edge of the known universe. Planets are fully explorable as described by game director Todd Howard, and from where you stand, you can fully explore the planet that you’re in and then the moon that’s close by.

Starfield goes beyond just exploration, and at the heart of it is Bethesda’s DNA of complete freedom while putting the player at the center of the story. It will be your adventure and how you shape it to be.

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Starfield Direct stresses that the universe in question is not just one world like in Fallout or Skyrim, but over 1,000 worlds that can be explored either in 1st person or 3rd person. The developers aptly described the visual look of Starfield as “NASA-punk”. It is grounded in the realism and majesty of the golden age of space travel and the rebellious flair of Bethesda.

There is a premium on character choice as you explore the vast galaxy – from the UC Headquarters New Atlantis, to a mining colony in Cydonia, as well as the “Wild West” of Akila City, and finally to the vastly dangerous Unclaimed Systems. The story that you will be writing is your own as you encounter several player characters that become companions that unlock unique story questlines as well as your encounters with factions such as pirates, the Constellation, and The Free Star Collective.

Character creation is simple yet as robust as it can be, where you could start off with 40 diverse presets. Starfield Direct stresses on how the characters can be created based on their backgrounds and traits, which determines your origins and progress. A Wanted Trait can give you a boost in defense, but you’ll be facing off against bounty hunters while another trait can give you access to an adoring fan, obviously a reference to a Bethesda game of old.

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Character Skills are improved via Ranks as you complete challenges with skills. Combat has been vastly improved since the last time we saw the game and it’s a lot more fluid this time around. The action is unfortunately locked at 30FPS though, and is a “creative choice” from the developers in order to keep the visual fidelity intact.

A massive premium has been put into the ship customization as it will be your home away from home. You can take a generalist approach to improve the stats of the ship or really deep dive into the augmentations of the ship’s specific parts.

Starfield Special Editions revealed

The Starfield Direct not only provided information about gameplay but also revealed a special Constellation Edition that truly reaches for the stars.

The Starfield Constellation Edition includes the following:

• Starfield base game
• Shattered Space Story Expansion (upon release)
• Up to five days early access
• Starfield Chronomark watch and case (The Starfield Chronomark watch does not transmit phone calls, does not support cellular service, and is not a touch screen device.)
• SteelBook display case
• Constellation Skin Pack: Equinox Laser Rifle, Spacesuit, Helmet, and Boost Pack
• Access to Starfield digital artbook and original soundtrack
• Constellation patch
• Credit Stick with laser-etched game code

If the Constellation Edition is too expensive for you, then the Limited Edition Controller and Headset might be right down your alley. Bethesda Games Studios and the Xbox hardware team created this set that features the control scheme, design, and color palette of your ship, The Frontier.

The Starfield Limited Edition Xbox headset is the first-ever custom headset created by Xbox. It matches the controller with the metallic bronze finish and transparent panels. Both items are available for purchase while supplies last.

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Starfield is launching on September 6, 2023 exclusively for the Xbox Series X|S, PC, and will be available Day 1 on Xbox Game Pass. – Rappler.com

This story also appears on One More Game, Rappler’s coverage partner for the Summer Game Fest 2023.

The amendments to the EU Commission’s proposed landmark law aimed at protecting citizens from the dangers of the technology could set up a clash with EU countries opposed to a total ban on AI use in biometric surveillance.

The rapid adoption of Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s ChatGPT and other bots has led top AI scientists and company executives including Tesla’s Elon Musk and OpenAI’s Sam Altman to raise the potential risks posed to society.

“While Big Tech companies are sounding the alarm over their own creations, Europe has gone ahead and proposed a concrete response to the risks AI is starting to pose,” said Brando Benifei, co-rapporteur of the bill.

Among other changes, European Union lawmakers want any company using generative tools to disclose copyrighted material used to train its systems and for companies working on “high-risk application” to do a fundamental rights impact assessment and evaluate environmental impact.

Systems like ChatGPT would have to disclose that the content was AI-generated, help distinguish so-called deep-fake images from real ones and ensure safeguards against illegal content.

Microsoft and IBM welcomed the latest move by EU lawmakers but looked forward to further refinement of the proposed legislation.

“We believe that AI requires legislative guardrails, alignment efforts at an international level, and meaningful voluntary actions by companies that develop and deploy AI,” a Microsoft spokesperson said.

The lawmakers will now have to thrash out details with EU countries before the draft rules become legislation.

‘AI is intrinsically good’

While most big tech companies acknowledge the risks posed by AI, others like Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, have dismissed warnings about the potential dangers.

“AI is intrinsically good, because the effect of AI is to make people smarter,” Meta’s chief AI scientist Yann LeCun said at a conference in Paris on Wednesday.

In the current draft EU law, AI systems that could be used to influence voters and the outcome of elections and systems used by social media platforms with over 45 million users were added to the high-risk list.

Meta and Twitter will fall under that classification.

“AI raises a lot of questions – socially, ethically, economically. But now is not the time to hit any ‘pause button’. On the contrary, it is about acting fast and taking responsibility,” EU industry chief Thierry Breton said.

He said he would travel to the United States next week to meet Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and OpenAI’s Altman to discuss the draft AI Act.

The Commission announced the draft rules two years ago, aiming to setting a global standard for a technology key to almost every industry and business as the EU seeks to catch up to AI leaders the United States and China. – Rappler.com

Data was “compromised” at two entities within the energy department when hackers gained access through a security flaw in MOVEit Transfer, the department said in a statement.

A DOE official said those entities were the DOE contractor Oak Ridge Associated Universities, and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant – the New Mexico-based facility for disposal of defense-related nuclear waste.

British energy giant Shell, the University System of Georgia, the Johns Hopkins University and the Johns Hopkins Health System were also hit, all three groups said in separate statements. The latter is a nonprofit that collaborates with the university and runs six hospitals and primary care centers.

The new victims add to a growing list of entities in the US, Britain and other countries whose systems were infiltrated through the MOVEit Transfer software. The hackers took advantage of a security flaw that its maker, Progress Software, discovered late last month.

The Russia-linked extortion group Cl0p, which has claimed credit for the MOVEit hack, earlier said in a statement that it would not exploit any data taken from government agencies, and that it had erased all such data. It did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.

The US Cybsecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said it was helping several federal agencies that had been breached, but did not name them.

“At this time, we are not tracking any significant impacts to the federal civilian executive branch (.gov) enterprise but are continuing to work with our partners on this issue,” the agency said in a statement.

The energy department, which manages US nuclear infrastructure and energy policy, said it had notified Congress of the breach and is participating in investigations with law enforcement and CISA.

A Shell spokesperson said there was no evidence of impact to Shell’s core IT systems from the MOVEit Transfer-related breach. “There are around 50 users of the tool, and we are urgently investigating what data may have been impacted,” she added.

Johns Hopkins also said it was “investigating a recent cybersecurity attack targeting a widely used software tool that affected our networks.”

The University System of Georgia, which groups about 26 public colleges, said it was “evaluating the scope and severity of this potential data exposure” from the MOVEit hack.

Large organizations including the UK’s telecom regulator, British Airways, the BBC and drugstore chain Boots emerged as victims last week.

CISA did not immediately respond to requests seeking further comment. The FBI and National Security Agency also did not immediately respond to emails seeking details on the breaches.

A MOVEit spokesperson said the company had “engaged with federal law enforcement” and was working with customers to help them apply fixes to their systems.

Progress Software’s shares ended down 6.1% on Thursday. The company disclosed another “critical vulnerability” it found in MOVEit Transfer on Thursday, although it was not clear whether it had been exploited by hackers.

MOVEit Transfer is a popular tool used by organizations to share sensitive information with partners or customers. It could be used by a bank’s customers, for instance, to upload their financial data for loan applications, said John Hammond, a security researcher at Huntress.

“There’s a whole lot of potential for what an adversary might be able to get into,” he said earlier this month. – Rappler.com

The Google parent has advised employees not to enter its confidential materials into AI chatbots, the people said and the company confirmed, citing long-standing policy on safeguarding information.

The chatbots, among them Bard and ChatGPT, are human-sounding programs that use so-called generative artificial intelligence to hold conversations with users and answer myriad prompts. Human reviewers may read the chats, and researchers found that similar AI could reproduce the data it absorbed during training, creating a leak risk.

Alphabet also alerted its engineers to avoid direct use of computer code that chatbots can generate, some of the people said.

Asked for comment, the company said Bard can make undesired code suggestions, but it helps programmers nonetheless. Google also said it aimed to be transparent about the limitations of its technology.

The concerns show how Google wishes to avoid business harm from software it launched in competition with ChatGPT. At stake in Google’s race against ChatGPT’s backers OpenAI and Microsoft Corp. are billions of dollars of investment and still untold advertising and cloud revenue from new AI programs.

Google’s caution also reflects what’s becoming a security standard for corporations, namely to warn personnel about using publicly-available chat programs.

A growing number of businesses around the world have set up guardrails on AI chatbots, among them Samsung, Amazon.com, and Deutsche Bank, the companies told Reuters. Apple, which did not return requests for comment, reportedly has as well.

Some 43% of professionals were using ChatGPT or other AI tools as of January, often without telling their bosses, according to a survey of nearly 12,000 respondents including from top US-based companies, done by the networking site Fishbowl.

By February, Google told staff testing Bard before its launch not to give it internal information, Insider reported. Now Google is rolling out Bard to more than 180 countries and in 40 languages as a springboard for creativity, and its warnings extend to its code suggestions.

Google told Reuters it has had detailed conversations with Ireland’s Data Protection Commission and is addressing regulators’ questions, after a Politico report Tuesday that the company was postponing Bard’s EU launch this week pending more information about the chatbot’s impact on privacy.

Worries about sensitive information

Such technology can draft emails, documents, even software itself, promising to vastly speed up tasks. Included in this content, however, can be misinformation, sensitive data or even copyrighted passages from a “Harry Potter” novel.

A Google privacy notice updated on June 1 also states: “Don’t include confidential or sensitive information in your Bard conversations.”

Some companies have developed software to address such concerns. For instance, Cloudflare, which defends websites against cyberattacks and offers other cloud services, is marketing a capability for businesses to tag and restrict some data from flowing externally.

Google and Microsoft also are offering conversational tools to business customers that will come with a higher price tag but refrain from absorbing data into public AI models. The default setting in Bard and ChatGPT is to save users’ conversation history, which users can opt to delete.

It “makes sense” that companies would not want their staff to use public chatbots for work, said Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s consumer chief marketing officer.

“Companies are taking a duly conservative standpoint,” said Mehdi, explaining how Microsoft’s free Bing chatbot compares with its enterprise software. “There, our policies are much more strict.”

Microsoft declined to comment on whether it has a blanket ban on staff entering confidential information into public AI programs, including its own, though a different executive there told Reuters he personally restricted his use.

Matthew Prince, CEO of Cloudflare, said that typing confidential matters into chatbots was like “turning a bunch of PhD students loose in all of your private records.” – Rappler.com

US District Judge Edward Davila on Tuesday had set a June 22-23 evidentiary hearing in San Francisco and temporarily blocked the companies from completing the deal pending a decision by another judge on the same court on whether to grant a preliminary injunction.

The hearing will focus on whether to put the deal on hold while an administrative judge considers the case. But the companies said if a temporary hold is granted they would have to drop the deal altogether because the “glacial” pace of the FTC review would make waiting impractical.

“Time is of the essence,” the companies wrote in a court filing, noting that the agreement has a termination date of July 18 and contains a $3 billion termination fee that Microsoft would have to pay.

“Let there be no doubt, a preliminary injunction ruling is the only decision that matters under these challenging deadlines.”

The FTC declined to comment.

The companies asked the court to schedule a minimum of five days for an evidentiary hearing beginning on June 22 and running through the week of June 26. They also asked for a case management conference to be set for Thursday but emphasized they were not seeking to delay a resolution by asking for a longer evidentiary hearing.

If the court grants the FTC preliminary injunction “it will effectively block the transaction because the FTC’s process is ‘glacial’ and one no substantial business transaction could ever survive,” Microsoft and Activision wrote citing a 1986 case.

The hearing in the FTC administrative proceeding is set to begin Aug. 2.

The FTC has argued the transaction would give Microsoft’s video game console Xbox exclusive access to Activision games, leaving Nintendo consoles and Sony Group Corp’s PlayStation out in the cold.

Microsoft’s bid to acquire the Call of Duty video game maker was approved by the EU in May, but British competition authorities blocked the takeover in April. – Rappler.com

HONG KONG – Various versions of the pro-democracy protest anthem “Glory to Hong Kong” were unavailable on Apple’s iTunes Store, Spotify, KKBOX, Facebook, and Instagram’s Reels on Wednesday, June 14, after the government sought an injunction banning the song outright.

A Reuters search for the song’s Chinese title on Apple’s iTunes Store and KKBOX and a search for the song’s English title on Facebook and Instagram’s Reels only showed a Taiwan version of the song by Taiwanese rock band The Chairman.

The song was the unofficial anthem of Hong Kong’s 2019 sometimes violent pro-democracy street protests.

Various versions of the song released by the creator “ThomasDGX & HongKongers” on Spotify were no longer available.

Spotify said the song was taken down by the distributor, not by its platform.

DGX Music, the music group behind the song, said on their Facebook page that they “are dealing with some technical issues unrelated to the streaming platform”.

“Sorry for bringing the temporary impact. Thank you every audience!” DGX Music wrote.

The injunction application comes after “Glory to Hong Kong” was played mistakenly at several international events, including a Rugby Sevens game and an ice hockey competition.

The song was banned in schools in 2020 after China imposed a national security law on the financial hub cracking down on dissent.

The city’s leader, John Lee, said in a regular government press conference on Tuesday that the song was “not compatible with the national interest”.

“Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has a duty and obligation to safeguard national security, and we should do it proactively and also preventively,” Lee said.

The head of Amnesty International’s China team, Sarah Brooks, said in a statement that “a song is not a threat to national security, and national security may not be used as an excuse to deny people the right to express different political views.”

Hong Kong returned from British to Chinese rule in 1997 with the guarantee its freedoms, including freedom of speech, would be protected under a “one country, two systems” formula. Critics of the national security law say those freedoms have eroded swiftly.

According to a writ seen by Reuters, the government seeks to ban performing and disseminating of the song, including online, its melody and lyrics and any adaptations.

The writ also listed 32 YouTube videos related to the song, including instrumental and sign-language versions. The application for an interim injunction will be heard by the High Court on July 21.

The government asked anyone who opposes the injunction to contact police by June 21 and provide their name, address, telephone number and identity card number.

“Glory to Hong Kong”, including its various versions, dominated the top 10 in Apple’s Hong Kong iTunes Store chart as people rushed to buy the song after the government announced its bid to ban it.

Overseas Hongkongers have launched a global appeal to radio stations around the world to broadcast the song. Radio stations in Australia, France, Ukraine, Denmark and Estonia have played the song.

Apple, KKBOX and Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Meta, which owned Facebook and Instagram, has declined to comment.

Hong Kong does not have its own anthem. “Glory to Hong Kong” has been played mistakenly instead of the Chinese national anthem “March of the Volunteers”. The Asia Rugby Association blamed “a simple human error” for its mistake.

Hong Kong’s security chief said in December Google had refused to change its search results to display China’s national anthem instead of “Glory to Hong Kong” when users searched for Hong Kong’s national anthem, expressing “great regret” at the decision. – Rappler.com

Southeast Asia, a region with a collective population of 630 million – half of them under 30 – is one of TikTok’s biggest markets in terms of user numbers.

But the platform has yet to translate the large user base into a major e-commerce revenue source in the region as it faces fierce competition from bigger rivals of Sea’s Shopee, Alibaba’s Lazada and GoTo’s Tokopedia.

“We’re going to invest billions of dollars in Indonesia and Southeast Asia over the next few years,” TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said at a forum it organized in Jakarta to highlight the social and economic impact of the app in the region.

He said content on its platform was becoming more diversified as it adds more users and expands beyond advertising into e-commerce, allowing consumers to purchase goods through links on the app during livestreaming.

Chew said TikTok has 8,000 employees in Southeast Asia, and 2 million small vendors selling their wares on its platform in Indonesia, the region’s biggest economy.

The investment plan comes as the Chinese-owned company faces scrutiny from some governments and regulators because of concerns that Beijing could use the app to harvest user data or advance its interests.

Countries including Britain and New Zealand have banned the app on government phones, moves TikTok said it believed were based on “fundamental misconceptions” and driven by wider geopolitics.

TikTok has repeatedly denied that it has ever shared data with the Chinese government and has said the company would not do so if asked.

The app has not faced major bans on government devices in Southeast Asia, but it has been under scrutiny over its content.

Indonesia presented one of its first major global policy challenges in 2018, after authorities briefly banned TikTok for posts they said contained “pornography, inappropriate content, and blasphemy.”

In Vietnam, regulators said it would probe TikTok’s operations in the country because “toxic” content on the platform poses a threat to its “youth, culture and tradition.” – Rappler.com