ARYANA KHALILZADEH WRITES-Social media has become a source of information, misinformation, and conspiracy theories on topics such as the pandemic, U.S. elections, and global insurrections. As Russia launched its full-scale military invasion in Ukraine, social media became flooded with various posts in the form of memes, photos, news, and heated…
NATALIA FALCHI WRITES — Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai recently shared a personal #MeToo experience on Weibo, accusing former Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli of sexual assault. But her post was removed within minutes. Zhang Gaoli of course served on the Communist Party’s Politburo Standing Committee from 2012 to 2017. Ms.…
JABBER ALSABAH WRITES — President Xi Jinping unveiled new regulations for China’s internet freedom at the World Internet Conference from November 7 – 9 in Wuzhen. Yet ironically, this international conference focused on promoting the concept of mutual trust and collective international governance based on openness, rather than restriction. Freedom…
MICHAELA MERTZ WRITES — The highly followed social media account, Feminist Voices, was suspended on International Women’s Day after initiating a discussion on issues of sexual harassment. The campaign began on March 6, when the account asked users to post their own photos about sexual harassment with the hashtag #March8againstharassment.…
TOMMY SUTJIPTO WRITES – Although heavily censored, social networking sites in China continue to grow, develop, and attract hundreds of new users daily. Indeed, marketing analysts say the country is experiencing a social boom, with users drawn by innovative digital services and slick marketing efforts. According to Benjamin Duvall at…
BRADLEY CAVANAGH WRITES – Think of it as a credit score for your standing with the Communist Party. And if it works as intended, it will preserve in China all that is good and right and true. By 2020, the Chinese government hopes to make use of big data to…
EMILY ROCHA WRITES – A new study has exposed further censorship of Chinese citizens. Following the release of a documentary exposing the high levels of air pollution in China earlier this year, it was found that users on the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, called Weibo, were censored as they discussed the…
ASIA MEDIA STAFF WRITES- After China’s Economic Reform in 1978, the open-door policy benefited many investors but also created a generation of troublemakers called “fuerdai”- the Rich Second Generation. These kids were born in the 80’s and 90’s, and their job is to brag about their wealth on the Internet.…
SHUTING LI WRITES – China is globally known for its uber-firewall and the aggressive censorship of social media. Since 2009, following the Urumqi riots, almost all non-Chinese search engines, microblogs and social media sites that people use elsewhere in the world have been gradually blocked in China. That includes services provided…
BRIAN CANAVE WRITES — It looks like Taiwanese singer Desert Chang has spark political tension with China. Again. It seems small things, such as raising a Republic of China flag during a performance, can rub some people the wrong way. Chang, a leading alternative musician from Taiwan, performed last week…
BRIAN CANAVE WRITES — Taiwanese netizens are obsessed with social media and social media giants, Facebook and Twitter, do not fail to recognize this. This is in lieu to Facebook and Twitters announcements to further tap into the potential of Taiwanese markets. But why are these companies so eager to have…
LEXIE TUCKER WRITES – It all began with a video that spread on Sina Weibo, China’s popular micro blog website. Distributed by whistle-blowing writers, the short video snippets exposed the process by which bile is removed from Asiatic black bears, prompting outrage amid animal rights lovers and activists. On August…
It is not a rhetorical question: a US immigrant officer asked a Chinese journalist this question verbatim when he applied for a visa to cover the election in U.S. The journalist was caught off guard; he had many answers to that question, but in his point of view none of…
China may be world’s second largest economy, but it is still nowhere close to utopia. Today, the world is dazzled by China’s booming financial freedom. However, there is not enough attention given to those who are still suffering. The government, of course, is working on pulling as many people out…
There are a few islands on the northeast side of Taiwan called the Diaoyu Islands, if you’re Chinese. But if you’re Japanese, you call it the Senkaku Islands. Both China and Japan claim the sovereignty of these islands, not only for national dignity but also the rich deposits of natural…
Backtrack to the dismissal of Bo Xilai, a top Chinese leader. A few months ago, scandals surrounding Bo began to surface and subsequently led to an explosion of discussion within the Chinese blogging community. The central government attempted to censor these posts one by one, but Netizens proved more than…
