Tencent challenges e-commerce rivals with new gift-giving feature on WeChat

Tencent challenges e-commerce rivals with new gift-giving feature on WeChat

China’s super app WeChat, owned by Tencent Holdings, has added a gift-giving feature to its embedded e-commerce platform ahead of Christmas, allowing users to send presents to their friends. Shoppers can search for products by keywords. According to the official guidelines, all gifts available are priced 10,000 yuan (US$1,375) or under, and they exclude jewellery … Read more

Walmart partners with China’s Meituan for 30-minute deliveries ‘anytime, anywhere’

Walmart partners with China’s Meituan for 30-minute deliveries ‘anytime, anywhere’

US retail giant Walmart is teaming up with Chinese on-demand delivery giant Meituan, promising speedy door-to-door service on the mainland, four months after it sold its stake JD.com, winding down the long-time partnership. Walmart’s China unit said on its official WeChat account that all of its stores across the country are now listed on Meituan’s … Read more

US asks court to reject TikTok’s bid to stave off law that could ban the app

US asks court to reject TikTok’s bid to stave off law that could ban the app

The Justice Department late on Wednesday asked a US appeal court to reject an emergency bid by TikTok to temporarily block a law that would require its Chinese parent company ByteDance to divest the short-video app by January 19 or face a ban. TikTok and ByteDance on Monday filed the emergency motion with the US … Read more

China warns foreign spies are hiring teens to steal state secrets and sensitive data

China warns foreign spies are hiring teens to steal state secrets and sensitive data

China’s top anti-espionage agency has warned that foreign agents are recruiting Chinese teenagers to collect sensitive information, exploiting their lack of judgment and awareness of national security risks. The Ministry of State Security said in an article posted on social media on Friday that overseas intelligence agencies “package illegal activities and set traps, aiming to … Read more

China’s security ministry warns state secrets being leaked in common crowdsourcing jobs

China’s security ministry warns state secrets being leaked in common crowdsourcing jobs

Foreign spy agencies are using common crowdsourcing jobs to steal state secrets, China’s top anti-espionage agency warned on Wednesday, advising the public to be cautious about the highly covert tactic. The strategy involves dividing intelligence-gathering tasks into smaller jobs and recruiting people using crowdsourcing platforms, the Ministry of State Security (MSS) said in a WeChat … Read more

China’s intelligence ministry warns of security risks from open-source information

China’s intelligence ministry warns of security risks from open-source information

China’s top intelligence agency has warned that open-source information poses threats to national security by making sensitive data vulnerable to exploitation by foreign spies. Sensitive data that is not properly declassified or assessed for risks can be publicly spread online and “become an important source of open-source intelligence” for overseas spy agencies, the Ministry of … Read more

Chinese retailer Miniso’s founder slams ByteDance-owned Douyin for exorbitant fees

Chinese retailer Miniso’s founder slams ByteDance-owned Douyin for exorbitant fees

Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok with domestic e-commerce operations, has been slammed for charging exorbitant promotion fees amid insufficient sales by the head of Chinese budget retailer Miniso Group, which runs multiple stores on the ByteDance-owned platform. Miniso founder and chief executive Ye Guofu, 47, levelled his criticism of Douyin via his WeChat post … Read more

Huawei aims for 100,000 apps on home-grown HarmonyOS Next as it gears up for Mate 70 launch

Huawei aims for 100,000 apps on home-grown HarmonyOS Next as it gears up for Mate 70 launch

Huawei Technologies has called on more developers to support its HarmonyOS mobile platform ecosystem as the Chinese tech giant gears up for the launch of its highly anticipated Mate 70 series smartphones, a move that could challenge Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android in China. “Having 100,000 applications is a symbol of maturity for the HarmonyOS … Read more

Foreign spies may be using deepfakes to target China and its people, security ministry warns

Foreign spies may be using deepfakes to target China and its people, security ministry warns

Foreign spies could be using deepfake technology to threaten both individual and national security, China’s Ministry of State Security has warned. Deepfake tools, while finding application in general industries, could be exploited by espionage agencies as a new weapon for “cognitive warfare”, the ministry said in a statement on its social media account on Saturday. … Read more

TikTok rival Kuaishou gets police warning over content moderation, child protections

TikTok rival Kuaishou gets police warning over content moderation, child protections

Chinese police have issued warnings to short video app operator Kuaishou Technology over alleged lapses in content moderation and protecting minors, according to a notice from local authorities. The Beijing-based video platform was called out for missteps that authorities say violate the country’s Cybersecurity Law, including failing to “deal in a timely manner with information … Read more