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An election poster board in Tokyo in June displays candidates for last year's Tokyo gubernatorial election.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 28, 2025

Efforts to curb election chaos face uphill battle

A bill on campaign poster decency has been enacted after inappropriate posters were seen in Tokyo last year.
Victims of scam centers who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar gather at a compound inside KK Park, a fraud center on the country's border with Thailand, after a multinational crackdown in February.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Apr 2, 2025

A new human trafficking trend emerges from Myanmar scam centers

Syndicates are increasingly targeting middle- to upper-class individuals from across the world through something as harmless as online video games.
Among those arrested, 1,011 were ringleaders or individuals who gave instructions. About 90% were perpetrators, including people who received defrauded money, and around 40% became involved in the crimes through recruitment via social media.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 3, 2025

New ‘tokuryū’ crime groups outpace yakuza in arrests

The term was coined by the National Police Agency to describe a new form of criminal group that has emerged as an alternative to traditional yakuza organizations.
Social engineering scams thrive on poorly monitored social media platforms, and while the UK is pushing tougher laws to hold tech companies accountable, the U.S. resists stricter rules, believing individuals should bear responsibility for avoiding fraud.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 9, 2025

The U.K. is trying to fight social scams. The U.S. not so much.

Social engineering is one of the hardest parts of the trillion-dollar online scam industry to block or disrupt.
Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg departs after attending a Federal Trade Commission trial at a U.S. District Court in Washington on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 16, 2025

Zuckerberg defends strategy behind Instagram, WhatsApp deals

The Federal Trade Commission alleges the acquisitions of the two apps give Meta Platforms a social media monopoly, and is fighting to break up the company.
Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta, departs federal court in Washington on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 17, 2025

Meta saw TikTok as ‘highly urgent’ threat, Zuckerberg says at trial

Zuckerberg was composed, but occasionally evasive, when challenged to explain past messages indicating a concerted effort to muscle out competitors.
A video circulating on Chinese social media depicting a "U.S. sweatshop"
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 18, 2025

Chinese vent anger at Trump's trade war with memes and mockery

Chinese online warriors have taken advantage of the massive strides in AI to create memes highlighting that many of the goods bought by Americans are made in their country.
The proposal reportedly calls for a legal framework that would obligate telecom operators to store communication records for a fixed period.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 18, 2025

LDP proposal would require telecom companies to store usage records

The proposal calls for a legal framework that would obligate telecom operators to store metadata and usage records for a fixed period.
A Sudanese soldier prays in front of a burned-out armored vehicle in Khartoum, Sudan, on March 28.
WORLD
Apr 24, 2025

'No one else will': Sudan's journalists risk all to report the war

Since fighting erupted between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in April 2023, at least 28 reporters have been killed, according to Sudan's journalist union.
Japan climbed four positions from last year, with Reporters Without Borders noting that "the principles of media freedom and pluralism are generally respected" in the country.
JAPAN
May 3, 2025

Japan ranks 66th in press freedom, lowest among G7

Reporters Without Borders noted that "the principles of media freedom and pluralism are generally respected" in the country.
The imperial family attends a spring garden party at the Akasaka Imperial Gardens in Tokyo on April 22.
JAPAN
May 5, 2025

Imperial Household Agency’s YouTube channel surpasses 100,000 subscribers

Launched on April 1, the channel surpassed 100,000 subscribers in just a week.
U.S. President Donald Trump has suggested that Catholics, who have criticized an artificial intelligence-generated image of him dressed in white papal vestments, were not offended, and said that anyone who was "can’t take a joke.”
WORLD / Politics
May 6, 2025

Trump calls AI pope image a joke, but experts say it’s no laughing matter

For many Catholics, the image of the U.S. president dressed as God's representative on Earth was offensive.
Doug Cifu speaks during an event in New York in 2024.
MORE SPORTS / Ice Hockey
May 14, 2025

NHL suspends Panthers co-owner over social media posts

The NHL said in a statement Cifu had been indefinitely suspended following a barbed exchange on X.
Meta’s rapid AI chatbot rollout is raising safety concerns as critics cite inappropriate responses and poor accountability despite its access to vast user data.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 14, 2025

Meta’s defense of its rogue AI sounds painfully familiar

The social media platform Meta is going on the attack instead of worrying about its users. How did that work out the last time?
Ousted FBI Director James Comey listens during a hearing before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on Capitol Hill in Washington in June 2017.
WORLD
May 17, 2025

Ex-FBI director James Comey meets with Secret Service over '8647' post

In U.S. slang, the number 86 can be used as a verb meaning to throw somebody out of a bar for being drunk or disorderly. Trump is the 47th U.S. president.
Wendy McMahon, CEO of CBS News, speaks during the Axios BFD event in New York on Oct. 12, 2023.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 20, 2025

CBS News boss resigns amid tensions with Trump admin

"The past few months have been challenging," CEO Wendy McMahon wrote in a goodbye letter to staff. "It's become clear that the company and I do not agree on the path forward."
A man talks of his experience of being hit by a spread of fake information about him online after appearing in a reality show.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
May 23, 2025

Online defamation still pesters reality show participants

Television broadcasters and online streaming services have taken steps to support and protect cast members, but defamation has not stopped.
Requiring journalists to have escorts in much of the Pentagon building is the latest in a series of restrictions placed on the press by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration.
WORLD / Politics
May 24, 2025

Trump administration puts new limits on reporters at Pentagon

The move is the latest in a series of restrictions placed on the press by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration.
U.S. President Donald Trump talks to the press aboard Air Force One on the way to Morristown Municipal Airport in Morristown, New Jersey, on Friday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jun 7, 2025

Trump can bar AP from some White House events for now, U.S. appeals court says

The Associated Press in a statement said it was disappointed by the decision and weighing its options.
A woman near the Kremlin in Moscow on May 19
WORLD / Politics
Jun 9, 2025

Russian intelligence says it collects WeChat data. What does that mean?

The disclosure highlights the rising level of concern about Chinese influence in Russia as the two countries deepen their relationship.
Police clash with protesters who had shut down Highway 101 in Los Angeles on June 8. Misleading photographs, videos and text have spread widely on social media as protests against immigrant raids have unfolded in Los Angeles, rehashing old conspiracy theories.
WORLD
Jun 14, 2025

U.S. adversaries fuel disinformation about LA protests

The findings from researchers illustrate how foreign adversaries of the United States are exploiting deep divisions in American society as a tactic of information warfare.
A woman weeps as she holds a poster of TikTok star Sana Yousaf during a protest to condemn violence against women, after Yousaf was killed for rejecting a man's proposal in Islamabad.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jun 16, 2025

'This is a culture': TikTok murder highlights Pakistan's unease with women online

TikTok is wildly popular in the nation, and women have found both audience and income. But as views have surged, so have efforts to police the platform.
From participants on the JET Programme to full-time content creators, Megan and Ben share their lives in Japan on screen. They recently signed with Tokyo-based influencer agency GeeXPlus.
LIFE / Digital
Jun 19, 2025

The Hitobito's Megan and Ben uncover the real Japan, one video at a time

The couple moved to Japan to be teachers. Now, their YouTube clips are viewed by millions.
A customer buys a Nintendo Switch 2 in Tokyo on June 5. Online outrage over the gaming console’s price, terms and features was loud but meaningless, as record-breaking sales showed once again that internet backlash rarely reflects real consumer behavior.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 25, 2025

The 'internet' hated Switch 2 — consumers bought it anyway

The internet gives consumers a voice they once didn’t have. But separating signal from noise is a challenge — just look at the Switch 2.
The Justice Ministry in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward. Takahiro Shiraishi, who was sentenced to death in 2020 for killing nine people in the space of two months, was executed on Friday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 27, 2025

Japan executes ‘Twitter killer’ in first hanging since 2022

Takahiro Shiraishi was on death row for killing nine people he met on social media in 2017.
The people tasked with removing harmful content from tech giants like Meta Platforms or TikTok report a range of noxious health effects, from loss of appetite to anxiety and suicidal thoughts.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 4, 2025

Content moderators for Big Tech unite to tackle mental trauma

Social media companies are facing increasing pressure to address the emotional toll of moderation, with many moderators reporting a range of toxic health effects.
People whose prime news sources are online platforms stood at 73%, far surpassing the 13% who chose newspapers, a government white paper showed on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jul 8, 2025

Almost three quarters of Japan looks online first for news, white paper reports

People whose primary news sources are online platforms stood at 73%, far surpassing the 13% who chose newspapers, according to the communications ministry.
Speculation about Xi Jinping losing his grip on power misreads China’s digital authoritarianism, which uses algorithmic control and emotional scripting to absorb dissent and reinforce the Chinese Communist Party’s power in the information age.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 10, 2025

Online dissent in China doesn’t mean Xi is on his way out

Don’t be fooled by viral posts. The CCP allows and even encourages certain forms of online dissent — all part of its digital authoritarianism.
Grok, a chatbot made by xAI, on Tuesday made antisemitic comments on billionaire owner Elon Musk's social media platform, X.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 10, 2025

Europe’s clash with Musk’s xAI escalates after Grok’s rants

The chatbot on Tuesday made antisemitic comments on social media platform X.
A high school student uses social media applications in November 2024.
WORLD / Society
Jul 15, 2025

EU states to test age-check app to limit children's access to online services

The European Commission has unveiled a prototype of the app that Denmark, France, Greece, Italy and Spain will customize and launch within several months.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’