Commentary / World May 20, 2019
Time to treat Facebook like big tobacco
by Elaine Ou
Government should scrutinize and publicize the harms of social media — not use antitrust regulation to encourage even more platforms.
NEWSWORTHY
World / Science & Health May 18, 2019
Surging suicide rate among American girls raises questions about social media
A spike in the suicide rate among young American girls is prompting leading researchers to ask questions about the role of social media in adolescent mental health. A study published Friday in the JAMA Open Network led by Donna Ruch, a research scientist at Nationwide ...
World May 18, 2019
Grumpy Cat, the face that launched a thousand memes, dead at 7
She died just as she had lived, in a blizzard of memes, tweets and news reports celebrating her distinctly unamused expression. On Friday, the world learned that Grumpy Cat, the internet sensation whose scowl launched a thousand memes, earning her 1.5 million Twitter followers, 2.5 ...
Business / Corporate May 16, 2019
Line Pay ¥30 billion campaign will allow users to send free ¥1,000 to all their friends
by Kazuaki Nagata
Line has about 80 million active users in Japan, of which about 32 million are registered Line Pay users, according to the firm.
World May 15, 2019
Facebook restricts Live feature, citing New Zealand shooting
Facebook Inc. said on Tuesday it was tightening rules around its livestreaming feature ahead of a meeting of world leaders aimed at curbing online violence in the aftermath of a massacre in New Zealand. A lone gunman killed 51 people at two mosques in the ...
Commentary / World May 14, 2019
Court case challenges Facebook bans
by Leonid Bershidsky
A Polish group is suing Facebook for "private censorship" in a potentially landmark case.
Asia Pacific May 13, 2019
Vietnam intensifying crackdown on online dissent, Amnesty report says
Vietnam has stepped up its imprisonment of political activists, Amnesty International said in a report Monday, intensifying a crackdown that has seen the number of prisoners of conscience increase by almost a third since last year. Nearly 10 percent of the 128 prisoners held in ...
Asia Pacific May 13, 2019
Sri Lanka blocks social media platforms after attacks on mosques and Muslim-owned shops
Sri Lanka is temporarily blocking some social media networks and messaging apps, including Facebook and WhatsApp, it said Monday following attacks on mosques and Muslim-owned businesses in the worst unrest since Easter bombings by Islamist militants. Several dozen people threw stones at mosques and Muslim-owned ...
National / Media | Japan Pulse May 11, 2019
Attempting to switch off from social media during Golden Week
by Patrick St. Michel
As the relaxed vibe of the recent 10-day Golden Week holiday slowly fades, many commuters in Tokyo appeared to struggle last week to return to the rat race. The longer than usual holiday offered people an opportunity to travel abroad or chill out at ...
World / Offbeat May 11, 2019
Florida man tries to pawn baby, calls it a joke after shop owner calls police
A man walked into a pawn shop in Florida, put his baby on the counter and, according to police, asked how much he could get for the kid. "This is what I got," the father, Richard Slocum, said as he placed the infant before the ...
Business May 10, 2019
Break up Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg is too strong, says company's co-founder
One of the co-founders of Facebook called on Thursday for the social media behemoth to be broken up, warning that the company's head, Mark Zuckerberg, had become far too powerful. "It's time to break up Facebook," said Chris Hughes, who along with Zuckerberg founded the ...
Asia Pacific May 9, 2019
Singapore approves 'fake news' laws despite fierce criticism from tech giants and rights groups
Singapore's Parliament on Wednesday passed laws to combat "fake news" that will allow authorities to order the removal of online content, despite fierce criticism from tech giants and rights groups. They give government ministers powers to order social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter ...