Tag - social

 
 

SOCIAL

“Vote harassment” continues to be a significant barrier to women’s participation in politics, with only two prefectures having passed local ordinances aiming to eliminate the problem.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 24, 2024
1 in 4 female candidates face sexual harassment during campaigns
Despite a record 314 women running in Sunday's Lower House election, harassment continues to be a barrier to women's participation in politics.
People wait in a line to vote during the Super Tuesday primary election in Edinburg, Texas, on March 5.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 24, 2024
Chinese operation targeting U.S. down-ballot races, Microsoft says
The lawmakers were targeted because they had historically denounced Chinese government policies.
A man who works for a restaurant consults a social welfare council official in Tokyo about COVID-19 relief loans in June 2020.
JAPAN
Oct 23, 2024
Welfare councils loaned ¥1.4 billion in COVID relief to ineligible borrowers
Individuals who were receiving welfare support were ineligible for the loans because they are already guaranteed a minimum standard of living.
The Chiba Prefectural Police headquarters in the city of Chiba. Police have arrested two men over a break-in at an 86-year-old woman's home in the city of Kamagaya at around 2:10 a.m. on Oct. 14.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 23, 2024
Suspect held over Chiba break-in received instructions via social media
The man said he received instructions through social media platform X as well as Signal, an encrypted messaging app.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks to reporters at the Prime Minister's Office on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 22, 2024
Ishiba vows steps against crime-linked social media posts
The Prime Minister said that the government will consider supporting patrol activities by volunteers under a supplementary budget.
Suspect Mazuki Takarada, 22, at the Aoba Police Station in Kanagawa Prefecture on Sunday. He was taken to prosecutors on the same day.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 21, 2024
Police arrest 22-year-old man over fatal Yokohama burglary
Mazuki Takarada, a self-declared sole proprietor from Chiba Prefecture, was arrested on Saturday over the death of a 75-year-old man in his Yokohama home last week.
Political parties are highlighting measures to reform the health care system for the elderly and the public pension system as the population ages.
JAPAN
Oct 17, 2024
Parties highlight measures for working generation
The country's health care and public pension systems are being discussed ahead of the upcoming general election.
Machida Zelvia players after their team was defeated by Kawasaki Frontale in Machida, western Tokyo, on Oct. 5
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 16, 2024
Soccer club Machida Zelvia files complaints over alleged defamation
The number of new comments believed to be defaming players and the team's manager sometimes tops 1,000 a day, a lawyer said.
Nearly two-thirds of parents of Australian teenagers reported concerns about their children's social media use, according to a 2024 survey by youth service ReachOut.
WORLD / Society
Oct 16, 2024
Australia's planned social media ban raises teen isolation fears
For teenagers from migrant, LGBTQIA+ and other minority backgrounds, an age block could cut off access to essential social support.
A young man waits for customers, while selling national flags and patriotic memorabilia in Karachi in August.
WORLD / Society
Oct 15, 2024
Pakistan 'vigilantes' behind rise in online blasphemy cases
Cases of online blasphemy — a crime that carries the death penalty in the country — have exploded in recent years, with arrests turning lives upside down.
With projections indicating a population drop in Japan from around 125 million to 63 million by 2100, traditional solutions like immigration and labor reforms are unlikely to be effective in time.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 15, 2024
Japan should master, not resist, its demographic destiny
Japan needs a strategic reorientation toward accepting and mastering its demographic changes rather than resisting them.
Outrageous stories about Kamala Harris and Donald Trump online were widely mistaken as real across social media, underscoring how content from satirical websites is being repurposed to fuel political misinformation and sow confusion ahead of the Nov. 5 presidential election.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 15, 2024
'Stolen satire' feeds U.S. election misinformation
False claims are being widely mistaken as real across social media, underscoring how content from satirical websites is being repurposed to fuel political misinformation.
X owner Elon Musk and Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump meet prior to a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 5.
WORLD
Oct 11, 2024
Disinformation stirred by Musk and Trump adds strain to hurricane recovery
Conspiracy theories and hate speech targeting the government’s storm response erupted across social media after Hurricane Helene devastated the Southeast.
The Consumer Affairs Agency is warning against fake websites that lure consumers into purchasing unrelated or counterfeit products.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 10, 2024
Consumer watchdog warns against fake electronics sites
The sites, often promoted via social media ads, are luring consumers into purchasing unrelated or counterfeit products.
Local activists and tech workers protest against Google and Amazon's Project Nimbus contract with the Israeli military and government, outside the Google Cloud Next Conference in San Francisco, California, on August 29, 2023.
WORLD
Oct 8, 2024
Decoding the role Big Tech plays in the war in Gaza
The Israel-Hamas war has spotlighted how artificial intelligence and machine learning can be used on the battlefield.
A couple from Orlando walks along a street covered in sand as a result of Hurricane Helene in Clearwater, Florida, ahead of Hurricane Milton's expected midweek landfall.
WORLD / Society
Oct 7, 2024
FEMA head slams 'dangerous' Helene misinformation as Florida braces for Milton
The head of the U.S. disaster relief agency lashed out at a "dangerous" misinformation war being waged over the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
The ByteDance logo at the company's office in Shanghai in 2023
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 1, 2024
ByteDance rumored to be planning new AI model trained with Huawei chips
ByteDance has diversified to domestic suppliers of chips for artificial intelligence and has been accelerated development of its own since the U.S. restricted exports.
U.S. lawmakers and others speak at a news conference in Washington in March to voice their opposition to legislation cracking down on TikTok.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 30, 2024
China’s silence on U.S. Tiktok ban speaks volumes
Beijing's past actions suggest that protecting its national interests, including ByteDance's valuable algorithm, outweighs concerns about foreign investment.
The X account of Elon Musk in seen blocked on a mobile screen on Aug. 31.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 27, 2024
Musk's X seeks Brazil comeback, retreats on 'censorship' feud
The billionaire had held out for more than five months against what he called "censorship" in a feud with a judge in one of X's largest and most coveted markets.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg tries on Orion AR glasses at the Meta Connect annual event at the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, California, on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 26, 2024
Meta pitches augmented reality glasses as eventual smartphone rival
The firm's Orion prototype glasses, introduced Wednesday, have lenses that can display text messages, video calls and even YouTube videos in the user’s field of vision.

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’