Senior UK MP warns users off Chinese-run TikTok app

Senior UK MP warns users off Chinese-run TikTok app
The TikTok logo is displayed at a TikTok office on December 20, 2022 in Culver City, California. (AFP)
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Updated 06 February 2023

Senior UK MP warns users off Chinese-run TikTok app

Senior UK MP warns users off Chinese-run TikTok app
  • Kearns said the bigger concern was “data penetration” via Chinese companies, and the way Beijing was using that data to intimidate “those who sought refuge in the UK and around the world”

LONDON: The head of an influential parliamentary committee in Britain on Sunday advised people not to use the Chinese social media app TikTok because of data security concerns.
“There is a reason why China has this app...,” Conservative deputy Alicia Kearns, who chairs parliament’s foreign affairs committee, told Sky News television.
“Our data is a key vulnerability and China is building a tech-totalitarian state on the back of our data. So we have to get far more serious about protecting ourselves.”
Kearns referred in passing to the recent incident in which the US shot down a Chinese ballon off its Atlantic coast. China has denied US allegations that it was being used for espionage purposes.
Kearns said the bigger concern was “data penetration” via Chinese companies, and the way Beijing was using that data to intimidate “those who sought refuge in the UK and around the world.”
Asked if she was saying people should delete TikTok from their phones, she answered: “Without question... It is not worth having that vulnerability on your phone.”
Kearns has been a longterm critic of China’s intelligence activities and what she says is its abuse of technology to that end.
A spokesman for TikTok responded to Kearns’s allegations on Sunday.
“TikTok is enjoyed by millions of people across the UK, and we want to be clear that they can trust us with their data.
“We’re taking steps like storing UK user data in our data center operations in Ireland, starting this year; further reducing employee access to data; and minimizing data flows outside of Europe.”
Relations between London and Beijing have been tense for a number of years.
Points of contention have included China’s crackdown in the former British colony of Hong Kong, and Britain’s refusal to grant a Chinese company Huawei access to its 5G network because of security concerns.
Last October, a British-based Hong Kong pro-democracy activist accused Chinese diplomats of assaulting him during a protest outside China’s consulate in Manchester, northern England.
During the ensuing diplomatic row, six Chinese envoys left Britain and returned to China. Kearns at the time accused them of having “fled the UK like cowards, making clear their guilt.”

 


MBC Media Solutions launches self-serve ad platform for Shahid

MBC Media Solutions launches self-serve ad platform for Shahid
Updated 22 March 2023

MBC Media Solutions launches self-serve ad platform for Shahid

MBC Media Solutions launches self-serve ad platform for Shahid
  • MMS Works gives users more power to manage their marketing campaigns

LONDON: MBC Media Solutions (MMS), the commercial arm of MBC Group, announced on Wednesday the launch of a self-serve advertising platform for Shahid.

The new service, MMS Works, will enable users to advertise on the streaming platform, giving them more control over their marketing campaigns.

“Shahid is the sought-after VOD platform for all Arab viewers, especially during Ramadan. With the increased content library offered since the beginning of 2023, all advertisers can now enjoy this meaningful scale-to-connect solution with their target audiences,” MMS CEO Ahmed Al-Sahhaf said.

“MMS Works will expand the advertisement market potential and ease the way for brands to be present on Shahid, the world’s leading Arabic streaming platform.”

Through MMS Works, large and small brands can maximize their presence on Shahid AVOD and connect with millions of Arabs from around the world who tune into the video platform.

The new service allows brands and advertisers to manage their own marketing campaigns from start to finish.

Users can choose ad formats, target audiences, target impressions, upload ads, pay online and extract campaign reports, among other features.

In the platform’s launch phase, users will be able to pause ads and program native in-stream ads across both display and video needs.

In its second phase, the platform will expand its solutions and enhance the user experience, as well as introduce an Arabic interface.

MMS said its new service arrives at a perfect time, as users typically spend three hours per session on Shahid during Ramadan, viewing an average of 10.2 ads.

The platform, the region’s leading streaming service, is expected to see a significant increase in traffic during the holy month.


Suit says Meta board ‘turned blind eye’ to human trafficking

Suit says Meta board ‘turned blind eye’ to human trafficking
Updated 22 March 2023

Suit says Meta board ‘turned blind eye’ to human trafficking

Suit says Meta board ‘turned blind eye’ to human trafficking
  • Claims mischaracterize platform efforts to combat this type of activity, Meta argues

SAN FRANCISCO: A shareholder lawsuit filed late Monday accuses board members of Instagram and Facebook parent Meta of shirking their duties by ignoring human and sex trafficking on the tech giant’s social platforms.
The suit filed in the Court of Chancery in the US state of Delaware calls for Mark Zuckerberg, along with other executives and board members, to be ordered to institute reforms and pay damages.
Meta board members and senior executives named in the suit “turned a blind eye to sex/human trafficking, child sexual exploitation, and other predatory conduct occurring on Meta’s online platforms,” the suit charged.
Meta chief and controlling shareholder Zuckerberg is a primary target of the lawsuit.
“We prohibit human exploitation and child sexual exploitation in no uncertain terms,” Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said in reply to an AFP enquiry.
“The claims in this lawsuit mischaracterize our efforts to combat this type of activity.”
Those behind the suit include Employees’ Retirement System of the State of Rhode Island, Kiwi Investment Management Wholesale Core Global Fund, and Teamsters Pension Fund, according to the filing.
Meta has teams, policies, partnerships and software devoted to thwarting misuse of its platforms for criminal activities.
Meta already faces numerous lawsuits on an array of grounds, including whether it is harmful to the mental health of young users of its social networking services.
The tech titan has been under increasing pressure from legislators since 2021, when whistleblower Frances Haugen — a former Facebook engineer — leaked documents suggesting the firm put profits before safety.


Chalhoub Group launches Web3-native sneaker brand

Chalhoub Group launches Web3-native sneaker brand
Updated 22 March 2023

Chalhoub Group launches Web3-native sneaker brand

Chalhoub Group launches Web3-native sneaker brand
  • Designed by French designer Kacimi Latamene, new collection will launch on April 12

DUBAI: UAE-based Chalhoub Group has announced the launch of SOL3MATES, a Web3-native sneaker brand, which will produce limited-edition sneakers.

Self-described as a “community-centric sneaker brand,” SOL3MATES aims to create an immersive and engaging experience by involving its community members in all aspects of the sneaker journey, from onboarding new designers to the co-creation of upcoming sneaker drops.

To join the community, customers can buy a membership non-fungible token, or NFT, that will provide benefits such as early access, preferred pricing, virtual wearables, free merchandise, community events and access to monthly sneaker giveaways.

“We listen to our customers, notably in the shoe space where we like to think of ourselves as catalysts for innovation, and find answers to their demands,” said Michael Chalhoub, president of strategy, growth, innovation and investment and joint ventures at Chalhoub Group.

“SOL3MATES will be to the sneaker industry what the lace is to the shoe: The element that ties it all, that brings the physical and the digital together, and that links the sneaker community with the Web3 community in an original way,” he said.

SOL3MATES isn’t Chalhoub Group’s first venture in the Web3 space. Last year, the group’s Christofle entered the metaverse with its first NFT collection “925 Genesis MOOD,” which sold out in five minutes.  

Since then, “we started thinking what we could launch that could generate an even bigger impact.” The result is SOL3MATES, which “aims to be the small snowball that creates an avalanche of positive disruption in the sneaker industry, together with its community and the designers we’ll collaborate with,” said Nick Vinckier, head of corporate innovation and founder of SOL3MATES.

All of SOL3MATES’ sneaker collections will be designed in collaboration with upcoming sneaker designers from around the world.

The first collection, to be revealed on April 12, is designed by up-and-coming French designer Kacimi Latamene, who has worked with several leading designers such as Vitaly and Natasha Zinko.

Latamene said: “The most important aspect of this new brand is that it allows me to get in touch directly with the sneaker community. The SOL3MATES members will be involved in the entire journey. I’ll be able to build a relationship and share the story behind my designs.”

SOL3MATES sneakers will be available for pre-order in limited quantities and community members owning an NFT will have pre-access to the sneakers at a preferred price.

After the community pre-order window closes and if any sneakers remain, others will be able to pre-order the product.

The SOL3MATES sneakers will be delivered for free to community members worldwide one month before the public. They will also feature NFC authentication, AR augmentation and a virtual counterpart, wearable in Decentraland.

Last year, Chalhoub Group unveiled “GCC State of the Metaverse and its Potential for Luxury Retail,” a report which revealed the thoughts of Gulf consumers about Web3, which includes the metaverse, cryptocurrencies and NFTs.

The report showed high levels of awareness across all facets of Web3, with consumers being most aware of crypto (77 percent), followed by NFTs (49 percent) and the metaverse (46 percent), mainly among younger, high-income males predominantly in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Oman.  

Luxury consumers want to engage in metaverse experiences, with 89 percent saying that they would like to preview products in the metaverse and 87 percent saying they expect their favorite brands to be present in the metaverse.

Still, “we do not believe in a virtual-only future,” Vinckier told Arab News in a separate interview.

He added: “We don’t sell luxury. Luxury is the experience in the (purchase) journey and that will be the same for Web3.”


TikTok revamps community guidelines, adds new policies

TikTok revamps community guidelines, adds new policies
Updated 22 March 2023

TikTok revamps community guidelines, adds new policies

TikTok revamps community guidelines, adds new policies
  • Platform to tackle AI and climate change in new update

DUBAI: TikTok has announced a “refresh” of its community guidelines and introduced new “community principles,” the company said in a statement.  

The community principles are aimed at helping users to better understand TikTok’s decisions about safety on the platform.

The principles are based on the platform’s “commitment to uphold human rights and aligned with international legal frameworks” and guide decisions about how the platform moderates content in a way that “strikes a balance between freedom of expression and preventing harm,” TikTok said.

Some of the key changes to the guidelines include enhancing rules for treating “synthetic media,” which TikTok described as content created or modified by artificial intelligence technology, and the addition of the term “tribe” as a protected attribute in its hate speech and hateful behavior policies.

Moving forward, TikTok will provide more detail about its work to protect civic and election integrity, including its approach to government, politician and political party accounts.

TikTok has also added a new section under its misinformation policy to address climate misinformation. While discussion about the topic will be allowed, the platform will prohibit any misinformation that “undermines well-established scientific consensus.”

The company consulted more than 100 organizations around the world, including the International Association for Suicide Prevention, the Safety Advisory Council and SMEX, as well as users, to inform the refreshed guidelines.

The new guidelines will come into effect on April 21 and the platform will provide additional training to its moderators to help enforce the updated rules and standards as they start to roll out.

Based on feedback, TikTok will now host all information about its rules and standards in one place where it will be organized thematically.

For each topic, the platform provides a brief explanation of what is not allowed with more information including definitions and the range of actions the platform might take if they are violated.

Additionally, TikTok is expanding its enforcement strategy by sharing more information about the actions that the platform takes against accounts that violate their rules; explaining the considerations for enforcement of rules based on public interest, and the platform’s approach to content that critiques public figures; and including more detail about how TikTok uses informational labels, warnings and opt-in screens.

“The world is changing,” said Julie de Bailliencourt, TikTok’s global head of product policy, during a press briefing. “Our community is changing. We see new trends coming and going, and we think we need to regularly update these guidelines to meet the expectation of people who come on our service.”

The updated community guidelines come amid growing concerns about TikTok with CEO Shou Zi Chew scheduled to appear before the US congress on March 23.

In a TikTok video posted on Tuesday, Chew said that the app now has more than 150 million active monthly US users. “That’s almost half the US coming to TikTok,” Chew said.

“Some politicians have started talking about banning TikTok. Now this could take TikTok away from all 150 million of you,” he said.

A growing number of US lawmakers support a ban on TikTok, and on March 1, the House Foreign Affairs Committee voted along party lines to give US President Joe Biden new powers to ban TikTok.


Arab tradition of storytelling takes global stage

Arab tradition of storytelling takes global stage
Updated 22 March 2023

Arab tradition of storytelling takes global stage

Arab tradition of storytelling takes global stage
  • How Middle East cinema is captivating audiences across the region and beyond

DUBAI: Cinema has been a part of Arab culture for many years with the first film coming out in the 1920s. The Middle East’s exotic locations, distinctive stories and penchant for fashion make for captivating films that have enthralled regional audiences.

Increasingly, films from the Arab world are casting a wider net as they make their debut on global streaming services.

The scenic landscape of the region has made a great setting for several productions — such as the 2016 TV show “Secret of the Nile,” a remake of the 2011 Spanish drama “Gran Hotel,” which is set in the picturesque city of Aswan against the backdrop of the Old Cataract Hotel, a historic British colonial-era hotel built in 1899 overlooking the river Nile.

More recently, Saudi Arabia has attracted several international productions — including “Kandahar,” starring Gerard Butler and filmed extensively in the heritage city of AlUla; Rupert Wyatt’s historical epic “Desert Warrior,” shot in Neom, and the Russo Brothers’ crime drama “Cherry,” shot in AlUla and Riyadh.

Movies from the region have also evolved to portray multilayered characters through more authentic storytelling. Netflix’s Arabic original “Finding Ola” is a personal exploration of one woman’s journey as she reinvents her life after a divorce.

Similarly, Kuwaiti show “The Exchange” transports audiences to 1980s Kuwait, where two female protagonists carve out careers in the male-dominated world of finance, while “Cairo Class” follows a group of women who leave Kuwait to attend university in Cairo on their journey of self-discovery.

The proliferation of streaming services has increased audiences’ appetite for local quality content with streaming subscriptions forecast to reach 21.52 million across 13 Arab countries by 2027 from just 9.49 million in 2021, according to a study by Digital TV Research.

Consequently, global and regional streaming players are investing more in original content.

Last year, MBC and its flagship streaming platform Shahid launched the Arabic version of hit series “The Office” and “The Devil’s Promise,” both produced by MBC Studios.

OSN, too, has been investing heavily in original content with shows such as “A’adet Regala,” the comical food reality TV show “Yalla Neta’asha,” the Syrian war drama “No Man’s Land” in partnership with Fremantle, and the upcoming stand-up comedy show “Stand Up! Ya Arab!”

The creation of local content is accompanied by the need to develop local talent. In addition to school-based programs, organizations and governments are investing in upskilling talent to build a robust industry.

Netflix, for example, has held several training sessions in the region with the most recent one being a partnership with Studio Production Training, a Saudi-based production training studio, and the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts to upskill 15 aspiring Saudi talents in the process of creating world-class scripts and developing them into outstanding TV shows.

It has also held programs such as “Below the Line KSA,” in collaboration with Studio Production Training, an initiative that aims to establish and develop an infrastructure of so-called below-the-line talent — behind-the-scenes crew members such as assistant directors, production designers and managers, art directors, prop masters and set builders; and “TV Writers’ Lab 6x6,” a six-week program in partnership with the National Creative Industries Group in Kuwait.

“Ultimately, we want to use our scale and influence to provide Arab talent and filmmakers with a platform to gain fans globally,” Nuha El-Tayeb, director of content acquisitions at Netflix MENA, told Arab News in a separate interview.

“We want to be a meaningful part of the creative communities in the region and that means developing the talent pipeline and giving new voices a chance to be heard,” she said.

In addition to talent, the region also needs to upgrade its infrastructure to include state-of-the-art film studios and technology. Several cities are working toward becoming thriving hubs for the Arab film industry.

Saudi Arabia, for example, has been launching a flurry of film-related projects that are making a global mark. Film AlUla, the Royal Commission for AlUla’s film agency, is establishing a world-class, fully-equipped studio complex covering up to 30,000 sq m.

Last month, Film AlUla hosted a ten-day workshop, in partnership with the UK-based Creative Media Skills Institute, to train 25 local trainees from AlUla to pursue careers in production, assistant directing, and the art, locations, costume, make-up and hair departments.

The Kingdom’s Red Sea Fund has also committed to funding 100 film projects, with grants reaching $14 million.

Last year, the Saudi Film Commission launched a grant scheme, the Daw funding program, dedicated to supporting local productions and talent.

“Daw is part of our continued efforts to encourage Saudi filmmakers and production companies to express their creativity and help us grow the Saudi film industry,” said Saudi Film Commission CEO Abdullah Al-Eyaf.

In May 2022, the Saudi Film Commission also announced an incentive program offering financial refunds of up to 40 percent for local and international producers shooting in the Kingdom.

The film industry in emerging markets has seen growth in recent times challenging Hollywood’s dominance. This year’s Oscars are a testament to that with “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” starring Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, and Stephanie Hsu, winning big.

India celebrated a historic double win at the Oscars after the breakout hit “Naatu Naatu” from “RRR” won best original song and “The Elephant Whisperers” was named best short documentary.

“I am sure in time to come this achievement at the Oscars will inspire more people to do good work in regional language,” Narendra Pulloor, a senior journalist based in India, told Arab News in a separate interview. “Now they know that language is not a barrier to achieve international fame.”

Just like Asia, the Arab world is now set to propel its age-old tradition of storytelling onto the global stage.