Day: January 15, 2025

On Wednesday the U.S. Department of Commerce announced it would implement new export controls on certain biotechnology equipment, citing national security concerns relating to artificial intelligence and data science.

The Commerce Department warned that China could use the biotech equipment’s technology to bolster its military capabilities and help design new weapons using artificial intelligence.

The department said the technology has many applications, including its ability to be used for “human performance enhancement, brain-machine interfaces, biologically inspired synthetic materials and possibly biological weapons.”

The sanctions effectively restrict shipments of the technology to countries without a U.S. license, such as China.

The controls apply to parameter flow cytometers and certain mass spectrometry equipment, which according to the Commerce Department, can “generate high-quality, high-content biological data, including that which is suitable for use to facilitate the development of AI and biological design tools.”

Last week, the Chinese Embassy in Washington said Beijing “firmly opposes any country’s development, possession or use of biological weapons.”

This latest move by the United States follows recent policy decisions that reflect Washington’s broad aim to limit Beijing’s access to U.S. technology and data.

Washington announced on Monday that it would tighten Beijing’s access to AI chip and technology exports by implementing new regulations that cap the number of chips that can be exported to certain countries, including China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.

This month, the ban on popular Chinese-owned social media TikTok is planned to go into effect due to U.S. concerns over its potential to share sensitive data with China’s government.
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TAIPEI, TAIWAN — As TikTok’s Sunday deadline to divest or face a U.S. ban approaches, hundreds of thousands of American users of the popular social media video app say they are migrating to another Chinese social media app, Xiaohongshu, or RedNote.

Dubbing themselves “TikTok Refugees,” some say they are making the move in search of a new home; others say their exodus is a form of protest against the ban.

With just days to go before the deadline, users are facing growing uncertainty as they wait for a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court on whether the ban will be upheld. Reports are now suggesting that TikTok may just shut down its operations in the United States if the ban goes through.

“Our government is out of their mind if they think we are going to stand for this TikTok ban,” said American user Heather Roberts in one video on Xiaohongshu. “We are just going to a new Chinese app and here we are.”

Sky Bynum, an 18-year-old makeup content creator in the eastern state of New Jersey, told VOA that she is joining Xiaohongshu because she wants to find another social media site with a sense of community.

“The best thing about TikTok is the community on there,” Bynum told VOA in a video interview via Zoom. “When I posted my first few makeup videos, TikTok pushed them to the makeup people and I instantly found my community. I think [the potential ban on TikTok] is awful because I’m not going to have the same thing that I had on TikTok.

“Xiaohongshu is really cool because a lot of TikTok users were trying to find new communities on Xiaohongshu,” Bynum added.

Founded in 2013, Xiaohongshu is similar to Instagram and Pinterest. It currently has around 300 million users, most of them in China, and is widely used to share travel tips, makeup tutorials, and fashion trends.

The name literally means “little red book” but the company says it’s not a reference to former Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Zedong’s collection of sayings.

Downloads surge

With many promoting and talking about their exodus to Xiaohongshu on “TikTok Refugees,” Xiaohongshu became the most downloaded app on Apple’s U.S. App Store this week.

More than 700,000 new users have joined Xiaohongshu this week, according to Reuters. Downloads of the app rose more than 200% year-over-year this week, according to app data research firm Sensor Tower.

With more American users expected to join Xiaohongshu, some Chinese users recorded English tutorials or welcome videos for American users.

“I guess [there has] never been a lifetime or history time [that] a platform has Chinese and Americans come together and have direct views. So welcome and we respect you,” Zhou Shu-Fu, a Chinese Xiaohongshu user from the southwestern province of Sichuan, said in a video released on Jan. 15.

Compared to Chinese social media users’ enthusiasm, the Chinese government offered a more cautious comment on the influx of American TikTok users to Xiaohongshu, describing the phenomenon as a “personal choice.”

“China has always supported and encouraged strengthening cultural exchanges and promoting mutual understanding among the peoples of all countries,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said during the regular press conference on Wednesday.

The influx of American users has also prompted Xiaohongshu to build Chinese-English translation tools and hire English content moderators, according to the Reuters news agency and Chinese media outlets. Most of the posts on the app are in Chinese and RedNote does not have an auto-translate function.

Some American users tell VOA that their interactions with Chinese users are helping to increase their curiosity about China.

“My experience on RedNote makes me realize how toxic American social media has gotten and I’m excited to learn some basic Chinese and learn about what it’s really like in China,” Kia Epley, a 44-year-old engineer from Las Vegas, told VOA in a video interview.

TikTok content creators say they are looking for more than just a safe and welcoming community. One key concern for them is how they can keep making a living on social media.

“Most of my income is made on TikTok so if the ban comes into effect, a big chunk of my income will get taken away,” said Essence Whitaker, a 28-year-old makeup content producer in Michigan.

“A lot of content creators in the U.S. will be unemployed,” she told VOA in a video interview.

VOA reached out to TikTok for comment on the exodus but has yet to receive a response.

Tech media The Information reported on Tuesday that TikTok plans to shut the app for American users when the federal ban comes into effect on Sunday, citing anonymous sources with knowledge of the matter.

Trend or temporary protest?

While the migration of American users to Xiaohongshu continues, some users say it remains unclear whether the exodus is a temporary phenomenon or a long-term trend. TikTok has more than 170 million users and so far, less than a million have moved over to Xiaohongshu.

“I don’t think the move to Xiaohongshu is going to be long-term because the biggest thing that creators worry about is monetization. Xiaohongshu doesn’t have that feature so I think other creators are still looking for an alternative to TikTok,” Bynum in New Jersey told VOA.

But others say similarities between TikTok and Xiaohongshu may help convince some American users to stay on the Chinese app.

“I like how real TikTok is because you get to see people’s natural reactions,” said Whitaker in Michigan, adding that Xiaohongshu has that same vibe.

“While I can’t tell whether people are going to stay on the app or not, I think the authenticity of the content will keep some users on there,” she told VOA in a video interview.

While many American users are excited about the prospect of Xiaohongshu being an alternative to TikTok, some analysts describe the mass migration as “going from the frying pan into the fire.”

“TikTok is owned by a Chinese company but it has international operations, which means there are theoretically several layers between TikTok and the Chinese Party-State,” said Bethany Allen, the head of China Investigations and Analysis at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

But “there are no layers of insulation between Xiaohongshu and Beijing,” she told VOA by phone, adding that issues such as political censorship or lack of data privacy protection could be “far worse” on Xiaohongshu than TikTok.

American users “are going to have absolutely no power to pressure Xiaohongshu as a company to do anything,” Allen added.

VOA has reached out to Xiaohongshu for comment but has yet to receive a response.

And despite the friendly interactions between Chinese and American users on Xiaohongshu over the last few days, experts said the “honeymoon period” may not last long.

“I think the Chinese government is probably going to get spooked [by the interaction between American users and Chinese users],” Sarah Cook, an independent China analyst, told VOA by phone.

She added that Beijing could impose a temporary shutdown on Xiaohongshu to implement some moderation or initiate “a mass cleanout” of accounts or content deemed inappropriate or sensitive on the app.

VOA’s Katherine Michaelson contributed to this report.
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ARUSHA, Tanzania — The World Health Organization said Wednesday an outbreak of suspected Marburg disease has killed eight people in a remote part of northern Tanzania. 

“We are aware of 9 cases so far, including 8 people who have died,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement. “We would expect further cases in coming days as disease surveillance improves.” 

Like Ebola, the Marburg virus originates in fruit bats and spreads between people through close contact with the bodily fluids of infected individuals or with surfaces, such as contaminated bed sheets. 

Without treatment, Marburg can be fatal in up to 88% of people who fall ill with the disease. Symptoms include fever, muscle pains, diarrhea, vomiting and in some cases death from extreme blood loss. There is no authorized vaccine or treatment for Marburg. 

WHO said its risk assessment for the suspected outbreak in Tanzania is high at national and regional levels but low globally. There was no immediate comment from Tanzanian health authorities. 

An outbreak of Marburg in Rwanda, first reported on Sept. 27, was declared over on Dec. 20. Rwandan officials reported a total of 15 deaths and 66 cases, with the majority of those affected healthcare workers who handled the first patients. 

An outbreak in 2023 of Marburg in Kagera, which shares a border with Rwanda, killed at least five people. 

 
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Two moon landers built by private U.S. and Japanese companies are on their way to the moon after lifting off early Wednesday on a shared ride aboard a SpaceX rocket.

The launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida is the latest in a public-private program that put a spacecraft from Intuitive Machines on the moon last year.

Wednesday’s launch included a lander from Japanese space exploration company ispace that is carrying a rover with the capability of collecting lunar dirt and testing potential food and water sources on the moon.

The spacecraft is also carrying a small red “Moonhouse” built by Swedish artist Mikael Genberg.

The ispace mission is expected to reach its destination on the moon’s far north in four to five months.

The company is making its second attempt at a lunar landing, after a 2023 mission failed in the final stages. 

Also aboard the rocket heading toward the moon is a lander from U.S. company Firefly Aerospace that is set to carry out 10 experiments for NASA.

The planned experiments include gathering dirt and measuring subsurface temperatures.

The spacecraft is expected to arrive in about 45 days.

Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters
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WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden signed on Tuesday an executive order to boost development of artificial intelligence infrastructure in America. A day earlier, his administration announced sweeping measures to block access to the most advanced semiconductors by China and other adversaries.

But the U.S. left India, its strategic partner in the Indo-Pacific, off a list of 18 countries that are allowed unrestricted access to advanced AI chips. Analysts say while a growing technological relationship between the two countries would likely make India eligible in the future to access advanced U.S. AI chips, New Delhi’s existing ties with Moscow and the perception of a less robust technology regulatory framework led to its exclusion from the top list.

Exclusion not a surprise

The Commerce Department’s policy framework divides the world into three categories. The first tier includes the U.S. and 18 countries with unrestricted access, followed by a list of more than 100 countries that will be subjected to new caps on advanced semiconductors with individual exemptions. The third tier includes adversaries such as China and Russia that face maximum restrictions.

India falls in the second category, along with U.S. allies like Israel and close friends such as Singapore.

Bhaskar Chakravorti, the dean of global business at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Massachusetts, said that India’s relationship with Russia “puts it outside a super safe category.”

India has had close ties with Russia since the Soviet Union supported its desire for independence from Britain. It maintained those ties during the Cold War, when the U.S. sided with India’s rival Pakistan.

Scott Jones, a non-resident fellow at Washington’s Stimson Center think tank, highlighted recent reports that accused a few Indian companies of aiding Russia’s war on Ukraine, but stressed that while being excluded is a disappointment, it’s “not a setback for India.”

He also pointed to the perception that “India’s ability to control and manage technology is perhaps not as robust as evidenced in some of the 18 countries.”

While India may be off the unrestricted list for now, analysts say its growing technological cooperation with the U.S. may shield it from some curbs.

Richard Rossow, senior adviser and chair on India and Emerging Asia Economies at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the presence of caveats in the new framework would ensure India’s later participation.

“The fact that they have announced that there will be a pathway for some countries to get exemptions that are above what they’re going to consider the standard cap, India, I imagine, would be on the short list of countries,” he told VOA.

In early January, national security adviser Jake Sullivan traveled to India and met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior officials. During the trip, both sides reiterated their commitment to forge a “strategic technology partnership” and strengthen cooperation under the U.S.-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET), a bilateral mechanism focused on technology partnership.

On semiconductors, the U.S. is facilitating investments in India’s semiconductor manufacturing and intensifying R&D collaboration.

During his trip, Sullivan highlighted the investment of $2.7 billion in India by U.S. chipmaker Micron to create semiconductor packaging facilities, which he hoped would contribute to establishing “India as a new hub in the global chip ecosystem.”

The Indian government too is investing billions of dollars through its dedicated program called the India Semiconductor Mission and Production Linked Incentive scheme.

Rossow argued that the Indian government would not have been “terribly surprised” that “they were not included” in the list.

Jones of the Stimson Center agreed.

“Jake Sullivan was in New Delhi last week, and I would be very surprised if he did not inform his Indian counterparts of what was going to happen,” he said.

Ensuring America’s leadership in AI

The Biden administration has focused on the centrality of artificial intelligence to America’s security and economic strength. According to a White House factsheet, the latest steps are part of its effort to prevent offshoring this critical technology and ensure that “the world’s AI runs on American rails.”

Since October 2022, the U.S. government has enacted a series of export controls, blocking access of advanced semiconductors to China to prevent its use for military applications. While initially the measures adversely affected the Chinese semiconductor industry, Beijing has continued to advance its capabilities and is attempting to narrow the technology gap.

According to Chakravorti of the Fletcher School, there are numerous implementation challenges of this expansive global strategy.

“From lobbying from the U.S. chipmakers that will start as soon as Trump takes office to potential leaks in the carefully calibrated list of countries. Will there be a secondary market? How does this affect where future data centers are built?” he asked.

Jones of the Stimson Center argued that the policy is more a “symbolic gesture than a practical consideration” but has a stern message for the rest of the world.

“The U.S. is clearly saying, if you want to participate in the U.S.-sponsored AI ecosystem, you have to pick now. You pick China or you pick us. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t play one off against the other. You have to choose,” he concluded.
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Elon Musk was sued on Tuesday by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which accused the world’s richest person of waiting too long to disclose in 2022 he had amassed a large stake in Twitter, the social media company he later bought.

In a complaint filed in Washington, the SEC said Musk violated federal securities law by waiting 11 days too long to disclose his initial purchase of 5% of Twitter’s common shares.

An SEC rule requires investors to disclose within 10 calendar days, or by March 24, 2022, in Musk’s case, when they cross a 5% ownership threshold.

The SEC said that at the expense of unsuspecting investors, Musk bought more than $500 million of Twitter shares at artificially low prices before finally revealing his purchases on April 4, 2022, by which time he owned a 9.2% stake.

Twitter’s share price rose more than 27% following that disclosure, the SEC said.

Tuesday’s lawsuit seeks to force Musk to pay a civil fine and disgorge profits he didn’t deserve.

Musk eventually purchased Twitter for $44 billion in October 2022, and renamed it X.

Alex Spiro, a lawyer for Musk, in an email called the SEC lawsuit the culmination of the regulator’s “multi-year campaign of harassment” against his client.

“Today’s action is an admission by the SEC that they cannot bring an actual case,” he said. “Mr. Musk has done nothing wrong and everyone sees this sham for what it is.”

Spiro added that the lawsuit addresses a mere “alleged administrative failure to file a single form — an offense that, even if proven, carries a nominal penalty.”

Musk, an adviser to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, is worth $417 billion according to Forbes magazine, through businesses such as the electric car maker Tesla and rocket company.

He is worth nearly twice as much as Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, the world’s second-richest person at $232 billion, Forbes said.

The SEC sued Musk six days before Trump’s January 20 presidential inauguration.

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler is stepping down that day, and Paul Atkins, who Trump nominated to succeed him, is expected to review many of Gensler’s rules and enforcement actions.

Musk has also been sued in Manhattan federal court by former Twitter shareholders over the late disclosure.

In that case, Musk has said it was implausible to believe he wanted to defraud other shareholders, and that “all indications” were that his delay was a mistake.

Musk has long feuded with the SEC, including after it sued him in 2018 over his Twitter posts about possibly taking Tesla private and having secured funding to do so.

He settled that lawsuit by paying a $20 million civil fine, agreeing to have Tesla lawyers review some Twitter posts in advance, and giving up his role as Tesla’s chairman.

The SEC also sought sanctions from Musk after he missed court-ordered testimony last September for the Twitter probe so he could attend the launch of SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission at Florida’s Cape Canaveral.

A federal judge in San Francisco rejected that request, because Musk later testified and agreed to pay the SEC’s travel costs.
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