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TikTok will comply with an under-16 ban in Australia on social media use. Photo: Shutterstock
Australia

TikTok will block under-16s in Australia to comply with ‘upsetting’ new law

Australia’s world-first legislation banning under-16s from social media platforms and websites comes into effect on December 10.

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US-China tech war

Editorial | China’s low-cost AI is showing up America’s high-cost tech model

United States

Hegseth’s Signal use posed risk to US forces, Pentagon review finds

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Tencent

Elon Musk reiterates aim to transform X into a ‘WeChat++’ super app

Users ‘live their life on WeChat in China’ and there is no equivalent app elsewhere in the world, the entrepreneur says.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Photo: Reuters
India

India scraps mandatory cybersecurity app on new phones after backlash

The Indian government confidentially ordered companies like Apple, Samsung, and Xiaomi to install the Sanchar Saathi app on their new phones.

Australia

Fight’s over: YouTube becomes last major platform to accept Australia’s age rule

Despite agreeing to comply, YouTube maintains that it is still ‘fundamentally different’ from other social media services.

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Artificial intelligence

Ant Group’s LingGuang a hit as users create millions of flash apps with AI tool

The multimodal AI assistant can generate simple apps in as little as 30 seconds in response to users’ prompts.

Ant Group’s AI tool Lingguang has churned out millions of flash apps since its launch two weeks ago. Photo: Handout
Alibaba

Alibaba launches US$537 Quark AI glasses to challenge devices from Meta, Xiaomi

The glasses are expected to ‘usher in a revolution in human-computer interaction in the AI era’, Alibaba vice-president Wu Jia says.

Artificial intelligence

Hong Kong’s HKChat raises AI expectations as 90,000 users join app in debut week

HKChat tops free app ranking on Apple’s Hong Kong App Store on Sunday.

Alibaba

Alibaba to lead AI capital spending among Chinese firms amid strong demand

The group’s intention to boost AI-related capital outlay reflects its aim to spearhead China’s efforts in the race for global AI leadership.

Alibaba Cloud continues to grow demand for its open-source Qwen AI model family. Photo: Shutterstock
Australia

Australia’s under-16 social media ban faces high court challenge

Critics say the world-first law, effective next month, infringes on political communication rights. Australia lacks an express free speech right.

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A 14-year-old boy browses social media on his phone. Starting December 10, Australia will mandate that social media platforms remove users under 16. Photo: AFP
Artificial intelligence

US, Chinese firms add AI shopping bells and whistles to dominate all-in-one apps

OpenAI’s new ‘shopping research’ tool resembles popular AI shopping services on Chinese e-commerce platforms like Tmall and Taobao.

United States

US senator demands answers to Trump’s TikTok divestiture plan

Ed Markey questions Trump’s executive order to sell ByteDance-owned TikTok to US investors, demanding clarity on algorithm control and security.

Artificial intelligence

Alibaba’s Qwen chatbot sets record by topping 10 million downloads in debut week

Powered by Alibaba Cloud’s open-source model family of the same name, Qwen is the firm’s most significant foray into the consumer AI market.

The Qwen chatbot was developed by Alibaba Cloud, the AI and cloud services unit of Alibaba Group Holding. Photo: Shutterstock
Australia

Snapchat makes Australian teens verify age as social media ban looms

From December 10, social media platforms in Australia must remove users aged below 16 or face fines, in one of the strictest bans globally.

Bianca Navarro, 10, looks at a screenshot of herself using a Snapchat filter at her home in Sydney on October 30. Photo: AFP
Artificial intelligence

Ant Group’s vibe coding app hits 1 million downloads in just 4 days

LingGuang, an AI app that generates custom software applications, sees a surge in popularity.

Artificial intelligence

Chinese tech giants from Kuaishou to Tencent reap early gains from big AI bets

Executives double down on long-term AI growth, as return-on-investment culture cushions tech companies amid worries over costs, analysts say.

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Ant Group

Alibaba founder Jack Ma visits Ant Group as fintech giant ramps up AI efforts

Ma’s visit marks almost a year since he publicly endorsed Ant Group’s AI initiatives during the firm’s 20th anniversary.

Jack Ma, wearing a white cap, walks alongside Ant Group chairman Eric Jing Xiandong (left) and CEO Cyril Han Xinyi at the fintech giant’s campus in Hangzhou. Photo: Handout
United States

Meta defeats US antitrust case over Instagram and WhatsApp acquisitions

The ruling gives Big Tech its first decisive win against the antitrust crackdown started in Trump’s first term.

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Tencent

Alibaba bets on ‘everything app’ Qwen to define AI era for global consumers

Qwen has the potential to become super-app, the same way Tencent’s WeChat defined the mobile internet age, analysts say.

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United States

ChatGPT and X among sites disrupted in worldwide Cloudflare outage

The company, whose network handles around a fifth of web traffic, says a fix has been deployed and services restored.

A woman holds a smartphone displaying the logo of social network X. Thousands of users reported issues with the platform on Tuesday. Photo: AFP
Ant Group

Ant Group unveils AI assistant that builds ‘flash apps’ in 30 seconds

China’s Big Tech firms are engaged in an intensifying competition to attract consumers with agentic AI apps.

The Ant Group logo seen at a trade fair in Beijing. Photo: Reuters
Artificial intelligence

Alibaba’s wholesale platform empowers merchants with AI tool to source products

Alibaba.com, which serves more than 200,000 merchants worldwide, will make its new AI Mode search tool available next month.

Video gaming

Forget apps and consoles, video game players are returning to websites

Web games are surging in popularity as players experiencing app fatigue seek quick, free access to fun without the high console costs.

Artificial intelligence

Ant Group picks AI-assisted healthcare as growth area in ageing China

The elevation of the business marks one of Ant’s most significant pivots since its cancelled IPO five years ago.

Ant Group’s AI-powered AQ app, which offers doctor recommendations and healthcare guidance, had served 140 million users as of September, the company said. Photo: Handout
Artificial intelligence

Apple nears US$1 billion-a-year deal to use Google’s Gemini AI model for Siri

Apple is banking on Google’s help to rebuild Siri’s underlying technology, setting the stage for a new slate of features next year.

Apple plans to overhaul its Siri digital assistant software with Google’s Gemini AI model. Photo: Shutterstock
Artificial intelligence

Chinese AI app start-ups lag behind US peers in making money: report

Only four Chinese developers are included in the world’s top 100 AI apps from private firms by annual recurring revenue.

Alibaba

Alibaba rebrands food delivery app Ele.me in instant retail push

A beta version of the updated app, available to select users, adopts Taobao’s signature orange colour instead of Ele.me’s blue theme.

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