Asia in brief Huawei unveiled initiatives last week to encourage developers to work on its Harmony operating system, the platform it created after US sanctions denied the Chinese giant access to the Android operating system. from Google.

A series of posts on Huawei’s Chinese social media accounts detailed events held last week to announce incentives to code for the operating system and assistance in targeting offshore markets. Chinese release PingWest reported that the events saw Huawei’s detailed programs valued at $200 million in incentives, and attendees given tips on how to target users in the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific.

Huawei recently announced its first-half 2022 results, admitting that “our devices business has been significantly impacted” – likely by the dual impact of China’s lockdowns slowing sales and manufacturing even as global uncertainty sees consumers restrict their spending, and the company’s products are less appealing to consumers as the lack of Android makes them non-standard.

Targeting developing markets therefore makes sense for Huawei, which surely recognizes that Harmony OS and the devices that run it won’t succeed anywhere – even in China – without a powerful collection of apps.

–Simon Sharwood

Indonesia imposes four-hour content takedowns

Indonesian officials plan to enforce recently passed tough content moderation laws by fining violators up to $33,000 per violation if content deemed questionable is not removed in as little as four hours, the report reported. media Rest of the world. Fines will be determined based on gross revenue, content type, compliance rate, and other factors. Companies will generally have 24 hours to comply with withdrawal requests. However, for matters deemed urgent, companies will only be granted four hours.

The details were leaked at the point of sale after the government provided detailed presentations to tech giants operating in the country.

Tech companies familiar with the presentations reportedly felt that the definition of “prohibited content” was too vague.

Indonesia recently required entities to register in Indonesia as a Private Range Electronic Systems (PSE) operator, which subjects them to the removal of content deemed illegal.

The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology said it may review the deadlines.

South Korea may have passed Facebook’s peak

The number of monthly active users (MAUs) of Facebook in South Korea has fallen by 25% over the past two years, according to analyst group IGAworks, a Mobile Index business unit.

MAUs in the country increased from 14.8 million in May 2020 to 11.1 million in July 2022. The figures were guessed using data from the mobile app store.

An industry source told Korean news outlet Yonhap that the local youth had switched to another Meta service – Instagram – due to annoyance from Facebook ads.

According to Statista, Facebook remains the most used online social network in the world. Its largest cohort of users are men between the ages of 25 and 34.

Singaporean food delivery companies form association for gig economy workers

Singapore’s three main food delivery platforms – Grab, foodpanda and Deliveroo – launched an organization last Thursday to support delivery drivers and food traders.

The Digital Platforms Industry Association (DPIA) “will leverage the expertise and experience of its member platform companies to enhance industry best practices and support Singapore’s digital economy.” It will also provide upskilling opportunities and raise health and safety standards among drivers and traders.

Concerns have been voiced around the world about the plight of gig economy workers. While this segment of the population has proven vital during the pandemic, it has not always been fully rewarded with basic job protections such as injury compensation, pension payments, or access to unions. .

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in August 2021 that the Ministry of Manpower was considering measures to improve conditions for delivery workers.

Apple suppliers move to Vietnam

Apple suppliers Luxshare Precision Industry and Foxconn are in talks to move Apple Watch and MacBook production out of China for the first time.

Component makers are reportedly already carrying out production tests in northern Vietnam.

Northern Vietnam, particularly Bac Giang province, is already a hub for factories working for big tech – many of which supply components to Apple and Samsung, or assemble their kit.

Meanwhile, Chinese production has been hit hard this year by repeated Shanghai shutdowns and heat waves that have led to factory shutdowns and, in turn, supply chain issues.

Bac Giang had to deal with its own lockdowns and factory closures in 2021, thanks to COVID. Since August last year, lockdowns in Vietnam seem to be a thing of the past.

India blocks YouTube channels said to monetize disinformation and national security threats

The Indian government last week blocked eight YouTube channels “for spreading misinformation related to India’s national security, foreign relations and public order”.

One of the channels was under Pakistani control. The other seven were mined in India.

“The purpose of the content posted by some of these YouTube channels was to spread hatred among religious communities in India,” a government statement said. “Examples include fake news such as the Indian government ordering the demolition of religious structures; the Indian government banning the celebration of religious holidays, the declaration of religious war in India, etc. This content has been found to have the potential to create disorderly communities and disturb public order in the country.

“YouTube channels have also been used to post fake news on various topics like Indian Armed Forces, Jammu and Kashmir etc. The content has been observed as completely false and sensitive from national security perspective and India’s friendly relations with foreign states.”

–Simon Sharwood

Japan to suspend tax breaks to improve infosec

Japan would offer tax breaks to defense companies that make basic improvements to their information security regimes by introducing technologies such as anti-virus software and two-factor authentication.

Nikkei reports that incentives are needed to reduce the likelihood of Japanese defense companies releasing information that could compromise the country’s armed forces.

–Simon Sharwood

Alibaba translates home font

Alibaba has translated its in-house typeface into three additional scripts: Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.

The e-commerce giant launched the typeface – named Alibaba Sans – in 2019 and claims it has been downloaded more than four million times since.

The font is free to use “for private and commercial purposes” according to Alibaba’s announcement of the extended font family.

–Simon Sharwood

In other news…

Our Asian coverage last week included reports that South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol had granted a widely expected and publicly supported pardon to Samsung Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong in hopes that the chaebol can sustain the country’s economy.

Beijing has released information on the algorithms used by the country’s biggest tech companies, including Alibaba, Tencent and ByteDance.

The Indian Army has announced that it will adopt locally developed Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) technology that can operate over distances of 150 km.

In Australia, Apple has been ordered to fix a MacBook Pro that’s showing all the symptoms of FlexGate – the screen defect syndrome the company previously fixed for free. Apple does not acknowledge that FlexGate is a problem on the Mac it was ordered to fix.

A heatwave in PC component hub Sichuan Province has disrupted operations and created other potential supply chain issues as the Chinese government disconnects industrial power.

Microsoft Azure launched a cloud region in Qatar, nearly a year later than planned due to delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Philippine government has ordered a fraud investigation after an audit uncovered a program to acquire laptops for educators overpaid for substandard products.

Alibaba’s financial services company, Ant Group, thinks it has created a decent alternative to MySQL called OceanBase.

Chinese drone maker DJI and Chinese robodog company Unitree robotics have both denied that their products were designed or sold for military purposes. Meanwhile, the Russian military praised DJI for modernizing warfare, and Unitree products were spotted at a Russian military forum.

Open-source media player VideoLAN has publicly questioned why its website was banned in India.

The Australian High Court overturned the 2020 ruling that search results pointing to news made Google a publisher, meaning the search results cannot be considered defamatory after all.

Researchers found that Chinese DNS resolvers fail two-thirds of the time when processing IPv6 address queries. IPv4 requests fail at a rate of one in eight.

South Korea has cracked down on unlicensed foreign crypto firms, citing personal information and hacking risks as well as money laundering risks.

Large tech and telecom companies commissioned by Vietnam store user data locally and control that data with local entities. Companies will have about a year to come into compliance. ®