Internet

Major staff cuts at the metaverse units of ByteDance and Tencent have highlighted the sometimes disorganised ways that big tech firms have handled investments in new businesses. Now, grand development plans have been shelved, not so much because of a looming regulatory risk, but because of the difficulties of navigating a vaguely defined sector with patchy overall demand.

Chinese companies have gotten creative in their recruitment process since the Covid-19 pandemic eased. Companies can now hit a bigger pool of talent at low cost by livestreaming job vacancies, while job seekers, especially blue-collar workers, can easily send in their resumes at a click of a button. Lianhe Zaobao journalist Zeng Shi looks at how the job market is changing due to this innovative channel.

Academics Wong Lung Hsiang and Looi Chee Kit note that information and AI literacies are or will become essential for anyone living in the IT era. One must possess both literacies to responsibly and constructively produce and disseminate information, as well as to understand and appraise the functions and limitations of AI tools, and the challenges they pose.

Chinese billionaire Jack Ma has given up controlling rights in the company he founded, Ant Group Co. All eyes are now on what lies ahead for Ant and Alibaba, which owns 33% of the company and was co-founded by Ma.

While it appears that large digital platforms in China have been hit hard by a series of regulatory reforms in the last few years, they are down but not out, says researcher Jia Kai.

Peterson Institute of International Economics researchers Tianlei Huang and Nicolas Véron analyse the seeming anomaly that an increasingly statist policy environment in China has not prevented a rapid rise of the private sector. While various factors have paused this rise, will the upward trajectory likely resume in President Xi’s third term?

Amid tightening Covid-19 controls, disrupted logistics and e-commerce user base plateauing in 2020, Chinese e-commerce companies are facing tightened scrutiny and slowing growth in revenue. Furthermore, advertising — the most important source of revenue for internet companies — has been weak for more than a year. This leads Chinese tech companies to turn their attention overseas, and those without an overseas development plan will be left behind. Caixin journalists tell us more.

In a changed world post-pandemic and against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, Asia will face pressure from competing minilateral coalitions amid the breakdown of multilateralism and the weakening global and regional institutions. This time, it may not be so easy not to take sides, says Professor C. Raja Mohan. This is the second in a series of four articles contemplating a changing world order.

Crypto ban notwithstanding, China’s getting firmly in the act of building Web3 infrastructure to its specifications. While China is unlikely to allow global Web3 to play a role in its economy or the lives of its citizens, Chinese developers and entrepreneurs remain fascinated by the promise of global Web3 platforms and cryptocurrencies. This portends the development of two blockchain markets in China: one which caters to those who “jump” the virtual fence to join in the global Web3 movement, and one which uses blockchain in line with Beijing’s vision.