News of the Cyber World

[kyonides]

TikTok Pushes Chinese Propaganda Ads to Millions Across Europe

China-owned TikTok is pushing a slew of Chinese propaganda advertisements to millions of Europeans in recent months. The ads tout everything from support of Chinese coronavirus lockdowns to presenting the Xinjiang region, where Uyghur minorities are forced to work in concentration camps, as a wonderful tourist destination.
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As of Wednesday, more than 1,000 ads from the communist regime’s state media outlets — such as People’s Daily and CGTN — have run on the platform since October 2022.

While the ad library does not yet display data on ads presented to users in the United States, Canada, and Australia, the data does show that the propaganda ads have appeared for millions of users across Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, and the United Kingdom.

References to the troubled Xinjiang region reportedly appeared in 92 of the 124 ads promoted by one of the state media accounts.

One propaganda advertisement, paid for by China News International, featured a man doing a traditional dance under the caption “Xinjiang is a good place!” Another ad showed a CGTN host visiting an elementary school in Xinjiang.

The school is reportedly located in the Pishan County of Xinjiang, where the Australian Strategic Policy Institute has tracked the construction of six detention facilities.

Another ad featured a member of academia criticizing U.S. and European resistance to China’s exploitative Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), in which the communist regime offers predatory loans to poor countries meant to build infrastructure projects.

France Investigates Smuggling of Advanced Military Chips to China

French magistrates have filed preliminary charges against two Chinese citizens and two other people from France in an investigation of a leading chip supplier whose advanced technology with possible military uses was reportedly smuggled to China and Russia, allegedly skirting sanctions and export controls.

The probe of Ommic, a Paris-region semiconductor manufacturer now in American hands, was launched by France’s national prosecution service that specializes in cases involving arms proliferation.

The probe is now being led by magistrates investigating suspected illegal exports, forgery and other suspected crimes, according to a French judicial official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of secrecy laws that cover magistrates’ probes.

The official said four people – two French, two Chinese – have been placed under formal investigation since March. That means magistrates believe there is considerable evidence of potential crimes but want more time to investigate.

Two of the four people face preliminary charges of handing over protected know-how to a foreign power, the judicial official said. The official and the prosecution service, which also specializes in terrorism cases, refused to go into greater detail about the investigation.

The newspaper Le Parisien first reported on the case. It said investigators have uncovered nearly 12 million euros (more than $13 million) worth of suspected exports of technology.

It said the company’s French manager is suspected of having personally delivered chips to Russian clients. It said products were also exported to Chinese armament manufacturers with the help of forged paperwork.

Peak Body Calls for Stronger AI Regulations After Doctors Found Using ChatGPT

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) is calling for stronger regulations and transparency around the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the healthcare industry after doctors in Perth were ordered to cease using ChatGPT to write patient medical notes.

In a submission to the federal government on July 25, the AMA said that Australia is behind countries, such as Canada, the United Kingdom, and the European Union, in AI regulations and that rules need to be put in place to protect the privacy and safety of patients and healthcare professionals.

“We need to address the AI regulation gap in Australia, but especially in healthcare where there is the potential for patient injury from system errors, systemic bias embedded in algorithms and increased risk to patient privacy,” AMA President Professor Steve Robson said in a statement on July 27.
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In May, some staff at Perth’s South Metropolitan Health Service (SMHS), which spans five hospitals, were reportedly using an AI Chatbot, ChatGPT, to write medical notes that were then uploaded to the patient record system, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

“Crucially, at this stage, there is no assurance of patient confidentiality when using AI bot technology, such as ChatGPT, nor do we fully understand the security risks,” according to an email obtained by the ABC that was sent to staff by SMHS’s chief executive, Paul Forden.

“For this reason, the use of AI technology, including ChatGPT, for work-related activity that includes any patient or potentially sensitive health service information must cease immediately.”
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In a statement, Paul Forden, Chief Executive of the South Metropolitan Health Service, said the email sent to all staff in May was to remind staff of the importance of data integrity and patient confidentiality as a precautionary measure.

“This was in response to one doctor being found to have used artificial intelligence (AI) bot technology to generate a patient discharge summary. There are no grounds to believe there has been any breach in anyone’s individual identifiable patient confidential information. The information put into the AI program did not include patient identifiable information,” Mr. Forden said.

Rubio Introduces Bill Restricting US Genetic Tech Supply to China

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) has introduced new legislation aimed at halting the supply of U.S. genetic technology to China due to concerns that it could be used by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to violate human rights.

Mr. Rubio said the Stopping Genetic Monitoring by China Act would stop the Chinese regime from using American genetic technology and “send a clear message that we will not tolerate China’s abuse of human rights.”

This came just a month after Mr. Rubio introduced the Genomics Expenditures and National Security Enhancement (GENE) Act to counter the CCP’s threat to collect Americans’ genomic data.

“China not only steals genetic data from Americans but also conducts biomedical research and represses its own people using genetic technology,” Mr. Rubio said in a press release on July 26.

“This includes forcefully taking genetic information from Uyghurs, Tibetans, and other ethnic groups as a ‘crime-fighting’ measure. Beijing relies on American companies for genetic technology,” he added.

The new legislation would add genetic sampling and testing kits, analytical technology, and software to the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security’s Commerce Control List, according to his statement.