Facebook has removed dozens of accounts for breaching its foreign or government interference policies, including several with links to the Philippine military and police. The social media operator uncovered “the full scope” of such activities after investigating information brought to its attention by the civil society and Rappler, an independent news organisation in the Philippines. 

Operating under two main networks, originating from China and the Philippines, individuals behind the activities had coordinated with each other and used fake accounts as an integral part of their operations to mislead people about who they were and what they were doing. 

Singapore must look beyond online falsehood laws as elections loom

Country’s government is missing the point with its use of correct...

TikTok removed more than 104.54 million videos from its platform in the first half of this year for breaching its community guidelines or terms of service. The number accounts for less than 1% of all videos uploaded on the Chinese app maker’s platform, with the largest volumes removed from India and the US at 37.68 million and 9.82 million, respectively. 

Some 96.4% of the videos were identified and removed before users reported them, while 90.3% were removed before they clocked any views, according to TikTok’s latest transparency report released Tuesday. The majority, at 30.9% were removed for containing nudity and sexual activities, while 22.3% were taken out for violating minor safety and 19.6% were removed for containing illegal activities and regulated goods.  

Singapore must ...

It may seem bizarre that the caste system, a centuries-old system that organises and stratifies human society, continues to play a heavy role in deciding which Indians prosper and which don’t within a space many consider to be an uber-meritocracy — the US tech landscape.

A recent lawsuit against two Indians, filed by California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing on behalf of another Indian, has made waves over the past few months for all the wrong reasons. It has illuminated how the Indian caste system has terrorised one of the most marginalised groups in India.

Except, this time, it is happening in the US tech industry, a place that people normally associate with egalitarianism and a thirst for talent regardless of colour, race, religion, or any other creed.

Caste is a 2,000 y...

It may seem bizarre that the caste system, a centuries-old system that organises and stratifies human society, continues to play a heavy role in deciding which Indians prosper and which don’t within a space many consider to be an uber-meritocracy — the US tech landscape.

A recent lawsuit against two Indians, filed by California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing on behalf of another Indian, has made waves over the past few months for all the wrong reasons. It has illuminated how the Indian caste system has terrorised one of the most marginalised groups in India.

Except, this time, it is happening in the US tech industry, a place that people normally associate with egalitarianism and a thirst for talent regardless of colour, race, religion, or any other creed.

Caste is a 2,000 y...

PropertyGuru has snagged SG$300 million ($220.65 million) in its latest fundraising efforts, as it looks to build up its digital offerings and further drive expansion plans across the region. Specifically, the funds will be tapped to facilitate its growth strategy in key markets such as Vietnam and Malaysia. 

The Singapore-based online property marketplace added that it would pump more investment into segments it had previously identified as growth areas, including mortgage platform PropertyGuru Finance it launched earlier this year and its property sales management software, FastKey. 

The latest funding round was led by investment firms TPG and KKR, which had supported PropertyGuru over the past five years and two years, respectively...

The ongoing global pandemic has brought a silver lining for some organisations in Singapore and around the world, where it boosted budgets and cleared the path for their digital transformation plans. It also pushed businesses to find new ways to engage customers and transform their digital communications. 

In fact, 96% of organisations in Singapore said COVID-19 helped resolved at least one barrier in their digital transformation efforts, with 46% pointing to a previous lack of engineering support. Another 45% said the pandemic removed a reluctance to replace legacy software, while 42% said it helped established a clear strategy for digital transformation, according to a study commissioned by Twilio. 

Conducted by Lawless Research in June, the online survey polled 2,569 business decision-...

Four international energy companies have joined hands with Enterprise Singapore in their call for startups to pitch and develop digital solutions to help address key challenges in their sector. Specifically, 19 challenge statements around robotics, sustainability, work flow, and asset management have been issued. 

Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil, and ConocoPhillips as well as the Singapore government agency together launched the Energy Open Innovation Challenge, which they said would give small and midsize businesses (SMBs) and startups the opportunity to pitch and testbed their solutions alongside the energy companies.

In a joint statement issued Thursday, they said the COVID-19 pandemic had impacted the global energy sector, where lockdown measures and restricted air travel resulting in a s...

Samsung is offering a cash return program for 10,000 Galaxy Fold owners in South Korea if they buy the new Galaxy Z Fold 2, the company said on Friday.

They will get 1 million won ($840) in cash if they return their Fold and purchase a Fold 2, the South Korean tech giant said.

The limited offer will be on a first come, first served basis, and Fold users will be able to apply for the program on Samsung’s website from September 10 to 11.

After registering for the program, Fold owners will be required to return their device to a Samsung store from September 15 to 29. A Galaxy Z Fold 2 will then be shipped to them starting on September 15.

Customers that use the offer will get their cash deposit seven days after the devices are returned, Samsung added.

However, those wit...

Singapore telcos StarHub and M1 have been fined a total of SG$610,000 ($447,090) for broadband service disruptions that occurred in April and May this year. Two of the outages later were found to be due to human oversight, including a system configuration. 

In determining the financial penalties, industry regulator Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) said in a statement Sunday that it had considered various factors such as the duration, impact, and customer service measures rolled out by the operators to mitigate impact. 

StarHub’s service outage on April 15 lasted almost five hours and affected up to 250,000 broadband subscribers...

South Korean tech giant Samsung has clinched a network equipment supply deal with US carrier Verizon, the company publicly disclosed on Monday.

The contract for wireless telecommunication solutions between Samsung Electronics America and Verizon Sourcing LLC is worth around 7.9 trillion won, around $6.6 billion, the conglomerate said.

The size of the deal is equivalent to 3.43% of Samsung Electronics’ 2019 full-year sales of 230 trillion won. The contract will expire on 31 December 2025.

“We are pleased to expand our long-standing partnership with Verizon to advance their next-generation network evolution...