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Japan’s stubborn reliance on the fax machine has been hit by a storm of ridicule after a frustrated doctor went on a Twitter tirade about the legal requirement that hospitals complete paperwork on coronavirus cases by hand then fax it to public health centers so they can compile statistics. The doctor, apparently a specialist in respiratory medicine at a public hospital, wrote: “Come on, let’s stop this.” “Reporting cases in handwriting? Even with the coronavirus, we are writing by hand and faxing.” He added that the practice was “Showa period stuff,” referring to the imperial era that ran from 1926 until the death of Emperor Hirohito in 1989. Yet fax still reigns supreme in Japan, with a re

Twitter and Facebook have cracked down on what they call Beijing-linked accounts seeking to undermine continuing protests in Hong Kong demanding accountability and democracy. The social media sites, which are blocked in mainland China, have deleted hundreds of accounts associated with this activity, the companies said in separate statements on Tuesday. Facebook said it had removed seven pages, three groups and five accounts involved in “coordinated inauthentic behavior as part of a small network that originated in China and focused on Hong Kong.” On the same day, Twitter said it took down 936 accounts originating from within China due to a number of violations of its policies, including fake

A Chinese diplomat joined Twitter to engage in public diplomacy – in May 2010. Zhao Lijian, China’s deputy chief of mission in Pakistan, began tweeting a little more than a year after Donald Trump did. Nearly a decade later, Zhao has proven to be ahead of his time. His colleague, Cui Tiankai, China’s ambassador to the United States, set up his own Twitter account just last week. But if Zhao’s 50,000 tweets were any guide, Chinese officials’ growing presence on social media does not necessarily mean they want to remain diplomatic amid strained ties between the world’s two-biggest economies. This was evident most recently on Monday, when Zhao went on a 27-tweet tirade on the supposed failings

The chief executive of Google, which is said to be developing a censored search engine for China, didn’t bother to show up for a grilling by lawmakers in Washington. But his Silicon Valley colleagues, Jack Dorsey of Twitter and Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook, did turn up on Wednesday to testify. They were there to answer to the Senate Intelligence Committee about their responses to foreign efforts to meddle in US politics – and ended up defending their partnerships with Chinese companies. Sandberg, in particular, was in the hot seat. Facebook has active partnerships with four Chinese phone makers, giving these makers special access to user data. One of these companies is Huawei, a telecoms gro

Chinese Twitter users are looking for a protester in Shanghai who livestreamed herself splashing ink on a poster of Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday. “I oppose the tyranny of Xi Jinping’s dictatorship!” said the woman while live-streaming the protest near the HNA building in the financial district of Lujiazui on Twitter. Chinese Twitter users later identified the protester as Dong Yaoqiong, believed to be an employee of a property agency. Some social media users questioned whether she was well when she filmed her livestream. Her Twitter page has become unavailable, though cached versions of the account showing her tweets are still accessible. Inkstone was unable to independently ve