Digital Digest – 01 October

By Andre Francois McKenzie for Unsplash

In this week’s Digital Digest, we look at the Met Police’s investment in facial recognition tech, and the UK Governments plans to launch a digital currency. 

We then look at big tech as Facebook comes under fire following an internal leak, TikTok hits 1 billion users, and iPhone users are urged to remove Visa from Apple Pay due to a payment flaw.

Closer To Home

London to invest in facial recognition technology

In a move to enable the police force to analyse a wide range of sources and track suspects, the Met is set to increase its facial recognition capacity. The decision seems to be under-publicised, potentially due to controversy in the public arena regarding the use of such technology, particularly relating to the potential for abuse and privacy concerns.

In the past we have written about the use of social surveillance mechanisms, and its disproportionately negative impact on minority groups. A major argument against the use of such technologies is that it can perpetuate and facilitate racial discrimination in the absence of strict regulatory safeguards. However, the Mayor of London has defended the use of surveillance technology, saying it will speed up the time taken to identify potential criminals and thus reduce crime.

UK government announces industry group to lead digital pound debate

Details have emerged of joint forums set up by HM Treasury and the Bank of England to debate a Central Bank Digital Currency. Members include representatives from Big Tech, fintech, and incumbent banks who will be responsible for leading the debate around a digital version of the pound. Although discussions over a digital currency in the UK are not new, the creation of such forums does bring us a step closer to an official ‘Britcoin’. 

Big Tech

Facebook leaks reveal how company views children as ‘untapped’ wealth

Internal Facebook documents leaked this week reveal how the tech giant formed a special research team to create new methods, tools and programs to target children. The leaked documents talk about 10 to 12 year olds as a ‘valuable but untapped audience’, and pondered ways in which the company could ‘leverage playdates’. Given the negative reaction to this, and other related stories, it should come as no surprise that this week Facebook officially announced that it was pausing efforts to launch a kids version of their Instagram app.

TikTok hits 1 billion users Chinese company TikTok has announced in a blog post this Monday that more than one billion people from around the world now come to TikTok every month. No doubt the platform has benefitted hugely from the increase in phone usage throughout the pandemic, as people sought distractions and excitement in equal measure. This impressive milestone will only strengthen the resolve of TikTok’s rivals to eat into a greater chunk of this key audience, building on the recent launches of copycat products including Instagram’s Reels and YouTube’s Shorts. Clearly, the creator community is only set to continue growing in the months and years ahead.  iPhone users urged to remove Visa from Apple Pay due to dangerous contactless payments flaw Experts say that fraudsters have developed a method whereby they can bypass security measures and make unlimited contactless payments when a Visa card is used as a transport card via Apple Pay. It is believed this only occurs when a Visa card is used in Express Transit mode.  It works by tricking an iPhone into thinking it is connecting with a transit gate, when in reality it is engaging with a payment reader, such as those used in shops. This is referred to as a “man-in-the-middle” attack. As of now, Apple and Visa have acknowledged the vulnerability but have yet to come up with a plan to fix it. 

Also In The News

1. Facebook Portal teams up with ITV for Grandparents’ Day campaign. Read here.

2. Coke’s new tagline ‘Real Magic’ marks the company’s shift from broadcast to experiences. Read here.

3. Google announces the upcoming redesign of its search engine. Read here.

4. Bezos vs Musk: The growing rivalry between two giants. Read here.

5. Microsoft says its failed TikTok acquisition was the ‘strangest thing’. Read here

Worth A Read:

1. The Drum: Will Roald Dahl’s IP prove to be a golden ticket for Netflix?

2. BBC News: AI can predict if it will rain in two hours’ time

3. The Financial Times: Time to turn off Facebook’s digital fire hose

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Under The Radar – 01 October

By Element5 for Unsplash

This week, we discuss:

1. The first female Prime Minister in the Arab World

2. A fortuitous victory for the SDP in Germany

3. Japan’s newest Prime Minister

The first female Prime Minister in the Arab World

What happened?

Tunisia’s president, Kais Saied, has named the first female prime minister in the country’s history. Najla Bouden Romdhane’s appointment comes as a first not only for the country, but also for the region, as no woman has held the premiership in the Arab world before. What does it mean? In a symbolic sense, this is certainly an important step, as millions of women across the country will be able to see themselves in the image of the PM.  Bouden Romdhane is a geophysics professor and has worked at the Ministry of Education implementing World Bank projects. However, she remains a relatively unknown figure in the world of politics, so her appointment came as a surprise to many. Despite being a first for the Arab world, her role as PM remains little more than a symbolic achievement that is eclipsed by the fact that Tunisia has, over the past summer, undergone a reorganisation of its power structure, with the president sacking the previous PM and suspending certain parts of the constitution.  Saied has essentially been ruling by decree, in what his political opponents have called a coup. Thus, Romdhane’s appointment arrives at a time of political uncertainty, when the democratic gains achieved during the 2011 Arab Spring revolution seem for many to be at risk. Whether the new premier will make a difference – for women and democracy – remains to be seen.

A fortuitous victory for the SDP in Germany

What happened? Germany’s federal election took place on Sunday, in what was a tight race between the outgoing Angela Merkel’s CDU/CSU and the Social Democrats (SPD), with the SPD securing a narrow victory.

What does this mean? Though the SDP claimed victory, it would be a mistake to regard this as a successful set of results for a few reasons. Firstly, there isn’t a provision in the constitution that allows the largest party to unilaterally select the Chancellor, which means numerous coalitions are possible. The tightness of this contest combined with Germany’s partial Proportional Representation system, means the Greens and the Free Liberals, who received 26% of the vote between them, will be kingmakers in any government. Secondly, the SPD, who despite playing second fiddle to the centre-right CDU since 2005, should have benefitted from being one of only two major parties in German politics since the 1990s. Losing 26% of potential voters to two much smaller parties, including the 6.8 million centre left voters who went Green, is a concern. Finally, the SDP were dealt a lucky hand. The Christian Democrats and Greens chose weak, unpopular candidates for the Chancellorship. Indeed, until a few months ago, they were on track for their worst electoral performance in more than 70 years. The political reality is that this election is less a ringing endorsement of the SDP, and more a vote against the discredited alternatives. The SDP must make the most of this fortuitous victory if they are to become a credible force in German politics again.

Japan’s newest Prime Minister

What happened?

Fumio Kishida, former foreign minister, has won his party’s leadership competition, putting him on course to replace outgoing Yoshihide Suga as Japan’s Prime Minister. The tightly contested race ended in a runoff vote that saw Kishida triumph over outspoken, popular maverick candidate, Taro Kono.  Kishida will now lead his beleaguered party in the upcoming General Election.   What does it mean? Wednesday’s leadership contest was a much tighter fight than expected.  It was also the first time the party elections have fielded multiple female candidates – in a country where just 14% of parliamentary seats are occupied by women. This progress was limited though, as the two female candidates, Sanae Takaichi and Seiko Noda, bowed out in the first round of voting.  Opinion polls suggested that the public were eager for change, backing the outspoken American-educated Taro Kono. Fumio Kishida, on the other hand, had little public backing, but was seen as a consensus builder and a safe set of hands.  Fumio Kishida will take over from Yoshihide Suga and will try to turn around his predecessor’s struggling government before a General Election that must be held by the end of November.  The Liberal Democrat Party needed a reliable leader that the Japanese could trust following Suga’s unpopular decision to press ahead with the Tokyo Olympics in defiance of public opinion. In Kishida, they’ve opted for a safety-first candidate – does he have what it takes? 

This Week’s Must Reads

1. ‘Labour looks aimless because it’s already searching for Starmer’s replacement’ by Rafael Behr for The Guardian

2. ‘We’re already barreling toward the next pandemic’ by Ed Yong for The Atlantic

3. ‘Britain is paying the price for pushing should-be manual workers into university education’ by Ross Clark for The Telegraph

4. ‘The strange death of American democracy’ by Martin Wolf for The Financial Times

Chart of The Week

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Has the far-left lost its grip on the Labour Party?

As pundits poured over Starmer’s maiden in-person speech to the Labour Party conference, our data team trawled through the reactions on social media. Over 150k tweets were analysed and then visualised, see above. In the graph, each point represents a Twitter account and its size is based on engagement levels.

Overall, Keir Starmer can start to breathe a sigh of relief. Thanks to the efforts of Angela Rayner and Alastair Campbell, a pro-Starmer line quickly gained traction in the aftermath.

Starmer should be wary of Corbyn loyalists who are not quite ready to give up on the far-lefty project. John McDonnell, Diane Abbott and Jon Trickett all came out in a seemingly orchestrated move to remind the Twittersphere that Starmer – contrary to his speech – supported the 2019 Labour manifesto. Despite all three tweets performing well, they ultimately failed to outperform Starmer’s allies on the day.

However, what should concern Starmer is an attack from Lowkey, a vocal and loyal Corbyn acolyte whose tweet – attacking Starmer for his failure to prosecute sexual assault cases when Director of Public Prosecutions – had the most engagement on the day.

Yet most concerning – for Starmer and Labour strategists – should be the reaction to a tweet from Angel Rayner attempting to reclaim Labour’s working-class roots. When we dug into the comments, we found a sizable backlash from disgruntled Twitter users — angrily pointing out Starmer’s failure to back the £15 minimum wage, his support for the EU or the party’s abandonment of working-class communities.

#Data #Politics #SocialMedia