Weekend Box: Tech Toxicity, Golden Globes & more
Welcome to the Weekend Box, Audley’s weekly round-up of interesting or obscure political, business and cultural news from around the world.
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CHINA: DIPLOMACY IS THE BEST POLICY
With the dire consequences of its zero-Covid strategy mounting and the country’s economy sputtering, China’s policy-makers are pivoting (albeit a bit messily). A reset is taking place in Beijing, with widespread policy changes to bolster a weakened economy and strengthen diplomatic relations.
Aside from abandoning a Covid strategy that has dogged the economy, Beijing is attempting a course correction in other areas. It is easing a two-year ban on Australian coal imports, is planning to relax its “three red lines” policy which limits borrowing for property developers, and is changing its stance on tech companies like Alibaba. Rather than tough sanctions, China’s internet regulator is exerting its control through ‘golden shares’, which see it usually taking a 1 per cent share of internet groups’ key entities. The catch is that it offers them special rights over business decisions – a continuation of the state’s mandate to control content.
As China grapples with a rising Covid death toll, it appears to be making attempts to soften its global image and minimise tensions abroad amid its domestic challenges. The country’s steadfast support of Russia has hurt Beijing diplomatically and ministers associated with this policy have been well and truly sidelined. This includes the combative Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian, who will be putting his diplomatic chops to use as Deputy Director of the Ministry's Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs, and Le Yucheng, China’s Russian expert, who is now the Deputy Head of National Radio and Television Administration.
These alterations signal that China has woken up to the fact that it cannot afford to keep ramping up its rivalry with the West. In just a few months, it has opened its door to world leaders such as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Australian foreign affairs minister Penny Wong and a visit from President Macron may well be on the cards. For now, President Xi has been forced to choose pragmatism over principle to boost growth and return the country to health, but we will see how long this will last.
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THE FIGHT AGAINST TECH TOXICITY
Not such a happy new year for Andrew Tate, the self-appointed ‘king of toxic masculinity’ who was recently arrested in Romania as part of a human trafficking and rape investigation. The former kickboxer made his name on social media sites, posting misogynistic content including claims that rape victims "bear some responsibility" for being attacked, and that women "belong in the home" as men’s "property."
His arrest has shed new light on the tech giants making millions in advertising revenue from similar content. An investigation by The Times showed that there are a new wave of Tate-inspired influencers offering advice for how to ‘give your girlfriend anxiety’ in order to extend a relationship, how to avoid being a ‘victim of feminism,’ and selling online courses that promise romantic success. Last year, TikTok, which makes most of its money through advertising, reported revenues of almost £10bn.
As ever, there are numerous pieces of regulation trying to combat these issues. The EU’s Digital Services Act, which comes into force in 2024, should force companies to do more to remove illegal content and ban advertising based on sensitive data. The UK’s Online Safety Bill rumbles on, but campaigners argue that the U-turn on ‘legal but harmful’ content (which would have forced tech companies to take action against content that is not strictly illegal, such as Tate’s brand of misogyny) renders it toothless.
In the UK, schools are taking matters into their own hands, hosting assemblies and lessons to educate children about the dangers of engaging with Tate’s social media (his Twitter account remains active, following his reinstatement on the platform by CEO Elon Musk). Whatever the outcome of the investigation into Tate, it’s clear that there is no shortage of would-be influencers waiting to pick up his misogynistic mantle online.
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PINK TIDE’S TROUBLED WATERS
In one week, two leftist governments of Latin America’s so-called ‘second pink tide’ have experienced crises of civil unrest. While protests in Peru supporting its former president have reached a violent apex, Brazil has seen riots at key government buildings only a week after President Lula was sworn in.
On Sunday supporters of Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro, refusing to accept his defeat in 2022’s elections and calling for the leftist President’ Lula’s removal from office, descended in their thousands to infiltrate and lay waste to the Congress, presidential palace, and Supreme Court buildings in the capital of Brasília. Initially escorted through the capital by police, before their protests broke out into violence, approximately 1500 of the rioters have been detained by security forces. President Lula, decrying them as “fanatical fascists,” has promised they will be punished.
The attack is perhaps an inevitable outcome of Jair Bolsonaro stoking dissent among his supporter base by challenging 2022’s election result. On Thursday, reports circulated that Brazilian police had discovered a draft decree enabling Bolsonaro to alter the election result in the house of his former Justice Minister Anderson Torres.
Peru is also experiencing violence due to shifts in power – although in this case, it is supporters of leftist former President Pedro Castillo who are protesting. Pedro Castillo was detained in December after attempting to dissolve congress and institute a national curfew ahead of an impeachment vote. Loyalists of the former president began demonstrations in December, demanding that his replacement, former Vice-President Dina Boluarte, resign and that Castillo be reinstated. Around 40 civilians have been killed in encounters between protestors and police to date, with 17 killed on Monday alone.
While Brazil seems to be at relative peace for now, as the president’s administration announces its programme to address the country’s deficit, the path ahead for Peru appears troublingly unclear.
For more on Brazil’s elections and President Lula’s fight in post-Bolsonaro Brazil, read Audley’s BoxNote here.
TOP OF THE CROPS
Agriculture is one of the sectors most in need of innovation in the face of the global climate change challenge. The question of how we feed a still-growing world population (now in excess of 8 billion) with limited land, tougher weather conditions and depleted soils is vexing the world’s scientific community.
The nascent UK agritech sector is tackling this very problem. One particular British start-up, Wild Bioscience, came to the media’s attention this week in the context of efforts to grow Britain’s science base. The company is working to improve crop yields by activating individual genes in wheat to create varieties that grow faster and bigger with less water and nutrients.
On Wednesday, we heard from George Freeman MP, the Minister for Science and Innovation, who laid out the government’s ambitions for Britain to become a ‘science superpower.’ Mr Freeman said that agritech is one of Britain’s strengths that it should focus on. His remarks come in the context of the ongoing row about the UK’s desire to join EU programs such as the Horizon Europe research and development framework. The direction of Britain’s strategy for science and innovation will hinge on whether it can secure membership of such programmes or not.
Meanwhile, in Spain, a team from the Institute of Subtropical and Mediterranean Horticulture has grown the first significant crop of cocoa beans on European soil, after decades of failed attempts. The global challenge of agricultural innovation is helping it reach scale at speed. The capacity for human ingenuity remains remarkable but as Mr Freeman acknowledged, huge investment will be needed to translate research into practical impact.
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GLOBES GO FOR GOLD AFTER CONTROVERSY
Award season is upon us once more. As ever, the Golden Globe Awards kicked us off, rolling out the red carpet and setting our expectations for which names and faces will win big in the upcoming (and arguably more noteworthy) BAFTAs and Oscars.
This year the awards were once again broadcast for all to see after an attempt to clean up its image following allegations of racism. In February 2021, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) exposed that the awards had no Black members on the 87-person voting panel. This not only led to the likes of Tom Cruise handing back all his awards last year, but the shunned organising body holding the 2022 ceremony in private and announcing the winners (most of whom did not acknowledge their success) on social media.
Host for this award’s 80th anniversary celebration Jerrod Carmichael was quick to point out the grave track record of the awarding body, opening the event with “I’ll tell you why I am here – I’m here because I’m Black.” By immediately recognising the controversy, Carmichael swiftly and refreshingly set a new tone for the awards ceremony which would quite literally change the face of Hollywood.
Awards this year included 6 out of the possible 16 acting awards going to non-white winners. Included amongst them were Tyler James Williams, Angela Bassett, Michelle Yeoh (the fifth Asian actress to win a Golden Globe), and Zendaya.
But as the Hollywood Reporter pointed out, true diversity is not just about the winners, it is about the voters. The Golden Globes appear to be learning from their mistakes with this year’s voting body increasing by over 100 new voters. The body now claims to be 52% female and 51.5% racially and ethnically diverse.
Prolific TV producer Ryan Murphy, who won one of two honorary globes, poignantly closed the ceremony paying homage to his LGBT+ peers as ‘examples of possibility’ and ‘North Stars’ of progress. He spoke of the importance of representation and the need for role models from all backgrounds: “When I was a young person in the 70’s I never ever saw a person like me getting an award.” His mission, he concluded was “to take the invisible, the unloved and to make them heroes.” It seems after 79 years, The Golden Globes has begun to recognise the importance of doing the same.
And that’s it for this week. I hope you found something of interest that you might want to delve into further. If so, please get in touch at cwilkins@audley.uk.com.
For now, that’s the weekend box officially closed.