House Passes Bill to Ban TikTok
The House of Representatives has passed legislation that would require ByteDance to divest the US assets of TikTok within six months or be banned. President Trump has come out against the ban, likely due to his affiliation with TikTok investor Jeff Yass, but President Biden has stated that he will agree to sign the legislation if it passes the Senate. About 170 million Americans use the short-video app, and the government is concerned because ByteDance is connected to the CCP and TikTok gathers a massive amount of data and information on its users. Essentially, China has access to user data, can threaten election interference, and promote other mis and disinformation campaigns. There is also evidence that TikTok’s algorithm censors videos worldwide. TikTok’s political response to the legislation may have been popular in China and supported by Chinese propagandist Hu Xijin, but it has encouraged legislators to oppose the company. If the legislation passes the Senate, then this will be an effective ban as ByteDance will not be able to sell TikTok without the CCP’s approval. This has become an information war between the United States and China, highlighting the hypocrisy of China as TikTok is not allowed in the country (their version is Douyin that is heavily censored). Although security experts generally support this legislation, it remains unclear if it can pass the Senate by the end of the year.
Portugal’s Democratic Alliance Wins
On March 10, Portugal’s center-right Democratic Alliance (DA) won the general election, though only by a small percentage. The Democratic Alliance is made up of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), CDS – People's Party (CDS–PP), and People's Monarchist Party (PPM). Importantly, the right-wing Chega party went from 12 to 48 seats as well. Chega claimed that they would promote instability if they were not included in government, but the DA has decided to govern without a majority. Portugal is a traditionally left-wing country, but this indicates a sharp move to the right. Chega gaining so many seats while campaigning against crime, corruption, and migration (along with positive attitude toward former dictator Antonio Salazar) further indicates a general rightward shift. This is likely part of the general rightward movement across Europe, and Chega’s increase will likely help the chances of other right-wing parties, such as Belgium’s Vlaams Belang and the Netherlands’ PVV that is still trying to form a government. Although Europe as a continent has governed from the left for several decades, there are a significant number of indicators that politics is changing there. At the very least elections will become far more contentious, and center-right parties are likely to move rightward to get voters who might turn to right-wing parties.
Haiti’s Leader Decides To Step Down
Acting Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry stated on March 11 that he would step down from his position after a transitional presidential council is formed. Henry is doing this because of the significant amount of gang violence in the country, and he has become unpopular because he hasn’t held elections yet. The transitional council would be a needed step for elections, which is what several of the gangs have called for as Henry has been in power since 2021 following the assassination of then-President Jovenel Moïse. Henry currently is in Puerto Rico because gangs prevented him from returning to Haiti after a diplomatic trip. Gangs control approximately 80% of the territory in Port-au-Prince. Relatedly, Kenya has stated it will not send the promised 1,000 police officers until a transitional government is established. Kenya’s foreign ministry stated, “The deal they signed with [Henry] still stands, although the deployment will not happen now because definitely we will require a sitting government to also collaborate with.” Although this is unlikely to have major business disruptions because few operate in Haiti, there is a chance of regional disruptions with the United States (Puerto Rico and Florida), the Dominican Republican, and other Caribbean countries as Haiti’s situation will plausibly lead to a refugee crisis.
Libyan Factions Might Unify
The leaders of Libya’s three main factions agreed on March 10 to the “necessity” of a unified government and elections. These leaders include the president of the Presidential Council (PC) Mohamed Menfi, the head of High State Council (HSC) Mohamed Takala, and Aguila Saleh, speaker of the House of Representatives (HoR) in Benghazi. Furthermore, Libyan authorities in Tripoli have also stated they want to work with the Benghazi-based military to secure the border. Libya has been in a constant state of conflict since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, and this internecine conflict has led to destabilizing effect in the region as drugs and weapons move from Libya to Sudan and throughout the Sahel. This agreement could have a positive impact on the region by reducing the transfer of weapons to militant groups. In addition, unification would be helpful for the energy sector for both Libya and Europe. However, it remains unclear if unification will happen despite the statement.
Nigeria Faces Cost of Living Crisis
Nigeria is going through the worst of cost of living crisis in decades, and President Bola Tinubu’s economic reforms since last year have created further short-term problems. His economic policies included removing a petrol subsidy and foreign currency controls in an attempt to help the budget and establish credibility with investors. Of course, Tinubu inherited an economy racked by extremely high debt, high unemployment, low oil production, subsidies hurting the government budget, and power shortages. Now, Tinubu is facing massive inflation (food, cooking gas, fuel, transportation, and medicine prices have all increased) combined with dollar shortages. Tinubu’s market reforms may be necessary for financial stability of the state in the long term, but such reforms typically lead to short-term instability. A worsening currency situation will lead to problems for businesses as profitability will decline for both domestic and foreign companies.
US Likely to Add More Chinese Tech Companies to Entity List
The US is considering more sanctions against Chinese technology companies, such as chipmaker ChangXin Memory Technologies, in order to continue stalling China’s development of advanced semiconductors. In total, the Bureau of Industry and Security is looking at six Chinese tech companies to add to the Entity List that limits access to US technology. The US and China continue to compete in the technology space, but this is another indicator that the balkanization of technology is coming over the next decade. While the US may try to stall China’s efforts to have advanced semiconductors, continued moves like this has led China to attempt a domestic production capability. However, China remains at least two years behind the US, and that means it will take significant effort to catch up. The CCP might not be capable of making that happen, so they will have to create their own technology, which is where balkanization will happen.
France Experience ‘Unprecedented’ DDoS Attack
Starting on March 10, the French government experienced cyberattacks of “unprecedented intensity.” The attacks were distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks “conducted using familiar technical means but of unprecedented intensity.” The threat actors disrupted ministerial services and state operations. DDoS attacks are simple compared to other types of attacks, but this shows that well-crafted simple attacks can still pose a risk to governments. Also, the intensity of the attack indicates the threat actor likely had a sponsor, and the most likely candidate is Russia because of France’s renewed support for Ukraine. On March 12, the French National Assembly approved a bilateral security agreement with Ukraine that is a 10-year security pact with military training and up to $3.2 billion in military aid. Due to the success of this cyberattack, Russian-supported threat actors are highly likely to perform similar attacks against those who continue to support Ukraine.
New “Inception” Cyberattack
Newly published research on virtual reality systems: “[A] new kind of security vulnerability discovered by researchers at the University of Chicago. Inspired by the Christoper Nolan movie Inception, the attack allows hackers to create an app that injects malicious code into the Meta Quest VR system. Then it launches a clone of the home screen and apps that looks identical to the user’s original screen. Once inside, attackers are able to see, record, and modify everything the person does with the VR headset, tracking voice, motion, gestures, keystrokes, browsing activity, and even interactions with other people in real time.”
“The most effective way to do it, is to do it.”
- Amelia Earhart
If you enjoyed this newsletter why not sign up to receive it by email
© Copyright. All rights reserved.
We need your consent to load the translations
We use a third-party service to translate the website content that may collect data about your activity. Please review the details in the privacy policy and accept the service to view the translations.