China will attempt to disrupt elections in the US, South Korea and India this year with artificial intelligence-generated content after making a dry run with the presidential poll in Taiwan, Microsoft has warned. The US tech firm said it expected Chinese state-backed cyber groups to target high-profile elections in 2024, with North Korea also involved, according to a report by the company’s threat intelligence team published on Friday. “As populations in India, South Korea and the United States head to the polls, we are likely to see Chinese cyber and…
Tag: US elections 2024
China could use TikTok to influence US elections, spy chief says
China could use social media app TikTok to influence the 2024 US elections, the director of national intelligence, Avril Haines, has told a House of Representatives intelligence committee hearing. Asked by Democratic Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi if China’s ruling Communist party (CCP) would use TikTok to influence the elections, Haines said “we cannot rule out that the CCP would use it”. Lawmakers have long voiced concerns that the Chinese government could access user data or influence what people see on the app, including pushing content to stoke US political divisions. Krishnamoorthi…
The world in 2024: Guardian writers on what to look out for
The year 2024 will be a critical one. The future of Gaza and the West Bank may hinge in part on whether Donald Trump returns to the White House – as may the outcome of the war in Ukraine. China will be locked in a race against time as its population ages. And the natural world will reach a new series of tipping points. But there are some reasons for cautious optimism. With so much happening, it can be hard to know where to look. Here Guardian correspondents offer their…
Ron DeSantis says he will try to revoke China’s trade status if elected president
The Republican presidential candidate and Florida governor Ron DeSantis said on Sunday he would aim to revoke China’s permanent normal trade relations status if he won the White House next year. “I favor doing that,” DeSantis told Fox News. “I think we probably need Congress but I would take executive action as appropriate to be able to move us in that direction.” The Senate voted in 2000 to grant that status to China as it prepared to join the World Trade Organization. Any step to remove it would also need…
Trump says Putin is ‘somewhat weakened’ by aborted mutiny
Donald Trump, a longtime admirer of Vladimir Putin, said on Thursday that the Russian president has been “somewhat weakened” by an aborted mutiny and that the US should use this moment to negotiate a peace settlement between Russia and Ukraine. “I want people to stop dying over this ridiculous war,” Trump told Reuters in a telephone interview. On Ukraine, Trump did not rule out that the Kyiv government might have to concede some territory to Russia in order to stop the war, which began with Russian forces invading Ukraine 16…