Reading about Media

1. Wechat – the surveilance state

China’s WeChat is a site for social interaction, a form of currency, a dating app, a tool for sporting teams and deliverer of news: Twitter, Facebook, Googlemaps, Tinder and Apple Pay all rolled into one. But it is also an ever more powerful weapon of social control for the Chinese government.

I’ve just been locked out of WeChat (or Weixin 微信 as it is known in Chinese) and, to get back on, have had to pass through some pretty Orwellian steps – steps which have led others to question why I went along with it.

One reason is that life in Beijing would be extremely difficult without WeChat. The other is that I could not have written this piece without experiencing the stages which have now clearly put my image, and even my voice, on some sort of biometric (a. sinh trắc) database of troublemakers.

I was in Hong Kong to cover the enormous candlelight vigil (đêm canh thức trước 1 sự kiện) marking 30 years since the People’s Liberation Army was ordered to open fire on its own people to remove the mostly student protesters who’d been gathering in and around Tiananmen Square for months in June 1989.

This moment in history has been all but erased from public discourse (thông tin công khai) on mainland China but in Hong Kong, with its special status in the Chinese-speaking world, people turn out every year to remember the bloody crackdown.

This time round the crowd was particularly huge, with estimates ranging up to 180,000.

Chinese friends started asking on WeChat what the event was? Why were people gathering? Where was it?

That such questions were coming from young professionals here shows the extent to which knowledge of Tiananmen 1989 has been made to disappear in China.

I answered a few of them, rather cryptically, (adv. 1 cách bí ẩn) then suddenly I was locked out of WeChat.

“Your login has been declined due to account exceptions. Try to log in again and proceed as instructed,” came the message on the screen.

Then, when I tried to log back in, a new message appeared: “This WeChat account has been suspected of spreading malicious rumours (n. tin đồn ác ý) and has been temporarily blocked…”

It seems posting photos of an actual event taking place, without commentary, amounts to “spreading malicious rumours” in China.

I was given time to try and log in again the next day after my penalty had been served.

When I did I had to push “agree and unblock” under the stated reason of “spread malicious rumours”.

So this rumour-monger (n. kẻ gieo tin đồn) clicked on “agree”.

Then came a stage I was not prepared for. “Faceprint is required for security purposes,” it said.

I was instructed to hold my phone up – to “face front camera straight on” – looking directly at the image of a human head. Then told to “Read numbers aloud in Mandarin Chinese”.

My voice was captured by the App at the same time it scanned my face.

Afterwards a big green tick: “Approved”

Apart from being creepy (a. đáng sợ rùng rợn) you can only imagine the potential use of this type of data.

No doubt I have now joined some list of suspicious individuals in the hands of goodness knows which Chinese government agencies.

In China pretty much everyone has WeChat. I don’t know a single person without it. Developed by tech giant Tencent it is an incredible app. It’s convenient. It works. It’s fun. It was ahead of the game on the global stage and it has found its way into all corners of people’s existence.

It could deliver to the Communist Party a life map of pretty much everybody in this country, citizens and foreigners alike.

Capturing the face and voice image of everyone who was suspended for mentioning the Tiananmen crackdown anniversary in recent days would be considered very useful for those who want to monitor anyone who might potentially cause problems.

They’ve probably not lived in China.

It is hard to imagine a life here without it.

When you meet somebody in a work context they don’t given you a name card any more, they share their WeChat; if you play for a football team training details are on WeChat; children’s school arrangements, WeChat; Tinder-style dates, WeChat; movie tickets, WeChat; news stream, WeChat; restaurant locations, WeChat; paying for absolutely everything from a bowl of noodles to clothes to a dining room table… WeChat.

People wouldn’t be able to speak to their friends or family without it.

So the censors (người kiểm duyệt) who can lock you out of Wechat hold real power over you.

The app – thought by Western intelligence agencies to be the least secure of its type in the world – has essentially got you over a barrel. (idiom. đẩy ai vào đường cùng)

If you want to have a normal life in China, you had better not say anything controversial about the Communist Party and especially not about its leader, Xi Jinping.

2. New ways Youtube content creators earn money.

By Kaya YurieffCNN Business

Updated 2331 GMT (0731 HKT) July 11, 2019

Anaheim, California (CNN Business)Samery Moras is a 27-year-old six-time Taekwondo US National Champion.

Along with her fourth degree black belt, she also has two YouTube channels, with a combined total of nearly 100,000 subscribers and over 6.5 million views. There, in low budget videos she shoots at her gym and elsewhere, she keeps her fans up to date on her life and shares training tips and workouts.

While Moras earns money from YouTube via the ads running on her channels, she also has an online store with phone cases, sweatshirts and tank tops emblazoned (vẽ nổi) with her motivational phrase (cụm từ truyền động lực) “Fear Less.” She sells e-courses about Taekwondo through a service called Thinkific and runs a martial arts school with her sisters, too.

“Never rely on YouTube ad revenue (doanh thu quảng cáo) if you want to make a living off of YouTube,” Moras told CNN Business. “The algorithm (thuật toán) can change, your channel could get hacked, a million things could happen. You need different ways of monetizing (kiếm tiền) because, that way, if anything happens or changes, then your life [and income] doesn’t drastically change.”

Moras is not alone. While many YouTube stars with big audiences can make a living just from the ads running on their videos and other YouTube offerings, in recent years online content creators have been increasingly looking to other ways to make money and build a brand around their personality outside of YouTube.

That includes creating their own fashion lines, working with companies on sponsored content, going on tour to meet fans, launching a podcast and using virtual “tip jars” from startup Patreon, where their followers can give them money in exchange for perks (đặc quyền), like early access to videos and merchandise.

Many creators are worried that an unexpected shift in YouTube’s rules can suddenly cut into their revenue from the platform. (nền tảng, ở đây là nền tảng công nghệ YouTube) In the past, creators have been impacted after YouTube changed rules around monetization following advertiser boycotts (tẩy chay) over ads appearing on extremist content (nội dung cực đoan). (To even qualify for the money-making YouTube Partner Program, they must have over 1,000 subscribers, among other requirements.)

“I think everyone should diversify their revenue streams because we’re not in control of YouTube’s policy,” said Evelyn Ngugi, a content creator known on social media as Evelyn from the Internets, who also earns money from sponsored posts on her Instagram account, her merchandise line (dòng sản phẩm) and paid speaking gigs (hợp đồng diễn thuyết) at events and universities.

“For example, you could be a family vlogger

and all of a sudden YouTube is considering taking down all videos of children, and you have no control over that, and that was your actual niche,” Ngugi said.

Earlier this year, YouTube disabled comments on millions of videos of minors after accusations (buộc tội) that pedophiles (ấu dâm) were exploiting the platform, leading to concerns about the future of family-focused channels that feature kids on the platform. YouTube is also considering other changes to how it handles children’s content.

Branching out can also help social media stars plan for the future. Ryan Detert, CEO of Influential, a platform that connects influencers (người nổi tiếng, có ảnh hưởng xã hội) and brands for deals, said many social media stars have goals beyond internet fame.

“Many of them are some of the best entrepreneurs of our time. They found a way to attract an audience and turn it into a monetize-able business,” he said.

YouTube depends on creators to help it make money and attract viewers, and it’s always looking for ways to keep them on the site and earning revenue.

In addition to ads, creators can make money off of YouTube memberships, merchandise and Super Chats. Super Chats let viewers pay varying amounts to have a message stand out on a live video. Fans can also pay $5 a month to become members of a channel, and get perks like member-only live streams or a shout out from the creator. (lời cảm ơn của người tạo ra content vì bạn đã subscribe, theo dõi kênh của họ)

More than 90,000 channels have received Super Chats so far, with some streams making over $400 per minute, according to a new YouTube blog post. Creators take home 70% of revenue from Super Chats and memberships, while YouTube keeps 30%.

In an interview with CNN Business, YouTube Chief Product Officer Neal Mohan said the company wants to give creators more ways to generate revenue beyond ads (tạo doanh thu ngoài nguồn thu từ quảng cáo)

That’s why on Thursday at VidCon, the annual conference for online video creators in Anaheim, California, YouTube announced a few additional options for creators to earn money. For example, fans can now purchase “Super Stickers” during live streams and video premieres, which are basically animated gifs that pop up on a live chat. There will also now be “levels” to channel memberships, each of which offers different perks.

“[Super Chat] is a way for the creator to generate more revenue,” Mohan said. “But it’s also a way for fans and creators to connect more closely. That’s a theme that runs through all of these new products that we’re announcing.”

Nick Amyoony, whose YouTube channel is called Nick Eh 30, livestreams himself playing the popular video game Fortnite every day for four hours in the morning and four hours in the evening, which has helped him rack up  (tích lũy) over 4.5 million subscribers. Amyoony estimates that about half of his revenue from YouTube comes from ads, while the rest comes from Super Chats and memberships.

“When you think of traditional celebrities, they are kind of unreachable,” he said. “With Super Chat when you’re streaming, if you have a question, if you want tips or advice, you can get, right away, contact with your favorite streamer.”

Amyoony declined to provide specifics on his overall YouTube earnings, but said fans typically pay between $2 to $20on Super Chat, while “super fans” will sometimes give up to $500.

Companies including Facebook (FB) are taking notice and offering their own ways for social media influencers to make money. Earlier this week, Facebook announced it’s testing a way for fans to send a few cents to their favorite video creators during live and on-demand videos (video có sẵn để phục vụ nhu cầu) to show their support.

Alisha McDonal, known as Alisha Marie on her social media channels, has been on YouTube for over 10 years, but has branched out (phân nhánh ra) to other mediums (phương tiện truyền đạt khác). She posts sponsored content on her Instagram account, in addition to her apparel line (dây chuyền may mặc) and podcast.

“It’s crazy knowing that if [YouTube] was gone tomorrow, at least I have a few different things I’m doing,” McDonal said.

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