Selected Features & Investigations
How Shein Beat Amazon at Its Own Game — And Reinvented Fast Fashion (Rest of World)
The End of Foreign-Language Education (The Atlantic)
TikTok's Secret Plans for an Online Shopping Empire in the US (Semafor)
How Starbucks Uses Dubious ‘Connection Scores’ to Evaluate Its Workforce (NBC News)
China
Amazon Suppliers Linked to Forced Labor in China (NBC News)
How the West Got China’s Social Credit System Wrong (Wired)
The Absurdity of Believing China’s Great at Protecting Kids Online (The Atlantic)
China Is Home to a Growing Market for Dubious “Emotion Recognition” Technology (Rest of World)
On YouTube, China is Always About to Collapse (Semafor)
ByteDance’s Baby Bump: Why Did the TikTok Parent Buy a Chain of Birthing Centers? (The Information)
E-Commerce
These Trump Socks Went Viral—and a Nightmare on Amazon Began (Wired)
The Influencers Getting Paid to Promote Designer Knockoffs From China (Wired)
Chinese Shopping Sites Encroach on Amazon's Turf (Semafor)
Chinese Fast-Fashion Giant Shein Enters DC's Crosshairs (Semafor)
Shein Calls for Makeover of US Trade Rule That Critics Used Against It (Semafor)
TikTok
A TikTok Whistleblower Got DC’s Attention. Do His Claims Add Up? (Wired)
Does TikTok Really Pose a Risk to US National Security? (Wired)
The Sneaky Way TikTok Is Connecting You to Real-Life Friends (Wired)
Behind Bars, but Still Posting on TikTok (Wired)
Asian and Middle Eastern Users Tilt TikTok Balance Toward Palestinians (Semafor)
Artificial Intelligence
Startups Are Using ChatGPT to Meet Soaring Demand for Chatbot Therapy (Semafor)
White House Could Force Cloud Companies to Disclose AI Customers (Semafor)
The New Think Tanks Influencing AI Policy in Washington (Semafor)
The 26-year-old CEO Who Became Washington’s AI Whisperer (Semafor)
Essays & Oddities
Mackenzie Bezos and the Myth of the Lone Genius Founder (Wired)
Why I Love My Teeny-Tiny Knockoff Nokia (Wired)
At an Outback Steakhouse Franchise, Surveillance Blooms (Wired)
What Would Really Happen If Russia Attacked Undersea Internet Cables (Wired)
Why So Many People Make Their Password ‘Dragon’ (Wired)