Pandaily's Digest #20210922
Loan provider owned by Alipay gains access to consumers' financial credit data, ByteDance launches short video program specially designed for minors, Faraday Future collaborates with Geely, and more.
Alipay’s Consumer Loan Service Provider Huabei to Access Credit Information System
Recently, a number of users of Ant Check Later or Huabei, a consumer credit product of Alipay, reported that they have received an upgrade prompt which requires users to agree to allow the company to access their financial credit information. If users do not choose to upgrade, it may affect the use of the service.
ByteDance Launches Short Video App for Children’s Education
Chinese media outlet Tech Planet reported on Monday that ByteDance recently launched an App called “Xiaoquxing,” which will mimic some of the features of its popular app for adults, including hosting short video content, but the app will be specially designed for children. The development of this app is being led by a subsidiary of Dali Education.
FF Announces Progress with Geely, Company to Open Flagship Stores in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen
Faraday Future (FF) announced at the 919 Futurist Day Co-Creation Celebration held on September 19th that substantial progress has been achieved in its cooperation with Geely Holdings and that both sides have completed the first stage of technical cooperation.
Chinese Robotics Warehouse Startup HAI ROBOTICS Bags $200M Funding
Shenzhen-based warehouse robotics startup HAI ROBOTICS announced that it has secured two new continuous rounds of financing, garnering over $200 million in total. The company will invest the funding in boosting its robot fleet with technological upgrades, expanding its global operation networks, optimizing its supply chain management and corporate structure as well as recruitment.
Chinese Version of TikTok Limits Use of Service by Children Under 14 to 40 Minutes Per Day
Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, announced that all verified users under the age of 14 will now have access to the app in “kid mode.” They will be able to work with the application for no more than 40 minutes a day and only between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. According to Douyin, this measure is the toughest in the history of the platform.
Chinese eVTOL Firm Autoflight Completes A Round of Financing Worth $100 Million
Shanghai-based Fengfei Aviation Technology, known by its English name Autoflight, is a leading R&D and manufacturing enterprise for autonomous electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. The firm announced that it completed its A Round of financing worth $100 million. This is the largest single financing obtained by a domestic eVTOL enterprise so far.
Martin Parr on the Smartphone Camera’s Transformation of Photography
With recent advancements in image quality, content creators’ instant access to millions of potential audience members through social media and the transformation of the artist-subject relationship, photography in the digital age is almost unrecognizable to industry veterans.
Amazon Shutters 3,000 Chinese E-Commerce Businesses for Violations
Cindy Tai, Vice President of Amazon, attended a ceremony held by Amazon in Hangzhou on Friday. In an interview with the media, she said that Amazon has banned 600 Chinese brands and about 3,000 merchant accounts, all of which repeatedly used the platform’s review function improperly. The ban follows several prior warnings.
Tesla Sentenced to Refund Model S Owner for Fraud
Today, a Tesla Model S owner posted a blog on China’s Twitter-like social media platform Weibo, saying that, after 755 days, he has finally won his fraud case against Tesla. The owner will receive four times the amount he spent on the vehicle.
Tencent’s WeChat App Now Allows Access to Rivals’ Links
Tencent’s popular messaging app Wechat will start allowing users to access external links from Friday, days after regulators told the company and its rivals to end a long-standing practice of blocking each other’s links.