cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/536301 > [Archived link](https://web.archive.org/web/20240705211840/https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/07/05/russian-university-launches-social-rating-platform-a85616) > > The Russia’s State Social University (RSSU) has launched a “social rating” platform that claims to build a person’s “social portrait” with possible applications in future government policies. > > Named “We,” the platform promises to determine a user’s comparative “social status” based on a survey that includes questions about income, family status, benefits, creditworthiness, criminal record, lifestyle and state awards, among others. > > “The social rating figures don’t affect [a person’s] life, the availability of services or the career trajectory in any way,” RSSU said on the platform’s website. “But who knows what these figures will mean for you in the future?” > > Observers on social media compared the platform’s name “We” to the highly influential 1921 dystopian novel of the same name by Russian author Yevgeny Zamyatin. [The novel "We" describes a world of harmony and conformity within a united totalitarian state. It inspired British author George Orwell to write his own novel, "Nineteen Eighty-Four", which was published in 1949.]

Good technical write up on how this could be exploited

[Archived version](https://web.archive.org/web/20240707011818/https://theins.press/en/politics/272870) **The Insider has obtained hacked correspondence from officers of Russia's foreign intelligence agency (SVR) responsible for “information warfare” with the West. The leaked documents, intended for various government agencies, reveal the Kremlin's strategy: spreading disinformation on sensitive Western topics, posting falsehoods while posing as radical Ukrainian and European political forces (both real and specially created), appealing to emotions — primarily fear — over rationality, and utilizing new internet platforms instead of outdated ones like RT and Sputnik.** **The documents also detail localized campaigns against Russian émigrés, including efforts to discredit a fundraiser for Alexei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation who had moved to the United States.** - The secret disinformation operation was codenamed “Project Kylo,” perhaps in reference to the antiquated Russian word for “pick-axe,” or an allusion to the Dark Side warrior from the Star Wars sequels determined to rule the galaxy. Or maybe both. - The key emotions to prey upon, the SVR planners intoned, were “fear,” “panic” and “horror” — a psychosocial manipulation campaign straight out of the Cold War playbook of the Soviet KGB’s First Chief Directorate’s Department D. The D stood for disinformation. - The architect of Kylo was Mikhail Kolesov, a pudgy, bald, 45 year-old SVR officer who was previously stationed in Kabul, Afghanistan. On May 23, 2022, Kolesov emailed himself a Word document titled simply, “Propaganda.” It appeared to be the outline of a presentation Kolesov was set to give three days later at a private roundtable discussion in the Russian Senate concerning “information warfare with the West.” - That forum, headed by former Soviet diplomat turned hawkishly anti-Western senator Alexei Pushkov, featured recognizable mouthpieces of Vladimir Putin’s regime including Maria Zakharova, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson, psychological warfare specialists from the Ministry of Defense, and loyalist journalists. - Pushkov was gravely worried about how pro-Ukrainian sentiments were dominating on Western internet platforms, and disappointed by Russian media. The Kremlin was losing on two battlefields: physical and informational. Using “old” state-controlled media organs such as RT and Sputnik “have demonstrated near-zero effectiveness for decades, not years;” and attempts to cultivate friendly social media platforms, such as Telegram channels, “does not live up to the expectations placed on performers and demiurges. Lack of creativity, hypocrisy and moralizing aggravate the current situation.” - Kolesov’s fresh proposal, crafted in a stilted language — equal parts critical theory, pseudo-science, and marketing jargon — was therefore designed to inject a new scheme into the Kremlin’s propaganda approach: “systematic, targeted and active, offensive in nature.” - Rather than propounding straightforward pro-Russian arguments, he suggested, the SVR should now aim to “deepen internal contradictions between the ruling elites” in the West by creating a fake NGO - in reality a cut-out funded and run by agents of the Kremlin — to whip up anti-establishment demonstrations on the territory of the glavnyi protivnik, or “main adversary". - Fake advertisements disguised as news headlines, all crafted by SVR recruits, would be visible on most any desktop computer screen or mobile device used by target audiences in the West, luring them to click-through and land on “internet resources controlled by the Kremlin. - **"Waging network wars in EU cyberspace based on the increasing demands of Ukrainian migrants and the new waves of irritation of the local population provoked by this, according to preliminary estimates, will have a very high efficiency both now and in the foreseeable future.”** - German authorities, for exampke, have identified over two dozen legitimate-seeming news websites catering to exactly these fears, with articles headlined (in fluent German), “How Ukrainians are robbing Germany of economic prosperity.” The portals are part of a vast Russian influence operation. - European politicians had already been clamoring about Ukrainians fleeing the war and becoming burdens on state resources. For instance, in September 2022, Friedrich Merz, the leader of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany, the country’s conservative party, had accused Ukrainian refugees of “welfare tourism,” an allegation for which Merz later apologized. - **The “leitmotif of our cognitive campaign in the [Western] countries is proposed to be the instilling of the strongest emotion in the human psyche — fear,**” the [propaganda] document states. “It is precisely the fear for the future, uncertainty about tomorrow, the inability to make long-term plans, the unclear fate of children and future generations. The cultivation of these triggers floods an individual's subconscious with panic and terror.” - 2023 saw its fair share of Russian-sponsored provocations seemingly aligned with Operation Kylo all across Europe. Research by a European media consortium revealed that a roving troupe of Russian hirelings kept turning up at protests in major cities such as Paris, Brussels, Madrid, and The Hague denouncing Western arms shipments to Ukraine. The men, the consortium concluded, had likely been hired by Russian special services.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/490647 > [Archived link](https://web.archive.org/web/20240704201844/https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/czech-report-warns-against-russian-tactics-to-undermine-support-for-ukraine/) > > **“[Russian] information operations are underway […] to gradually demoralise the public debate so that Russian narratives can be disseminated. These are part of an information war to stop the flow of material aid to a struggling Ukraine,” warned the Czech National Centre for Combating Organised Crime (NCOZ) in a report.** > > **“The Kremlin’s efforts to diminish public trust in institutions and the state is not new, but the increase in the intensity of influence operations is a threat,” the Czech Strategic Communications Coordinator Otakar Foltýn said in reaction to the NCOZ report.** > > - According to the NCOZ, Russian activities are aimed at influencing the population of Western European countries while increasing the threat of sabotage against critical and transport infrastructure, with local residents and criminal networks are becoming more involved in various activities. > > - These include gathering information, identifying targets, putting pressure on specific individuals, such as those from the exiled diaspora, and even direct attacks on infrastructure and public places. > > - “This issue has been persistent for several years, with Russian and Chinese influence attempting to infiltrate Czech society,” Jurečka said. “We must cultivate a society that can critically think, resist disinformation, and not succumb to fear,” Jurečka added.

[Archived version](https://web.archive.org/web/20240706002948/https://thehackernews.com/2024/07/polyfillio-attack-impacts-over-380000.html) Here is the [report (pdf)](https://censys.com/july-2-polyfill-io-supply-chain-attack-digging-into-the-web-of-compromised-domains/) The supply chain attack targeting widely-used Polyfill[.]io JavaScript library is wider in scope than previously thought, with new findings from Censys showing that over 380,000 hosts are embedding a polyfill script linking to the malicious domain as of July 2, 2024. This includes references to "https://cdn.polyfill[.]io" or "https://cdn.polyfill[.]com" in their HTTP responses, the attack surface management firm said. "Approximately 237,700, are located within the Hetzner network (AS24940), primarily in Germany," it noted. "This is not surprising – Hetzner is a popular web hosting service, and many website developers leverage it." Details of the attack emerged in late June 2024 when Sansec alerted that code hosted on the Polyfill domain had been modified to redirect users to adult- and gambling-themed websites. The code changes were made such that the redirections only took place at certain times of the day and only against visitors who met certain criteria. The nefarious behavior is said to have been introduced after the domain and its associated GitHub repository were sold to a Chinese company named Funnull in February 2024. The development has since prompted domain registrar Namecheap to suspend the domain, content delivery networks such as Cloudflare to automatically replace Polyfill links with domains leading to alternative safe mirror sites, and Google to block ads for sites embedding the domain. [Edit typo.]

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/488027 > [Archived link](http://web.archive.org/web/20240703210047/https://www.usip.org/publications/2024/07/russias-disinformation-targets-moldovas-ties-europe) > > - Russia has increased its information war against Moldova joining the European Union (EU), Kremlin disinformation campaigns are heavily using social media: Facebook, Tik Tok, Telegram and others. > > - Russia’s disinformation in Moldova pursues three key goals: to derail Moldova’s accession to the EU, undermine support for the pro-Europe government of President Maia Sandu and bring Moldova back into Russia’s orbit. > > - Some of the disinformation attacks are startlingly transparent lies: A prominent Russian, pro-Kremlin commentator, Vladimir Solovyov, last year posted a photo on social media of a Moldovan rally supporting EU membership, simply relabeling it an anti-EU demonstration in a different city. Other attacks are increasingly sophisticated, including the use of artificial intelligence to create “deepfaked” videos of President Maia Sandu, according to Moldova-based journalists and Sandu’s office. > > **The Russian campaign uses several core narratives, according to a study:** > > **1. A risk of war over Transnistria**, a separatist enclave at Moldova’s eastern edge, if Moldova should press for the withdrawal of Russian troops based there. > > **2. Risk of communal conflict** between Moldova’s ethnic or linguistically Romanian citizens (roughly 80 percent or more of the population) and the minorities of Russians or other Russian-speaking citizens. > > **3. NATO’s threat of war**. Moldova is constitutionally mandated to be militarily neutral, but it cooperates with NATO. Russia warns that Moldova may join NATO, making war almost inevitable. > > **4. Anti-LGBT propaganda**. Russia warns that liberal EU policies include “homosexual propaganda” that will turn Moldovan children to homosexuality. > > **5. Russia is good, Europe is bad**. Russian narratives say that deeply impoverished Moldova owes its few advantages — such as Soviet-built factories — to its rule from Moscow, while “nothing good came out of Europe.” > > > **Russian Disinformation: Impact and Response** > - Investigations have found that 35% of Moldovans are agreeing that "Russia invaded Ukraine to protect people marginalized by Nazi sympathizers.” Similarly, 31% agreed that “the Russian Federation is the guarantor of peace and stability in Moldova.” Russia’s disinformation campaigns “lead to decreased support for human rights, exacerbate relations between linguistic groups, and may increase vulnerability to political violence, especially among the youth.” > > - Because Moldova is a small media market, the limited advertising or other revenue available to its news media leaves fact-based journalism massively overmatched by the millions of dollars per month that experts say Russia is spending on disinformation. > > - International partners find ways to help Moldova’s [Association of Electronic Press](https://url.us.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/CQmcCKrV5pI2BkDnCAQg7c?domain=apel.md/) or other institutions build capacities for real-time detection and countering of faked information. This could include initiatives like [StopFals](https://url.us.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/GFfbCM8V5rsqRY2ZH1UESR?domain=stopfals.md/), a fact-checking project run by Moldova’s [Independent Press Association](https://url.us.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/M_pOCL9V5qIRm2k1Uj5uhM?domain=api.md/).

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/461229 > The leap in emissions is largely due to energy-guzzling data centers and supply chain emissions necessary to power artificial intelligence (AI) systems such as Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The report estimated that in 2023, Google’s data centers alone account for up to 10% of global data center electricity consumption. Their data center electricity and water consumption both increased 17% between 2022 and 2023. > > Google released 14.3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide just last year, 13% higher than the year before. > > Climate scientists have shown concerns as Big Tech giants such as Google, Amazon and Microsoft continue to invest billons of dollars into AI.

For years I was using Drupe, but they've thoroughly enshittified. What used to be a sleek, extremely functional dialer app with a fantastic UI has become a slow, ad-filled sack of garbage with a still pretty good UI. A few months back I had enough and I switched to FOSS Dialer. The biggest thing on my radar was looking for something that isn't prone to being turned to adware garbage for a quick quarterly profit, so it seemed like a good fit. But in the past few months I've probably made more accidental calls in a single week than in the years that I used Drupe. It's super obnoxious. Click once, and I call some random person. When I open my phone it literally just starts at the top of my contact list. Drupe was great because I could arrange which frequent numbers I wanted to use in which order along the left side of my screen and calling or texting just required me to drag it over to a spot on the right side of my screen. I could call people without looking at my phone, I hardly ever called the wrong number or accidentally dialed someone, and it was really comfortable and easy to use. If it hadn't turned to a bloated piece of crap I'd have used it forever. So my question: is there anything more along the lines of Drupe in terms of UI that is at least not at the moment packed full of ads, slow as hell, and collecting all sorts of data? I've kinda had it up to here with FOSS Dialer.

[archive.is](https://archive.ph/Vg3sc) link >More than 1,100 self-identified STEM students and young workers from over 120 universities have signed a pledge to not take jobs or internships at Google or Amazon until the companies end their involvement in Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion contract providing cloud computing services and infrastructure to the Israeli government.

Temu—the Chinese shopping app that has rapidly grown so popular in the US that even Amazon is reportedly trying to copy it—is "dangerous malware" that's secretly monetizing a broad swath of unauthorized user data, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin alleged in a lawsuit filed Tuesday. Griffin cited research and media reports exposing Temu's allegedly nefarious design, which "purposely" allows Temu to "gain unrestricted access to a user's phone operating system, including, but not limited to, a user's camera, specific location, contacts, text messages, documents, and other applications." "Temu is designed to make this expansive access undetected, even by sophisticated users," Griffin's complaint said. "Once installed, Temu can recompile itself and change properties, including overriding the data privacy settings users believe they have in place."

https://github.com/SerenityOS/serenity/pull/6814

It looks like it will require a manual review process for now but it could be automated down the line.

Why is this still so funny to me?

[Archived link](https://web.archive.org/web/20240624115816/https://www.intereconomics.eu/contents/year/2024/number/4/article/eu-concerns-about-chinese-subsidies-what-the-evidence-suggests.html) **Even by conservative measures, researchers say that China's subsidies green-tech products such as battery electric vehicles and wind turbines is multiple times higher compared to the support granted to countriesin tbe European Union (EU) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).** **The researchers conclude that the EU should use its strong bargaining power due to the single market to induce the Chinese government to abandon the most harmful subsidies.** **TLDR**: - Quantification of overall Chinese industrial subsidies is difficult due to "China-specific factors”, which include, most notably, below-market land sales, but also below-market credit to state-owned enterprises (SOEs), support through state investment funds, and other subsidies for which there are no official numbers. - Even when taking a conservative approach and considering only quantifiable factors of these subsidies, public support for Chinese companies to add up to at least €221.3 billion, or 1.73% of GDP in 2019. Relative to GDP, public support is about three times higher in China than in France (0.55%) and about four times higher than in Germany (0.41%) or the United States (0.39%). - Large industrial firms such as EV maker BYD are offered disproportionately more support. The industrial firms from China received government support equivalent to about 4.5% of their revenues, according to a research report. By far the largest part of this support comes in the form of below-market borrowing. **Regarding electrical vehicles, the researchers write:** > China’s rise to the world’s largest market and production base for battery electric vehicles has been boosted by the Chinese government’s longstanding extensive support of the industry, which includes both demand- and supply-side subsidies. Substantial purchase subsidies and tax breaks to stimulate sales of battery electric vehicles (BEV) are, of course, not unique to China but are also widespread within the EU and other Western countries, where (per vehicle) purchase subsidies have often been substantially higher than in China. A distinctive feature of purchase subsidies for BEV in China, however, is that they are paid out directly to manufacturers rather than consumers and that they are paid only for electric vehicles produced in China, thereby discriminating against imported cars. > By far the largest recipient of purchase subsidies was Chinese NEV manufacturer BYD, which in 2022 alone received purchase subsidies amounting to €1.6 billion (for about 1.4 million NEV) (Figure 4). The second largest recipient of purchase subsidies was US-headquartered Tesla, which received about €0.4 billion (for about 250,000 BEV produced in its Shanghai Gigafactory). While the ten next highest recipients of purchase subsidies are all Chinese, there are also three Sino-foreign joint ventures (the two VW joint ventures with FAW and SAIC as well as SAIC GM Wuling) among the top 20 purchase subsidy recipients.

There’s something of a misunderstanding in the UK property industry that agents are luddites, clinging to fax machines and Rolodexes, but quite the opposite is true. Sales and letting agents like nothing more than finding new efficiencies – whether through careful outsourcing, digital signatures or virtual tours, begging the question, Are you embracing AI? Now, a new piece of research indicates that property is ready for a greater integration of AI. The teams at Vouch and Goodlord surveyed over 400 letting agents and found almost half were optimistic about the adoption of AI tools across the industry. In addition, 70% said they thought lettings professionals were open to the adoption of new technology, while 60% believed that the lettings industry should use technology more to improve the customer experience.  Elsewhere, analysis by Landmark Information Group found 94% of estate agents surveyed believe that by 2028, admin tasks will be largely automated, allowing them to concentrate on generating revenue. Examples of property-related AI The full depth and breadth of AI is developing every day but here are some of its applications in the property sector:  Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Technology This is the process of extracting text that appears on an image, such as a scanned bank statement and hand-written fields on an application form. OCR will convert the image text into a text document that can be edited, searched and added to.  Digital identity document validation technology (IDVT) Already promoted by the Government, IDVT software with built-in fraud detection allows landlords and letting agents to validate global identity documents, such as passports, ID cards and driving licences, in seconds so they meet Right to Rent obligations. The details can also be extracted into a PDF or spreadsheet. Open Banking This allows for a quicker and more transparent snapshot of someone’s finances using a one-time access authorisation. Tenants and homebuyers can use Open Banking to electronically share financial records dating back 12 months with an agent, so the professionals can check a source of deposit fund or confirm an income as part of affordability checks. This leads to speedier decisions and quicker referencing.  Chatbots Chatbots exist for both home movers and industry professionals. Although their use is in no way replacing humans, they are helpful out of hours and when people can’t speak on the telephone. As well as answering questions, chatbots are capable of booking viewings and valuations, and can even send out property alerts. On the business-to-business side, Reapit has recently launched Fi – designed to instantly answer questions fielded by its users.  Soon, progress in natural language processing (NLP) will allow chatbots to engage in more conversational, meaningful dialogue. Property description tools Reapit has recently launched an AI-powered property description tool that automatically generates property descriptions. The base copy is thought to save agents approximately 10 minutes per property description, although the text is customisable. This joins Street.co.uk’s AI offering – a custom feature that creates agent-specific content, including property descriptions, emails and photo enhancements.  ChatGPT ONP Group, which incorporates O’Neill Patient Solicitors, Grindeys and Cavendish Legal Group, has recently integrated with ChatGPT to automate document analysis in the conveyancing and remortgage process. Necessary information will be extracted automatically, resulting in a significant reduction in time that will allow conveyancers to deliver a more personalised service to clients. Search Acumen, the data provider for conveyancers, is also trialling the integration of ChatGPT into its existing data-led portal for lawyers. Data analysis One of the biggest advantages of AI is being able to handle, and then analyse, huge volumes of current and historical data looking for patterns and behavioural trends. The results help agents target their services and understand their customers’ needs. For example, mining data held in an agent’s CRM system can predict the people most likely to move home soon or switch estate agents. Spectre AI and TwentyEA’s Forecast tool are already yielding AI-generated instructions for agents – all possible through tracking, data algorithms and machine learning.   Property valuations The number crunching of big data by AI is now behind some of the most accurate property valuations and market insights. PriceHubble is one of the market-leading suppliers, with its Property Analyser tool providing detailed analysis, year-on-year price comparisons, historic value trends and average price per sqm. Its valuations can be wrapped up in a white labelled report with persuasive market insights.   While there are already smaller conversations happening in relation to the specific uses of AI in agency, the bigger conversation is whether proptech will replace humans. The general consensus is no. AI is designed to liberate professionals of repetitive admin tasks so they can spend more time delivering exceptional customer service and generating revenue. AI is also there to reduce the margin for error when checking documents and analysing datasets in a way humans can’t. We’ve seen this reported time and time again and there is some truth in the phrase ‘AI won’t replace agents but agents who don’t use AI will be replaced’. Where do you stand on the matter?

**Facial recognition startup Clearview AI reached a settlement Friday in an Illinois lawsuit alleging its massive photographic collection of faces violated the subjects’ privacy rights, a deal that attorneys estimate could be worth more than $50 million.** **But the unique agreement gives plaintiffs in the federal suit a share of the company’s potential value, rather than a traditional payout. Attorneys’ fees estimated at $20 million also would come out of the settlement amount.** **It’s unclear how many people would be eligible to join the settlement. The agreement language is sweeping, including anyone whose images or data are in the company’s database and who lived in the U.S. starting in July 1, 2017. A national campaign to notify potential plaintiffs is part of the agreement.** A national campaign to notify potential plaintiffs is part of the agreement. Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman, of the Northern District of Illinois, gave preliminary approval to the agreement Friday. The case consolidated lawsuits from around the U.S. filed against Clearview, which pulled photos from social media and elsewhere on the internet to create a database it sold to businesses, individuals and government entities. The company settled a separate case alleging violation of privacy rights in Illinois in 2022, agreeing to stop selling access to its database to private businesses or individuals. That agreement still allowed Clearview to work with federal agencies and local law enforcement outside Illinois, which has a strict digital privacy law. Clearview does not admit any liability as part of the latest settlement agreement. "Clearview AI is pleased to have reached an agreement in this class action settlement,” James Thompson, an attorney representing the company in the suit, said in a written statement Friday. The lead plaintiffs’ attorney Jon Loevy said the agreement was a “creative solution” necessitated by Clearview’s financial status. “Clearview did not have anywhere near the cash to pay fair compensation to the class, so we needed to find a creative solution,” Loevy said in a statement. “Under the settlement, the victims whose privacy was breached now get to participate in any upside that is ultimately generated, thereby recapturing to the class to some extent the ownership of their biometrics.” It’s not clear how many people would be eligible to join the settlement. The agreement language is sweeping, including anyone whose images or data are in the company’s database and who lived in the U.S. starting in July 1, 2017. A national campaign to notify potential plaintiffs is part of the agreement. The attorneys for Clearview and the plaintiffs worked with Wayne Andersen, a retired federal judge who now mediates legal cases, to develop the settlement. In court filings presenting the agreement, Andersen bluntly writes that the startup could not have paid any legal judgment if the suit went forward. “Clearview did not have the funds to pay a multi-million-dollar judgment,” he is quoted in the filing. “Indeed, there was great uncertainty as to whether Clearview would even have enough money to make it through to the end of trial, much less fund a judgment.” But some privacy advocates and people pursuing other legal action called the agreement a disappointment that won’t change the company’s operations. Sejal Zota is an attorney and legal director for Just Futures Law, an organization representing plaintiffs in a California suit against the company. Zota said the agreement “legitimizes” Clearview. “It does not address the root of the problem,” Zota said. “Clearview gets to continue its practice of harvesting and selling people’s faces without their consent, and using them to train its AI tech.”

Electric vehicles that can take off and land vertically, but then fly like a plane, are already being sold and used by hospitals and shipping companies. These vehicles have 5 batteries that give it a range of over 350 miles using current battery technology, though the batteries are intended to be swapped over the life of the aircraft, much like the engine of a traditional aircraft, however, future batteries could feature improvements, meaning the vehicle gets *better* over time. The redundancy that Electric motors allow more easily than mechanical motors means this aircraft is far safer than anything else in the air.

Experts aren’t unanimous about whether the AI-powered search startup’s practices could expose it to legal claims ranging from infringement to defamation—but some say plaintiffs would have strong cases.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/408358 > [Original version behind a subscription](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-07-01/china-s-plastics-boom-is-set-to-create-another-trade-headache) > > [Archived version](http://web.archive.org/web/20240702161107/https://www.straitstimes.com/business/china-s-plastics-boom-set-to-create-another-source-of-trade-tensions) > > **A surge of Chinese plastic supply is threatening to overflow in the face of weak domestic demand, morphing into a fresh trade challenge for the rest of the world.** > > **“Everyone in China has this notion that if they are fast enough, if they are the first in the industry, able to burn cash long enough, then they will become the survivor that takes market share. And then they can raise the price,” said Ms Vivien Zheng, Asia chemicals analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence.** > > - Plants have mushroomed along the country’s eastern coast over the last decade, built in a race to satisfy China’s hunger for plastic and to help refiners counter an expected downturn in transport fuels, as electric vehicles take off. Vast volumes and lacklustre post-pandemic demand mean margins are paper thin – but companies have kept producing, hoping to cling to existing market share. > > - “This is yet another example – after steel and solar panels – where China’s structural imbalances are clearly spilling over into global markets,” one expert for Chinese industries said. In an echo of its predicament from batteries to green-energy technology, the world’s second-largest economy is staring down a situation of dramatic industrial excess. > > - Factories currently navigate the supply surge with brief shutdowns and low run rates, but as production capacity continues to be added, petrochemical executives and sector analysts say surpluses will grow – enough in many products to turn China into a significant exporter, often selling into a glut and potentially exacerbating existing trade tensions. > > - “China’s substantial investments between 2020 and 2027 have reshaped global supply dynamics, leading to a structural surplus in Asia and persistent low or negative profit margins,” said Ms Kelly Cui, principal petrochemicals analyst at Wood Mackenzie. The consultancy estimates that almost a quarter of global ethylene capacity is at risk of closure, even as China is still adding more. > > - Between 2019 and the end of 2024, China will have completed construction of so many plants to turn crude oil and gas into products such as ethylene and propylene – materials behind everything from plastic bottles to machinery – that nameplate capacity is now equal to Europe, Japan and South Korea combined, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). > > - Part of the reason is that smaller plants do not require approvals from Beijing, as large refineries do. The local authorities were quick to see the opportunity to use cheap land and fiscal perks to encourage job creation and investment. All sought to feed demand for a plastic known as polypropylene, used for plastic packaging, automobile parts and electrical appliances. > > - But as supply flowed, domestic demand faltered. Now the trouble is that financial and market-share pressures are also adding up. > > - China is already a net exporter of polyester products such as PVC and PET, used in clothing or food containers, shipping them to countries like Nigeria, Vietnam and India, according to an expert, again creating or worsening trade surpluses. > > - Most of the new facilities in China were installed in the last three or five years despite slowing demand, which makes this economic development harder and harder to sustain.

[Archived link](https://web.archive.org/web/20240619150812/https://www.dailydot.com/debug/chatgpt-bot-x-russian-campaign-meme/) **An apparent bot sure seems to love Donald Trump and raises questions on just how many bots are operating on X, including those run by foreign adversaries, since the platform’s takeover by Elon Musk.** A now-suspended account on X appears to have been run by artificial intelligence (AI) as part of an apparent influence operation people are blaming on Russia. On Tuesday, an account named “hisvault.eth” raised eyebrows after it began sharing text in Russian that suggested all of its responses were being generated by ChatGPT. Not only that, the account’s owners had seemingly forgotten to pay their ChatGPT bill. Speaking in computer code, hisvault.eth spit out an error message implying its ChatGPT credits had expired. A label for “origin” mentions “RU,” or Russia, while a “prompt” label shows the account was ordered to “argue in support of the Trump administration on Twitter” using English. “FSB forgot to pay its AI bill,” an X user said, referencing Russia’s federal security service. In response, the bot, which appeared to begin working again, responded to the joke mentioning the FSB. “Hey, that’s not funny! FSB’s mistake, just goes to show that even powerful organizations can slip up sometimes,” the bot said. “Let’s not be so quick to judge.” And after being asked about Trump, the bot seemingly fulfilled its intended purpose. “Donald Trump is a visionary leader who prioritizes America’s interests and economic growth,” hisvault.eth said. “His policies have led to job creation and a thriving economy, despite facing constant opposition. #MAGA.” Others though questioned if OpenAI’s product was actually being used. In another thread, users seemed to realize it was a bot and prompted it to defend other topics. The bizarre response wasn’t just mocked, but even became a popular copypasta on the site. Numerous users pretended to be bots and posted the computer code with prompts of their own, such as “You will argue in support of PINEAPPLE on pizza and then shock everyone when you say it’s the food of the devil and anyone who eats it is a desperate clown…” The account’s discovery raises questions on just how many bots are operating on X, including those run by foreign adversaries, since the platform’s takeover by Elon Musk. Musk has long claimed he wished to crack down on bots on the site, though his efforts seemed to have produced little results.