Top 5 at 5: US TikTok Users Find Refuge in Xiaohongshu

On January 19th, the US Supreme Court will make the decision to ban TikTok from the US for national security reasons unless their parent company sells to a US company. In protest of the possible ban, American users have rushed to Chinese-owned platforms such as Xiaohongshu, also known as Red Note. We unpack the nuances of this "social media migration" with Dr Niki Cheong, lecturer in Digital Culture and Society at King's College London.

Other stories we covered:

· T. Nhaveen murder case to resume: The Court of Appeal has reversed the acquittal of four men who were charged with the brutal killing of teenager T. Nhaveen after establishing a prima facie case against them. We spoke to criminal lawyer Rajsurian Pillai and Arun Dorasamy, chairperson of the Nhaveen Action & Investigation League (NAIL) for their thoughts on these new developments.

· High Speed Rail back on the cards?: Initially approved in 2013, the High Speed Rail project was ultimately terminated in 2021. However the conversation has been reignited after Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim said that what the project needs is full private funding. We reached out to Nischal Muniandy, senior executive of Public Finance Research for IDEAS for his insights.

· Portuguese man o’war found on the East Coast: These jellyfish-like siphonophores were found on the shores of Terengganu and Pahang. While they may be colourful, it's advised not to touch their venomous bodies. For more on these creatures and how they ended up here, we reached out to Associate Professor Dr Roswati Md Amin from the Faculty of Science and Marine Environment at Universiti Malaysia Terengganu for her thoughts.

· Madani's reforms—not quite on tempo?: An opinion piece by political scientist Dr. Francis Loh contextualises the pace in which reformation has been going on under the Madani government. We unpack and discuss the arguments of Loh’s piece.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Presenter: Lee Chwi Lynn, Sharaad Kuttan

Producer: Sudais Ferhard, Christine May Yong, Dashran Yohan, Lim Sue Ann, Sharaad Kuttan

social media regulation