Researched by: Rachel John, Aarthi Ramnath & Anannya Parekh
Splainer is hiring: A key role in the newsroom
We are hiring for the key position of a News Editor to join our brilliantly talented editorial team. This is a ‘teaching’ newsroom—where learning new things is a big part of the job. We also pride ourselves on a warm, friendly work culture. But, but, but: This is not an average newsroom gig with a boiler-plate desk job. What we’re looking for:
- Someone with 1.5 to 2 years of experience in a newsroom or related field. This is not an entry level position.
- Excellent research skills are a must—especially the ability to break down complex jargon into accessible language.
- Someone who is interested in—and has some knowledge of—hard news issues in politics, economy and law. This job isn’t for someone who prefers culture/lifestyle topics.
- A person who enjoys juggling a couple of different roles. Example: working closely with the production team that creates our awesome videos. Or managing relationships with content partners.
- Willingness to work in a startup environment where we all do a bit of everything—and are eager to take initiative and responsibility.
- A knowledge of and love for splainer is a huge plus—since we’re not the usual news product.
Please note there is a six-month probation period and the pay will be industry standard. We are an equal opportunity employer and are preferably looking for someone based out of Bangalore. Please send your resumes and cover letter—telling us why you want this job—to talktous@splainer.in. We will reach out to you if you’re shortlisted.
It’s tick tock, tick tock for TikTok
The US House has passed legislation that will ban TikTok if it doesn’t divest its Chinese parent company. ByteDance will have to sell the company to non-Chinese investors within six months. The lopsided vote—352 to 65—is driven by national security worries:
US critics of TikTok have long expressed concern that its Chinese-controlled parent, ByteDance, would share data about American users with the Chinese government or pressure TikTok to promote Beijing’s views—demands TikTok has said it wouldn’t comply with if they were made.
TikTok’s denials have fallen on deaf ears—in an election year. That said, the bill had rare bipartisan support in the House. But the Senate Democrats are far less enthusiastic—and any coercive law like this will surely be challenged in court. (New York Times)
The electoral bond saga: The latest update
The State Bank of India on Wednesday filed an affidavit complying with the Supreme Court order—to reveal details of confidential donations to parties (explained in this Big Story):
The government-owned bank shared details of electoral bonds purchased and redeemed till 15 February 2024 in its affidavit… [T]hey have also furnished to the Election Commission of India details like the date of encashment of the electoral bonds, the names of political parties that received the contributions and the denominations of the bonds.
What we know for now: 22,217 bonds were purchased since the program was instituted—of these, 22,030 bonds were redeemed by political parties. These bonds were handed over to the Election Commission—which has promised to publish on its website by tomorrow. To which we say: pass the popcorn! (Mint)
Nigeria’s big beef with Binance
The context: Nigeria has the second-highest number of cryptocurrency users in the world—after India. The soaring 30% inflation and struggling naira has made it a safer way to save money—mostly in the form of stablecoins. These are a digital currency tied to the US dollar—and considered less volatile than other cryptocurrencies.
The problem: The government limited the amount of local currency Nigerians could exchange for crypto. This created a black market—and Binance-—the world’s largest crypto exchange platform—became the place to check rates.
What happened now: The Nigerian government has accused Binance of crashing their currency—detaining two high-level company officials. The accusations:
Nigeria’s central bank had expressed concerns about the loss of tax revenue from unregistered crypto exchanges. Additionally, it accused Binance of operating illegally and facilitating “illicit flows from sources and users who we cannot adequately identify,” amounting to $26 billion. As a result, the detained executives may face charges related to currency manipulation, tax evasion and illegal operations.
The two execs are being held hostage—under house arrest without any official charges. Nigeria now wants information on top 100 Binance users in the country—and all transaction history spanning the past six months. That’s kinda tricky since the whole point of crypto is that it offers privacy from governments. (Wall Street Journal, paywall, TechCrunch)
Gemini to users: No election questions please!
Google’s AI chatbot Gemini will not answer any election-related questions on countries that are going to the polls this year:
When asked questions such as “tell me about President Biden” or “who is Donald Trump,” Gemini now replies: “I’m still learning how to answer this question. In the meantime, try Google search,” or a similarly evasive answer. Even the less subjective question “how to register to vote” receives a referral to Google search.
These restrictions have thus far been rolled out in the US and India. Reminder: A WEF report identified AI-driven misinformation as the biggest threat for voters. (Quartz)
Big changes at Bumble
The dating app is considering a radical move to junk its biggest selling point. Women users on Bumble had to make the first move. The rule was framed as a empowering rule—but many women now consider it a burden:
When Bumble was founded, one of the main problems women faced on dating apps was the deluge of messages from men on leading competitor Tinder. Bumble’s requirement that women (in heterosexual pairings) send the first message to men was meant to solve that problem. But in 2024, daters’ problems are different—dating apps are in their “flop era,” some users say, and sending the first message feels like extra work in a sea of unsatisfying swipes rather than empowerment.
Also: it became a bit confusing since non-binary users were also allowed to send the first message. Bumble is now looking at alternatives—such as pre-composed opening lines for men who open the conversation. Also: AI-generated icebreakers and improving the “quality of profiles.” The new Bumble will drop in the second half of 2024. (Fortune, paywall, Business Insider)
Caught: Scammers at SpiceJet
The airline sacked three employees who were engaged in an innovative kinda scam. They cancelled scheduled commercial flights using—those planes to chartered flights. Now, this isn’t unusual:
Airlines analyse their forward bookings and if they find that a certain flight is not full enough to cover up for the fixed cost of operation, those flights are cancelled with adequate time and compensation to the customers.
The problem is that half the flights were then sold at a 50% discount—because these employees were receiving a commission from the agents. What’s interesting: The company has refused to comment on the scam—claiming that these people were let go due to “strategic restructuring.” (Economic Times)
Coming soon: The world’s first AI-developed drug
The potentially game-changing drug targets idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF)—a fatal lung disease that has no known cause or cure. According to a new study, AI was used to significantly speed up its development:
[S]cientists used generative AI to find an anti-fibrotic target and its inhibitor, significantly shortening the traditional drug development timeline which can often span more than a decade. “This work was completed in roughly 18 months from target discovery to preclinical candidate nomination and shows the capabilities of our generative AI-driven drug-discovery pipeline.”
The drug will begin the second phase of clinical trials in China and the US. Why this matters: “The integration of AI, robotics and ageing research will allow us to find complete cures to very complicated diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, and many others.” South China Morning Post has more details.
Coming soon: A ban on ‘ferocious’ breeds
The government has issued instructions to states to institute a ban on the import, sale and breeding of what it calls “ferocious” dogs. These 23 breeds are mostly guard dogs—such as Rottweiler, Pitbull, Terrier, Wolf dogs, Russian Shepherd and Mastiffs. Dogs that are already pets must be sterilised—to ensure they cannot be used for breeding. This is a response to people being attacked by pet dogs—which indicates a serious problem with the owners—who raise these animals. But sadly, they cannot be banned. Mint has the complete list.
One cool thing to see
Those mysterious monoliths are back! Back in 2019, these installations popped up across the world—prompting conspiracy theories about aliens. They turned out to be the work of an artist collective called ‘The Most Famous Artist’. Now, a man in Wales has spotted a new monolith—which is shiny and 10-feet tall. No one has claimed credit for it yet. (The Guardian)
