So what’s happening with TikTok?

Insight: The US and China have reached a framework agreement for TikTok to continue its US operations, which will see the creation of a US-based entity with a board dominated by American directors. A consortium led by Oracle, Silver Lake, and Andreessen Horowitz is also expected to hold an 80% stake. Beijing has signaled its willingness to “license the use of TikTok’s algorithm and other intellectual property rights.” Presidents Trump and Xi are due to speak on Friday to finalize the deal, with the deadline for the spin-off now extended to December 16.

Impact: The long saga of TikTok's US spin-off illustrates the growing entanglement of technology, national security, and international trade. And while it looks like a deal may finally have been reached, uncertainties remain on the key issues: who will ultimately control the US user data? Is Beijing willing to cede its prized algorithms? And could this become Washington’s playbook for handling other Chinese tech firms? For China, agreeing to the mooted terms may be a pragmatic gesture at a time when it is negotiating an overall US trade deal. But this will also set a far-reaching precedent. While TikTok’s popularity gives it exceptional leverage, it encapsulates the challenges faced by every big Chinese tech company seeking to expand globally. 

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Extremist groups are grooming children as young as 12 in Southeast Asia through social media, online forums, and even gaming platforms, according to the 2025 Global Terrorism Index. Home to some of the world’s largest youth populations and highest rates of smartphone penetration, the region is uniquely exposed. ASEAN has begun expanding cyber cooperation, but without stronger regional mechanisms for intelligence-sharing and community-level prevention, governments risk falling behind a new generation of digitally enabled extremism.

Insight: What began as outrage over corruption scandals and the flaunting of wealth by government officials’ children online escalated when Nepal’s government tried to ban more than 20 social media sites. The ban inflamed youth anger, leading to mass protests that left parliament in flames, at least 72 dead, and Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli forced to resign. With mainstream platforms restricted and trust in traditional political institutions nearing collapse, Gen-Z activists shifted to Discord — a gamer chat app — to debate their country’s future, grilling candidates in real time, and eventually coalescing around former chief justice Sushila Karki as interim premier.

Impact: The experiment was hailed by supporters as “more egalitarian” than closed-door party politics - an unprecedented moment in any electoral democracy. But "Discord democracy" is a double-edged sword: while it allowed thousands of users to nominate a leader through open polls and even run live fact-checks, it also exposed vulnerabilities to trolls and disinformation. And the potential for further chaos remains high: the new government must restore order, rebuild parliament, and prepare for March 2026 elections while reassuring both protesters and a nervous public that Nepal’s fragile democracy can survive. For now, a gaming app has become the country’s national parliament — a radical new way to exercise political power in the digital age.

Insight: As Japan seeks yet another prime minister — the fourth in five years — the candidates to succeed outgoing PM Shigeru Ishiba on October 4 all hail from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Most have run before and signally failed to win over fellow MPs and party members or, indeed, the general public. No wonder then that they are each trying to carve out a distinctive appeal this time around — perhaps a lesson in flexibility and adaptation that could also apply to corporate leaders.

Impact: Current frontrunner Shinjiro Koizumi, who already has (relative) youth and a famous name to his credit, is campaigning as the ‘conciliation candidate’ by naming a conservative colleague as campaign manager, balancing his own more liberal leanings. Cabinet secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi is the ‘continuity candidate’, promising to follow current policies to sweep up votes from Ishiba loyalists. Former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi is canvassing for those same votes by doing an ‘about face’ and backing a new disaster management agency — a flagship initiative of Ishiba’s that Kobayashi previously said was unnecessary. Toshimitsu Motegi, the 69-year-old ex-LDP secretary general is going after the ‘youth vote’ via social media and promising to hand on the baton after two years. Finally, all eyes will be on whether tax-cutting conservative Sanae Takaichi, who nearly won last time, will turn into ‘Ms. Moderation’ to get over the line this time around.

When Jung Chang’s epic family history, “Wild Swans”, was published in 1991, it was a huge success that helped to change global perceptions of China, giving western readers a depth and context of its twentieth-century history and politics they had not had before. Thirty years later, she returns to the story, expanding on the tumultuous lives of her grandmother and mother in “Fly, Wild Swans”.

Check out this review and put it on your reading list.