across belarus, demanding the resignation of president alexander lukashenko after his disputed re—election. the demonstrations have been fuelled by accounts of torture from protesters detained earlier in the week. estonia's foreign minister has said the election was not democratic or legitimate. the us postal service has advised several states that they may need to expand their voting—by—mail deadlines to allow the system to cope in the run up to november's presidential election. president trump has been accused of deliberately underfunding the service to try and benefit his election chances. thousands of british holidaymakers have spent the day trying to return to the uk from france before the requirement of a two—week quarantine comes into force. the new rule also affects five other countries, including malta and the netherlands. coronavirus cases have surged in these countries in recent days. now on bbc news, it's click.

this week tolokonnikova the us's biggest rival is moving in on social media and communications, and the us is pushing back. hard. this week: we ask, what is going on in china? hello, welcome. this week, we are going to bring you up—to—date with one of the most important parts of the technology world. it is a place thatis technology world. it is a place that is a long way away from silicon valley, both geographically and culturally. and that is a place that is now

challenging the west's test dominance —— tech dominance. i am of course talking about china. now in chinese there is a common phrase, roughly translated it means a contradiction, like an unstoppable contradiction, like an u nstoppa ble force contradiction, like an unstoppable force meaning an immovable object. and over the last few years we have seen this in world politics. china, the unstoppable force, meeting the unstoppable force, meeting the usa, the immovable object. this is tiananmen square in beijing. when i first went to china nearly 15 years ago, it was already clear that the mighty dragon was awakening, and the next technology superpower and the next technology superpower was rearing and the next technology superpower was rearing its head. fast forward to 2020, and chinese companies have broken into the west in a big way. probably the best known of these are tiktok and huawei. and they have both drawn

criticism, to say the least. later in the programme will be looking at tiktok, but the biggest fish here is huawei. it has been in uk telecoms for 20 yea rs or has been in uk telecoms for 20 years or $0 has been in uk telecoms for 20 years or so now, has been in uk telecoms for 20 years or so now, most recently beginning to be a part of the uk's sg beginning to be a part of the uk's 56 network. but injuly, the government here bandit. —— band yet. to understand what is going on now, here is a quick refresher on huawei. it may look like paris, but this is huawei's brand—new campus in shenzhen, china. a huge site where employees take a train between office buildings, each of which is modelled on a different european city. few journalists have visited this disney world —like project. very much the brainchild of the company's very much the brainchild of the compa ny‘s founder. very much the brainchild of the company's founder. he has been compared to the likes of steve jobs, growing his company from

a small workshop to a global tech giant, now employing 180,000 people. huawei is currently enjoying huge success with revenues last year of 100 dollars. but this is all a company facing some serious issues. the biggest is that the us is coming for huawei in a big way. we are not the enemy —— we have met the enemy and it is huawei and it is china. make no doubt about that. right now huawei through access to unlimited capital from the chinese communist government, all of this technology, it is built in for cyber spying and espionage because that is what the chinese do. the problem is the chinese do. the problem is the huawei leader was once a leader of china's people's liberation army which has raised concerns about his links to the chinese state and whether it and huawei may have each other‘s backs. america is

adamant that huawei is a porn of the chinese authorities. in 2017 china passed the national intelligence law which says that if asked all chinese companies and citizens must help the government to assist national intelligence efforts. china claims this is part of an effort to safeguard its security. but the fear is that if huawei supplies any country's sg if huawei supplies any country's 56 network, the chinese could exploit it. in a future where our entire infrastructure, our economy and our lives are run by computers talking to each other over a 56 network, what would happen if someone network, what would happen if someone shut that network down? if you think about it, the future of warfare is not necessarily going to be using traditional armies in the way we think about it with the second world war. the future of wa rfa re second world war. the future of warfare will most likely be cyber, so without firing a shot

you could take a country out. it is feared that the chinese state could order huawei to build secret backdoors in a 56 network. these would leave the country vulnerable to a nationwide cyber attack. and that could be catastrophic. so what is new? well, in may the us government published one short piece of legislation which had a massive impact on global technology. it may look quite dull but what this means is that if your company uses american tools and software to make american tools and software to ma ke stuff american tools and software to make stuff for huawei, you will break us law. the us will blacklist you. so this stops most companies from supplying huawei, forfear of most companies from supplying huawei, for fear of angering the us. for example, the chips

which huawei use to run its products were manufactured by companies like taiwan —based tsmc. and tsmc uses american softwa re tsmc. and tsmc uses american software to help design and build the chips. so under this new rule, tsmc cannot make chips for huawei and carry on trading with the us. which means for many companies, it is a choice between china and the us. the way chips are produced is very reliant on some tools and techniques that are owned bya and techniques that are owned by a very small number of american companies. and what the american government has done is basically so you can no longer use those, the chinese companies can no longer use those. so if they carry on using it it will be done illegally, or they will have to look for alternative sources. and if they find those alternative sources it starts to become much more like a

black box to us because we have much less of an understanding from a security assurance point of view and that tips you over into the point where you say i cannot be sure enough about this now, so i will have to not use it. it is notjust the uk thatis use it. it is notjust the uk that is facing a problem either. germany, france, in fa ct either. germany, france, in fact almost every nation that was looking to develop 5g capacity had begun to use the cheaper, more advanced huawei sg cheaper, more advanced huawei 5g infrastructure. remember that chinese phrase? america is becoming the immovable object trying to stop chinese companies in their tracks. but before you start to think that this all sounds a bit unfair, it is worth recalling that china has banned almost all western companies for years from the chinese market. so what can be done now? so the short term is for the mobile operators as well as having the additional cost of taking huawei out of their networks,

they also have no choice but to sign contracts with nokia and ericsson. having two players in a major market like that is not really a good situation. so various governments around the world and operators are keen to openin world and operators are keen to open in some way the opportunity for another player at least, several players potentially, to become alternatives to nokia and ericsson. hello and welcome to the week in tech. this week, the week in tech. this week, the uk's court of appeal ruled that south wales police's use of facial recognition technology has been unlawful and in violation of human rights. internet connection and cellular service were shut down in belarus amid protests following the contested re—election of five—time president alexander lukashenko. and after 35 years on the la ptop and after 35 years on the laptop game, toshiba sold its last share of dynabook, and its

last share of dynabook, and its last sta ke last share of dynabook, and its last stake in the personal computer business. google announced plans to build the largest earthquake detection network, using your phone. the android earthquake alert system uses tiny accelerometers built into every smart phone and location data to act as a seismometer that can help detect quakes and tremors. is this the future of photography? football team's brain and research have developed an ai model to create 3d images of nearly complete scenes using still photographs. the model can even still photographs. the model ca n even ca th re still photographs. the model can even capture lighting changes without compromising the image. and finally, if you are in need of a cuddly friend without a long—term commitment, this could be the closest thing toa this could be the closest thing to a real—life pet cat. developed by vanguard injuries —— industries, it is a pet robot powered by ai. it uses sensors and has algorithms so that it can learn and evolve

over time. china's influence on the world is truly global. most major cities like here in london have chinatown and the us is no different. there are an estimated 5 million chinese people living in the states. president trump's focus on banning tiktok has stolen most of the headlines, but it is his targeting of wechat which could have an even bigger and more profound impact on us— china relations. that is because wechat, which came onto the scene in 2011 has morphed into a colossus. it is less of an aptand a colossus. it is less of an apt and more like an operating system. here is chris, a chinese student studying in london explaining what it is. you can find out where have hospitals, they have good

restau ra nts, hospitals, they have good restaurants, anything like that. you can find movie tickets, you can book restau ra nts, tickets, you can book restaurants, this one you can book a hotel. if you want to find out a playstation. i have come to business and so there are these things in it. it is everything in your life on this app? wechat has become so big, so app? wechat has become so big, so much a part of everyday life, it has become totally essential to its more than1 billion users. this is winnie, originally from malaysia, who has lived in london for ten yea rs. has lived in london for ten years. how would you describe it to you, how important is it? it is part of my life. all people like my mum only know how to send a message in what's up, but wechat is easy for them. if i didn't have wechat my mum would cry. it is the family collection —— connection, home feeling. if i don't have this i feel lonely. tencent, the owner of wechat, won't say how many users it has outside china but it is thought to run into the tens of

millions. it along with other chinese apps has got the attention of the us authorities. resident trump has mentioned impending action on tiktok and for good reason. with parent companies based in china, acts like tiktok, wechat and others are a significant threats to the personal data of american citizens. tiktok is a very different beast to wechat. sta rt very different beast to wechat. start with tiktok says it doesn't hold any of its data inside china and would never give that data to the chinese government. many security experts though believe it is wechat that holds a much greater security risk. this is the former chief security officerfor the former chief security officer for yahoo and facebook, .0f officer for yahoo and facebook, . of all the chinese companies to worry about tiktok is not in my top ten. i find tiktok to be a bit ofjust a symbol here, standing infor a bit ofjust a symbol here, standing in for the entire thing. what i would most worry about is tencent because of wechat, wechat is one of the most popular messaging apps in the world, used by the entire

chinese day aspirate and they have incredibly sensitive communication, they could open them up to blackmail and so those are the apps i would start with before an app like tiktok. wechat has long been criticised for censoring users in china. then a canadian analytics company looked into how wechat moderated its users outside of china. we find routinely that topics related to perennial taboo issues like tiananmen square, hong kong, fallon gong, anything to do with tibet and the dalai llama, those are pretty routinely censored. people we spoke to did not seem to be too concerned about security issues. the reason why he is saying that he doesn't want it in the us is because he thinks that some of the data from

users goes to the chinese government. no... this is not true, it's not really. it is very important to the country so very important to the country so maybe the country, the government controlled a little bit, but that is, i think that is the good part for us. because... if there is no government to control it it would be something bad would happen. researchers note -- not only found wechat censoring political content but it was also censoring content linked to covid—19. also censoring content linked to covid-19. we looked in particular at censorship around covid—19 and found that discussion about the pandemic very early on was censored which is highly significant because of course physicians who were on the front lines, who were on the front lines, who were on the front lines, who were warning about the pandemic even before it had a name had their communications censored. tencent denied this and told bbc click that all

content shared among international users of wechat is private. data security is not the only reason trump has decided to ban wechat. it is far more political than that. and to be honest it is hard to look past the fact that these tech companies have been sucked into a wider geopolitical battle between two superpowers. the battle over social media, and especially, who owns our personal data, is seen by many as the next big emerging rivalry between china and the us. in march, the chinese owners of internet hook up up, grindr sorted for $600 million, they had been forced to sell by us regulators over national security concerns relating to the data on the up stop in may,

chinese social media company quai show launceston out in the us called zynn, which after becoming one of the most popular apps, was removed from both the google play store and apple's apple store after being accused of plagiarising videos. but tiktok is now under pressure from us regulators and may be banned by the white house was that i set a date of september 15, at which point it will be out of business in the united states. but over in china, social media has been evolving in a different way. earlier this year, before the pandemic took hold, stephen beckett went to beijing to meet some of the major players in the chinese social media landscape. when it comes to social media, china is a world away from the waist, that is in pa rt away from the waist, that is in part because of long—term government locking like us tech giants like google and facebook, and that is partially

way the country has evolved its own completely distinct online ecosystem. alibaba own completely distinct online ecosystem. aliba ba is own completely distinct online ecosystem. alibaba is a bit like ebay, where oh is like twitter, and wechat started similarly to whatsapp and facebook messenger. not surprisingly, for a time china had a reputation of a copycat nation. china, with its huge population of over 1.3 billion people has plenty of room for social ideas. the competition is intense. these overhead offices, they are one of the biggest social networks year with over 200 million active users, quai show, but unless you're in china, you probably haven't heard of it. it targeted china's relatively untapped rural population, that's a lot of people, around 40% don't live in cities. that has led to a platform where the stars are not necessarily what you expect. their secret sauce is the option to give streamers

options that let them gain funding. igive options that let them gain funding. i give lessons on kauishou on traditional instruments. purchases of virtual gifts during livestreams, this meant that he makes £50,000 a month, and that is after kuaishou takes its 25% commission. but that is not so much compared to tencent and there mega r, wechat. now wechat is becoming a daily part of life, thanks to their many programmes. the many programmes don't allow you to download and install them, they are sub— applications within the wechat ecosystem, and a new tool developed by wechat. many programmes allow third parties to add new features to wechat

on demand. it's a bit like having the entire app store already on your phone. the idea is you can do anything you ever wa nt is you can do anything you ever want on your phone without ever closing wechat. this convenient store is set up with wechat‘s head office was the better as you can walk around, pick up whatever you like and write the door and it will be automatically charged to your kuaishou account. —— wechat account. wechat relies on users handing over big chunks of their personal data and that now even includes your face. these vending machines are set up these vending machines are set up to use wechat‘s facial pay feature. the idea is you opt into it in the up and you can use your face today anything from these machines. it basically links your face to your kuaishou account and your government id. but is the convenience with the possible cost of privacy? amnesty

international gave the parent company tencent a zero out of 100 for its privacy practices. there is a perception people in china don't care about their privacy, i think that is com pletely privacy, i think that is completely false. the government has tried to roll out its own privacy and security measures and programmes, about the danger of having data lost a lead. wechat says it will provide the chinese government access to much of what you do in the up when legally required such as the things you type in data like your location. it's hard to deny social apps in china have taken on a life of their own, if not outpacing, then going in new directions to competitors in the west. the big question is whether more chinese apps can follow tiktok in going global despite privacy and censorship concerns. 0r, could it be the turn of technology companies in the west to play copycat? that was stephen beckett's view of china. and since the explosion

of tiktok in the west, other apps have been springing up to try and compete. and chris fox has been looking at some of the alternatives that are available. if you can't get enough of short, hyper edited videos, luckily there are plenty of apps that have cotton on to the format. this is triller, which has taken inspiration from tiktok. you can record clips and add special effects and show them on an endless scrolling feed of content. triller has done rather well despite all of this uncertainty, it topped the charts on i0s and android and has attracted some big tiktok stars and celebrities over to its platform, including mike tyson and magician dynamo. another up offering a similar experience, byte, popping in and out of the app store topped down the charts. they tiktok it offers creative effects were videos, although it is trailing

behind triller, it's been downloaded over 1 behind triller, it's been downloaded over1 million times in google play, while tiktok had tens of millions. instagram reels, has incorporated many of tiktok‘s or features, reels, has incorporated many of tiktok‘s orfeatures, including that endlessly scrolling feed of short videos. in the past few weeks, mark zuckerberg has appeared at a congressional hearing about big tech companies using their power to neutralise the competition. isn't ripping off tiktok essentially doing that? there is innovation everywhere and people are constantly inspired by what they see. it's no longer a surprise to see a feed ina longer a surprise to see a feed in a mobile social product, that wasn't a fit into facebook wrote that two scales that we wrote that two scales that we wrote stories to instagram in 2016 and we thank snap for creating that format but evolved it from there. so what is it about this format that makes a difference a tiktok?|j think the ability to be disc ——

discovered is unique to reels. this is no product specifically designed to help creators find audiences. to be fair to tiktok, i the idea you never know what video is going to go viral get discovered is what draws people to tiktok was that it is certainly not unique to instagram reels, buti it is certainly not unique to instagram reels, but i think tiktok has refined a winning formula and they want a piece of the action. and that is it for this week. next week we're going to be looking at another hugely important topic, the technology being used to climate change. in so then, you can keep with us on social media, youtuber, facebook and twitter are deviously click. thanks for watching and we will see you soon. “— thanks for watching and we will see you soon. —— youtuber, facebook, twitter, and bbc click. thanks for watching.

hello there. over the last few days, temperatures have slowly been coming down, something a bit more comfortable both by day and by night. although we'll hold on to the humidity across england and wales as we head on into this weekend. but for this weekend, it's generally pretty similar to how the last few days have been. rather cloudy, a bit of sunshine in northern and western areas. humid in england and wales, where we'll continue to see showers and thunderstorms at times. now on saturday, the pressure chart shows higher pressure to the north, lower pressure to the south. that's why we'll start off with showers and thunderstorms across some southern portions of wales and southern england. further north, it'll be rather grey, pretty much grey everywhere, but the sunshine will break through central and western scotland, northern ireland, north—west england, perhaps a few sunny spells across the south—east of england. this is where we'll see some of the heaviest of the downpours into the afternoon. temperatures low to mid—20s where you get the sunshine, but quite cool across some north sea coasts where we hold on to the cloud and mist. as we head through saturday night,

the threat of showers and thunderstorms drifts a little bit further northwards into northern england, southern scotland, north wales. and for many of us, that cloud will roll back in, so it will be anotherfairly mild night, quite muggy again for england and wales. on sunday, subtle changes. 0ur area of high pressure drifts northwards. that allows this area of low pressure to push north across the country. so, we'll start off plenty of showers across central and northern parts of the uk, although much of northern scotland will stay dry with some sunshine. we'll start with some sunshine across southern england and wales, but then as that temperature rises, then thunderstorms will break out here into the afternoon. some of them could be quite heavy. again, temperatures low to mid—20s celsius across southern areas, cooler where you hold on to the cloud and mist on the eastern coasts. 0n into monday, that area of low pressure sits on top of the uk. quite a weak feature, so these showers and storms spiralling around across the country will be moving quite slowly. the lion's share of the storms, though, will be across england and wales.

fewer for scotla nd and northern ireland, where we should see a little bit of sunshine at times. those temperatures ranging from around 17 to 23—24 degrees in the south. then big changes as we head on into the middle part of next week. something we haven't seen for a while, a deep atlantic low will sweep in to bring much fresher conditions, some strong winds at times through wednesday, particularly into thursday. we'll see a band of rain followed by sunshine and showers, and it will be turning cooler and fresher for all by the end of the week.

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welcome to bbc news — i'm lewis vaughan jones. our top stories: chanting striking in support of the protesters. workers in belarusjoin the public outcry over disputed elections, as more stories emerge of torture and abuse by police. politics and the post office: how the mail has become a divisive issue in the lead—up to the us presidential election. a desperate dash to the french port of calais — as britons scramble to get home before the uk's new quarantine measures come into force. and a lesson in public health management: how images from a crowded school hallway in the us state of georgia have reignited the conversation over