Blackpink Celebrates Anniversary with Spotify, Invites Blinks to Join #8YearwithBLACKPINK”
This August, Blackpink fever heats up as the iconic global girl group celebrates its 8th anniversary. Blackpink has dominated global charts and captured the hearts of millions of fans worldwide.
To commemorate this milestone and honor Blinks, who fuel one of the biggest fandoms in the world, Blackpink has teamed up with Spotify, the world’s most popular audio streaming platform, to bring a host of special surprises to the This is BLACKPINK playlist.
From the group’s record-breaking rise to global superstardom, Blackpink, which comprises Jisoo, Jennie, Rose and Lisa, has made colossal waves on Spotify. The group’s Spotify streams tracked an average year-on-year growth exceeding 110 percent. The group now has more than 13 billion streams on the platform. Their tracks have been added to over 71 million user-generated playlists, and their top five most streamed songs alone — “How You Like That,” “Kill This Love,” “Pink Venom,” “DDU-DU DDU-DU” and “Shut Down” — have collectively garnered more than 4 billion streams.
Further testament to the group’s resonance with listeners worldwide, their top markets on Spotify now span the USA, Indonesia, Mexico, the Philippines and Brazil.
#8YearswithBLACKPINK, only on Spotify
To celebrate #8YearswithBLACKPINK, Spotify is treating Blinks to a series of special surprises on the This Is BLACKPINK playlist. From August 1 to the group’s debut anniversary on August 8, the playlist will pay homage to a different Blackpink era each day, taking listeners on a journey through the group’s most iconic milestones.
To add to the excitement, daily digital sharecards will be available on the playlist, giving fans eight ways to flex their fandom. From discovering how you rank among Blackpink listeners to uncovering your most recent favorite Blackpink’s songs and more, be sure to stay tuned to This is BLACKPINK to discover and express how you’ve stanned.
Here’s how it works:
- Tune into This is BLACKPINK from August 1 to 8 to rediscover a different Blackpink era each day. The playlist will refresh daily at 11AM.
- When you’re on This is BLACKPINK, you might get a special digital sharecard depending on your Blackpink streaming habits, so keep a lookout during this period to see how you’ve stanned.
- Flex your fandom and fuel the celebrations of #8YearswithBLACKPINK by uploading your sharecards on social media.
“It’s been thrilling to witness the growth of Blackpink throughout the years,” said Jungjoo Park, head of Music Korea, Spotify. “Our #8YearswithBLACKPINK campaign bolsters our commitment to supporting Korean artists in reaching and deepening their connections with listeners worldwide, and we hope fans enjoy the special surprises we have in store for them.”
Spotify’s efforts to connect Blackpink with listeners across the globe have played an instrumental role in igniting passion from their fandom over the years. In addition to spotlighting their music on flagship playlists such as Today’s Top Hits and K-Pop ON!, Spotify has also brought listeners a variety of exclusive experiences to bring fans closer to the members. This includes the enhanced album for the 2020 “The Album” and the Born Pink: The Pop-Up Experience in Los Angeles in 2022.
Head on to Spotify’s For The Record blog post for more on the campaign.
Trend Micro Stops Deepfakes, AI-Based Cyber Attacks for Consumers, Enterprises
Global cybersecurity leader Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704) has announced new innovations in its enterprise platform focused on protecting all environments from threats of AI-based attacks and fraud.
Trend Micro research shows that cybercriminals are catching on to the explosion of enterprise AI use, resulting in a dramatic increase in AI-based tools available on the criminal underground. These tools are cheaper and more accessible than ever, enabling criminals of any skill level to more easily launch attacks at scale that mislead victims for purposes of extortion, identity theft, fraud or misinformation.
Ian Felipe, Trend Micro Philippines country manager, stated, “Our latest research reveals several new deepfake tools that make it easy for cybercriminals at all skill levels to launch damaging scams, social engineering and security bypass attempts. We are leading the industry in fighting back for both our enterprise and consumer customers with new capabilities to detect deepfakes and other forms of AI fraud. Like past shifts in the threat and IT landscape, we’ve seen the challenge of securing AI and have risen to it.”
Detecting and defeating these AI-based methods is central to better managing attack surface risk for enterprises and lowering overall online risk for consumers, 71 percent of whom viewed deepfakes negatively and believed that one of their top uses is for fraud, according to a recent Trend Micro survey.
The new deepfake detection technology will use a variety of advanced methods to spot AI-generated content and will be made available soon on the Trend Vision One™ platform.
According to Gartner analyst Dan Ayoub, “Readily available, high-quality GenAI applications are now capable of creating photo-realistic video content that can deceive or mislead an audience. Given the low barriers to entry in using these tools and their increasing sophistication, developing a methodological approach to detecting GenAI deepfake content has become necessary.”
Deepfakes pose a significant risk to modern enterprises and individuals. An undetected deepfake can lead to misleading information, financial impacts, job losses, legal challenges, reputation damage, identity theft and potential harm to mental or physical health. In a recent Trend Micro study, 36 percent of consumers reported experiencing a scam attempt using a deepfake. The FBI has also previously warned of deepfake technology being used in conjunction with video calls to carry out business email compromise attacks and to fraudulently apply for remote working positions.
This technology is being abused to bypass not only human verification but also biometric security measures such as facial recognition. Trend Micro research has also revealed recent shifts indicating a growing preference for exploiting existing large language models (LLM) through innovative jailbreaking techniques rather than developing bespoke criminal AI tools.
The launch of Trend Micro’s new solutions is part of a company-wide mission to secure customers’ AI journey. Supporting a zero trust strategy, Trend Micro also recently released new features for Trend Vision One designed to:
- Centralize management of employees’ GenAI access and usage
- Inspect prompts to prevent data leaks and malicious injections
- Filter GenAI content to meet compliance requirements
- Defend against LLM attacks
To view Trend Micro’s deepfake detection capabilities demo, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=lZcdCzqFXNhLQz3g&v=16pwF_uzFvQ&feature=youtu.be.
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ZTE’s Sustainability Report 2023 Highlights Advancing Digital Innovation for a More Sustainable Future
ZTE Corporation, a global leading provider of integrated information and communication technology solutions, released its Sustainability Report 2023 detailing strategies and progress in green innovations, social contributions and corporate governance. As a driver of digital economy, ZTE (0763.HK / 000063.SZ) has been releasing sustainability reports for 16 consecutive years, highlighting its unwavering commitment to sustainable business.
Xu Ziyang, CEO at ZTE, stated in the report: “We uphold the Human-Centric and Tech for Good philosophy and constantly explore new fields, applications and value of digital and intelligent transformation. Together with global customers, partners, investors and people from all walks of life, we will build a digital and intelligent ecosystem, making efforts and contributions to promote industrial revolution, accelerate social development and enhance the well-being of all humanity.”
The report highlights ZTE’s dedicated efforts in building its digital intelligence capabilities and continuous innovation in underlying technologies. The company has been enhancing its investments in main business fields, including chipset, algorithm, architecture, database and operating system. As of 2023, ZTE has filed more than 89,500 patent applications and obtained over 45,000 granted patents globally. Additionally, ZTE has been advancing physical and digital innovation, successfully implementing benchmark projects in multiple industries to promote high-quality development across diverse sectors.
Driving green innovations to shape an eco-friendly ecosystem
ZTE is committed to green development, driving green innovation to shape an eco-friendly ecosystem. This commitment is underpinned by four dimensions: green operations, green supply chain, green digital infrastructure and green empowerment, contributing to net zero emission.
In green operations, ZTE achieved a 9.7 percent YoY decrease of absolute greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (scope 1, 2 and 3) throughout the value chain, a 14.58 percent YoY decrease in the physical intensity of GHG emissions during the use and maintenance phases of the company’s sold telecom products, and more than 700 percent YoY growth of PV power generation installed capacity in 2023.
In terms of green supply chain, the company has completed carbon reduction audit for more than 150 suppliers and achieved a 3.26 percent reduction in carbon emissions intensity through its green logistics efforts. Moreover, ZTE was awarded “National Level Green Supply Chain Management Enterprise” and ZTE Heyuan Base was recognized as a “National Green Factory” in 2023.
For green digital infrastructure, ZTE currently holds more than 650 green patents and has conducted carbon footprint assessments for 101 products, encompassing all product categories. The company has helped global operators save more than 10 billion kilowatt-hours in electricity consumption annually.
In the realm of green empowerment, ZTE has introduced a green precision cloud-network solution based on its Digital Nebula architecture. Collaborating with more than 1,000 global top industry partners across diverse sectors, the company has launched more than 100 application scenarios for 5G+ innovative green initiatives. Through these efforts, the company continues to support various industries in their digital transformation and sustainability goals, promoting cost reduction, efficiency improvement and quality enhancement to drive energy conservation and emission reduction.
Thanks to its sustained efforts in green development, ZTE’s science-based targets, achieving greenhouse gas emissions reduction in line with the 1.5°C temperature rise limitation pathway and reaching net-zero emissions by 2050 at the latest, have been approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) in April 2024. This makes ZTE the first large-scale ICT tech company in China to receive official approval for both short-term and long-term GHG emission reduction targets and to make CDP A List for leading climate action, the highest level of recognition for corporate environmental transparency and performance. Additionally, the company unveiled the “ZTE Zero-Carbon Strategy” white paper at ZTE Sustainable Development Forum, outlining the implementation roadmap of its zero-carbon strategy and demonstrating the company’s commitment to collaborate with various sectors to advance global zero-carbon endeavors.
Embracing Tech for Good to bridge global digital divide
Xie Junshi, executive vice president and chief operating officer at ZTE, said: ” ZTE incorporates sustainability and ESG into corporate operations and governance, sticks to the philosophy of Tech for Good, and takes on the responsibility and role of a leading ICT player to bridge the digital divide and enable connectivity and trust everywhere.”
As a global enterprise, ZTE has been engaging in building high-performance superb networks across more than 100 countries and regions, facilitating the bridging of global digital divide. ZTE has been actively responding to the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) call for support in global digital transformation efforts through its Partner2Connect (P2C) Digital Coalition and was recognized as one of the first P2C Champions by ITU. Specifically, ZTE pledged to construct ICT infrastructure annually for least developed countries (LDCs), landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) and small island developing states (SIDS) by 2025 and to dedicate 50,000 hours of ICT lectures globally for the benefits of local workforces in need, as part of its efforts to drive global meaningful connectivity.
Supplier capability building is key for ZTE to ensure supply chain resilience and product quality. In 2023, the company released the SPIRE 2.0 strategy to boost resilience of its supply chain, and carried out diverse training programs to promote capability enhancement of suppliers, jointly contributing to sustainable development.
ZTE puts people first and front, prioritizing the welfare and development of its employees and fostering a nurturing and inclusive workplace environment. In 2023, the average training hours per employee reached 144.7. ZTE was honored with LinkedIn MostIn Awards – Global Talent Magnet Employer in 2023, recognizing its global talent attraction efforts.
ZTE actively fulfills its corporate social responsibility by engaging in public welfare initiatives worldwide, including educational support, medical aid and care for vulnerable groups. As of 2023, the company has registered 10,754 employee volunteers, accumulating a total of 29,024 volunteer hours. The company’s influence on green development was further extended through welfare activities. For example, the pilot project of forest management and carbon sequestration, which marked milestone progress of the “ZTE Ecosystem Conservation Fund,” was successfully implemented.
Strengthening corporate governance to build a highly resilient organization
ZTE places significant emphasis on internal controls, compliance, social credibility and business continuity management (BCM). The company continually enhances its corporate governance system, standardizes operations, and ensures continuous and robust business performance.
In 2023, ZTE successfully passed the re-certification audit of the company’s anti-bribery management system and maintained the ISO 37001 anti-bribery management system certification. It conducted 214 joint business continuity plan (BCP) drills in high risk fields. Additionally, the company continuously improves its quality management system. In the same year, ZTE Global Certification and Testing Center conducted 1,372 safety tests throughout the year with a test pass rate of 100 percent.
As a member of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) and the Global Enabling Sustainability Initiative (GeSI), ZTE’s achievements in sustainable development and ESG have gained widespread recognition. For instance, ZTE was selected in UNGC private sector case studies for achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2023 and has been included in the FTSE4Good Index Series for eight years and Fortune China ESG Impact List for three consecutive years. Additionally, ZTE was honored among the Top 30 ESG Excellence Practices in China and recognized as 2023 IDC China Sustainable Development Pioneer Case.
As a member of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) and the Global Enabling Sustainability Initiative (GeSI), ZTE’s achievements in sustainable development and ESG have gained widespread recognition. For instance, ZTE was selected in UNGC Private Sector Case Studies for achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2023, and has been included in the FTSE4Good Index Series for eight years and Fortune China ESG Impact List for three consecutive years. Additionally, ZTE was honored among Top 30 ESG Excellence Practices in China and recognized as 2023 IDC China Sustainable Development Pioneer Case.
Moving forward, ZTE will remain committed to its vision “To Enable Connectivity and Trust Everywhere,” leading the way in digital innovation to ensure that the benefits of innovations reach all industries and sectors, contributing new momentum to sustainable development.
For the full ZTE Sustainability Report 2023, go to https://www.zte.com.cn/content/dam/zte-site/investorrelations/en_announcement/ZTE_Sustainability_Report_2023_EN_0603.pdf.
To stay updated about ZTE’s commitment to sustainability, visit the ZTE Sustainability website at https://www.zte.com.cn/global/about/sustainability.html.