Tag Archives: TikTok

CNN reports: There’s a new TikTok star, and his name is Dr. Anthony Fauci. “Tell all of your TikTok buddies to get vaccinated,” Fauci said this week in a video posted on TikTok by Nia Sioux, the social media and former “Dance Moms” star. “I will, I’ll tell all my besties,” Sioux replied. In the latest push from the White …

Michigan Live reports: A 27-year-old Ann Arbor woman who teaches social media followers how to do sex acts and fetishes had to call firefighters for help after a sex stunt went wrong Tuesday, June 9. Being stuck was the sexual fetish the woman was trying to demonstrate on social media, but this time she couldn’t get unstuck on her own. …

The Verge reports: President Joe Biden signed an executive order Wednesday revoking the Trump-era bans on TikTok and WeChat. In place of the Trump order, Biden will direct the commerce secretary to investigate apps with ties to foreign adversaries that may pose a risk to American data privacy or national security. The order takes the place of a series of …

The Daily Beast reports: A team of cybersecurity researchers who analyzed TikTok’s code found no evidence of “overtly malicious behavior”—and determined the app collects about as much user data as Facebook.  Citizen Lab cautioned that there may still be security issues that didn’t crop up during the analysis, but they remain unaware of any “immediate security issues with TikTok.”  The …

The Wall Street Journal reports: A U.S. plan to force the sale of TikTok’s American operations to a group including Oracle Corp.and Walmart Inc. has been shelved indefinitely, people familiar with the situation said, as President Biden undertakes a broad review of his predecessor’s efforts to address potential security risks from Chinese tech companies. The TikTok deal—which had been driven …

Bloomberg News reports: A deadline set by the Trump administration for the forced sale of TikTok’s U.S. assets came and went Friday without a final deal. While the deadline has been extended multiple times, TikTok isn’t expected to receive a new one, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the decision isn’t yet public. TikTok is still …

The Verge reports: TikTok got another reprieve from the Trump administration’s attempted ban today, as a federal judge in Pennsylvania blocked the government from moving ahead with restrictions that would have effectively shut down the app next month. The judge granted a preliminary injunction against a series of bans by the US Commerce Department that were set to go into …

NPR reports: TikTok is toughening its stance against the QAnon conspiracy theory, expanding its ban to all content or accounts that promote videos advancing baseless ideas from the far-right online movement. The action hardens the video-sharing app’s previous enforcement against QAnon that targeted specific hashtags on the app that QAnon supporters have used to spread unfounded theories. Now, users that …

The Verge reports: Oracle CEO Larry Ellison donated $250,000 to a super PAC supporting Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) reelection campaign as his company closed in on a coveted position as TikTok’s US technology partner. FEC documents show that Ellison made the $250,000 donation to the Security is Strength PAC on September 14th. The Security is Strength PAC has bought ads …

CNBC reports: A federal judge has temporarily blocked an order from the Trump administration that would have banned TikTok from being downloaded from U.S. app stores. At the end of the day on Sunday, the U.S. government could have forced app stores run by Apple and Google to remove TikTok. But after a hearing on Sunday, Judge Carl Nichols of …

Bloomberg News reports: President Donald Trump said Saturday he wants $5 billion from companies creating a new U.S.-based TikTok venture directed toward teaching American children “the real history of our country.” Trump said Saturday that he had approved a transaction between Oracle Corp., Walmart Inc. and ByteDance Ltd. to create a new company called TikTok Global to run the U.S. …

Reuters reports: Popular video-sharing app TikTok has asked a U.S. judge to block the Trump administration from enforcing a ban on the Chinese social media network, according to court documents filed late on Friday. TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance Ltd., filed a complaint in a Washington federal court challenging the recent prohibitory moves by the Trump administration. The U.S. …

Reuters reports: The U.S. Commerce Department said it will issue an order Friday that will bar people in the United States from downloading Chinese-owned messaging app WeChat and video-sharing app TikTok starting on September 20. Commerce officials said the ban on new U.S. downloads of TikTok could be still rescinded by President Donald Trump before it takes effect late Sunday …

The Verge reports: Sen. Josh Hawley is publicly calling on the Treasury Department to reject Oracle’s proposed partnership with TikTok, saying the arrangement is unacceptable on national security grounds. The deal is currently awaiting a recommendation from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), but it has received praise from Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who chairs the …

Bloomberg News reports: Oracle Corp. edged out rival Microsoft Corp. in negotiations for the U.S. operations of TikTok, people familiar with the talks said, as the Chinese-owned music-video app attempts to avoid getting shut down in a clash between the world’s two superpowers. Oracle has nurtured a relationship with Trump since before his administration began. In 2016, Chief Executive Officer …

Yahoo Finance reports: Retail giant Walmart said Thursday it had teamed with Microsoft to buy TikTok, the Chinese-owned short-form video app that has come under fire from the administration of President Donald Trump. The app has been at the center of a diplomatic storm between Washington and Beijing since Trump signed an executive order on August 6 giving Americans 45 …

Reuters reports: TikTok on Monday sued U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration over his executive order banning transactions in the United States with the popular short-form video-sharing app, calling it a pretext to fuel anti-China rhetoric as he seeks reelection. TikTok and its parent ByteDance Ltd rejected what they called the White House’s position that it was a national security threat, …

How utterly unsurprising: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg pushed concerns about TikTok’s ties to China during meetings with officials and lawmakers, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. The Journal reported that Zuckerberg discussed TikTok with Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) before the government began its national security investigation into the app owned by the China-based ByteDance. Zuckerberg also made the case to …

Reuters reports: TikTok is preparing to mount a legal challenge as early as Monday to President Donald Trump’s executive order prohibiting transactions with the popular short video app and its Chinese parent ByteDance, according to people familiar with the matter. TikTok’s legal challenge pertains to an earlier executive order, which Trump issued on Aug. 6, the sources said. That order …

Reuters reports: President Donald Trump wants to deny China some of the proceeds from the sale of ByteDance’s U.S. operations of its video-sharing app TikTok, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Wednesday, but it would be unusual for any company that acquires TikTok to provide funds to the U.S. Treasury. “Well he’s said that,” Kudlow told CNBC when …