Tag Archives: TikTok

Reuters reports:  House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy said on Sunday lawmakers will move forward with legislation to address national security worries about TikTok, alleging China’s government had access to the short video app’s user data. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew appeared before a U.S. House Committee for about five hours on Thursday, and lawmakers from both parties grilled him …

NBC News reports: The Biden administration is threatening a potential ban on TikTok in the United States if the video sharing app’s Chinese owners refuse to sell their stakes in it, a source close to the company told NBC News on Thursday. The source, however, cautioned that the company did not see the administration’s move as a final order. Talks …

The Verge reports: TikTok has announced a batch of new features intended to reduce screen time and improve the well-being of its younger users. In the coming weeks, a daily screen time limit of 60 minutes will be automatically applied to every TikTok user under 18 years old. Teens that hit this limit will be asked to enter a passcode …

Florida Politics reports: The Florida Senate sponsor of legislation (SB 52) that would ban the use of the Chinese-owned TikTok in Florida schools is looking skyward for justification. Sen. Danny Burgess told a national audience on Friday’s Fox & Friends that a Chinese spy balloon currently floating high above the northern tier of the United States illustrates why the controversial …

ABC News reports: Sen. Michael Bennet, D-CO, sent a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Thursday calling on their companies to remove TikTok from their respective app stores, citing concerns about how TikTok handles the data of American users. “Like most social media networks, TikTok collects vast and sophisticated data from its users,” Bennet …

Reuters reports: U.S. Senator Josh Hawley, a Republican and China hawk, said on Tuesday that he would introduce a bill to ban the short video app TikTok in the United States. TikTok, whose parent is the Chinese company ByteDance, already faces a ban that would stop federal employees from using or downloading TikTok on government-owned devices. TikTok said in a …

NBC News reports: Lawmakers and staffers must delete TikTok from any House-issued mobile phones and are prohibited from downloading the popular app on such devices, according to an internal memo obtained by NBC News. The memo, sent Tuesday by Catherine L. Szpindor, the chief administrative officer of the House, said the ban comes after her office’s cybersecurity unit found TikTok …

CNN Business reports: The Senate passed legislation Wednesday evening to ban TikTok from US government devices, in a move designed to limit perceived information-security risks stemming from the social media app. The vote by unanimous consent approved the bill authored by Republican Sen. Josh Hawley. The move marks lawmakers’ latest step against the short-form video app that has become popular …

CNBC reports: A new bill from a bipartisan group of lawmakers, if passed, would ban TikTok in the U.S. after years of broad concern across the Trump and Biden administrations about potential Chinese government influence on the company. The new bill, introduced by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Reps. Mike Gallagher, R-Wisc., and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., would ban “all transactions …

The Texas Tribune reports: Gov. Greg Abbott banned the social media platform TikTok from government-issued cellphones and computers on Wednesday, becoming the latest GOP governor to target the video-sharing app over cybersecurity fears. Abbott cited concerns that TikTok posed a threat to state information given that the app is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance Ltd. Republican governors in South …

Baltimore’s NBC affiliate reports: Gov. Larry Hogan issued an emergency cybersecurity directive to prohibit the use of certain Chinese and Russian-influenced products and platforms, including the popular social media site TikTok. According to a release, it states that these entities present an unacceptable level of cybersecurity risk to the state, and may be involved in activities such as cyber-espionage, surveillance …

Just in press release: Today, Governor Kristi Noem signed Executive Order 2022-10, which bans the Chinese social media platform TikTok for state government agencies, employees, and contractors using state devices. This order is in response to the growing national security threat posed by TikTok due to its data gathering operations on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). “South Dakota …

Axios reports: The Council on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS) should take action to ban TikTok, Brendan Carr, one of five commissioners at the Federal Communications Commission, told Axios in an interview. It’s the strongest language Carr has used to date to urge action on TikTok. With more than 200 million downloads in the U.S. alone, the popular app …

Bloomberg News reports: To defend itself against the federal government, Meta Platforms Inc. says it needs its rivals to divulge some of their most closely held secrets. Facebook’s parent company has so far subpoenaed 132 companies for documents, including Snap Inc., ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok and the audio startup Clubhouse, and has warned that it may seek information from 100 more. …

The Verge reports: Democratic Senate hopeful John Fetterman’s campaign to troll Republican opponent Dr. Mehmet Oz into defeat has dominated Facebook and Twitter over the last few weeks. But on Thursday, the campaign announced it is launching an official TikTok account to expand the reach of its already viral videos. The campaign formally launched the TikTok account with a video …

Axios reports: Facebook wants to shape your online life around the algorithmically-sorted preferences of millions of strangers around the globe. That’s how TikTok sorts the videos it shows users, and that’s largely how Facebook will now organize its home screen. The dominant player in social media is transforming itself into a kind of digital mass media, in which the reactions …

CNBC reports: A leader of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission said he has asked Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their app stores over China-related data security concerns. The wildly popular short video app is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, which faced U.S. scrutiny under President Donald Trump. Brendan Carr, one of the FCC’s commissioners, shared via Twitter a …

Today Online reports: A Russian court on Tuesday (April 26) hit Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta and video platform TikTok with fines for refusing to take down LBGT content. In separate hearings, a Moscow court ordered Meta to pay four million rubles (S$74,000) and TikTok 2 million rubles for failing to delete content with LGBT “propaganda”, news agency Interfax …

The Washington Post reports: Facebook parent company Meta is paying one of the biggest Republican consulting firms in the country to orchestrate a nationwide campaign seeking to turn the public against TikTok. The campaign includes placing op-eds and letters to the editor in major regional news outlets, promoting dubious stories about alleged TikTok trends that actually originated on Facebook, and …

CNN Business reports: American Express is the latest credit card company to announce it is ending its operations in Russia as its invasion into Ukraine escalates. Late on Sunday, the company said in a statement that globally issued American Express cards will no longer work in Russia, and cards issued in Russia won’t work outside the country. American Express also …