The mobile app's 150 million users in the US and the strength of its content-recommendation engine mean any infraction is viewed as a potential societal threat
TikTok is ramping up a public relations campaign to fend off the possibility of a nationwide ban by the Biden administration, and it's bringing some unconventional advocates to help: online influencers. Dozens of TikTok creators some with millions of followers on the video-sharing app came to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to lobby in favour of the platform, one day before lawmakers are slated to grill the company's chief executive about concerns over user data falling into the hands of the Chinese government. Shou Zi Chew plans to tell Congress on Thursday that TikTok, which was founded by Chinese entrepreneurs, is committed to user safety, data protection and security, and keeping the platform free from Chinese government influence. He will also answer questions from U.S. lawmakers worried about the social media platform's effects on its young user base. At the heart of TikTok's trouble is a Chinese national intelligence law that would compel Chinese companies to fork over data to th
Shou Zi Chew, the CEO of Chinese short-form video platform, which faces a nationwide ban in the US, has warned users as he prepares to appear before the US Congress on March 23
All of these platforms have "force-fed children dangerous and harmful content with predatory algorithms, said the group
The revelations highlight the challenges that social media companies and their content review teams face in protecting their users from extremely disturbing material
China appealed on Friday to other governments to treat its companies fairly after Britain and New Zealand joined the United States in restricting use of TikTok due to fears the Chinese-owned short video service might be a security risk. Governments are worried TikTok's owner, ByteDance, might give browsing history or other data about users to China's government or promote propaganda and disinformation. We call on the countries concerned to recognise the objective facts, effectively respect the market economy and provide a non-discriminatory environment" for all companies, said foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin. TikTok is one focus of conflicts between China and other governments over technology and security that are disrupting processor chip, smartphone and other industries. Legislators and employees in New Zealand's Parliament will be prohibited from having TikTok 's app on phones, the government said on Friday. Britain announced a ban on Thursday on TikTok on all governme
Amid security concerns, the video-sharing social networking service, Tik Tok has been banned on the phones of New Zealand MPs, Auckland-based daily newspaper, New Zealand Herald reported on Friday
Chinese-owned video hosting service TikTok can threaten America's safety and its national security, the White House said on Thursday
China accused the United States on Thursday of spreading disinformation and suppressing TikTok following reports that the Biden administration was calling for its Chinese owners to sell their stakes in the popular video-sharing app. The U.S. has yet to present evidence that TikTok threatens its national security and was using the excuse of data security to abuse its power to suppress foreign companies, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters at a daily briefing. The U.S. should stop spreading disinformation about data security, stop suppressing the relevant company, and provide an open, fair and non-discriminatory environment for foreign businesses to invest and operate in the U.S., Wang said. TikTok was dismissive Wednesday of a report in The Wall Street Journal that said the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., part of the Treasury Department, was threatening a U.S. ban on the app unless its owners, Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd., divested. If protecting ..
TikTok was dismissive of reports that the Biden administration was calling for its Chinese owners to sell their stakes in the popular video-sharing app, saying such a move wouldn't help protect national security. The company was responding to a report in The Wall Street Journal that said the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., part of the Treasury Department, was threatening a U.S. ban on the app unless its owners, Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd., divested. "If protecting national security is the objective, divestment doesn't solve the problem: a change in ownership would not impose any new restrictions on data flows or access," TikTok spokesperson Maureen Shanahan said. "The best way to address concerns about national security is with the transparent, U.S.-based protection of U.S. user data and systems, with robust third-party monitoring, vetting, and verification, which we are already implementing." The Journal report cited anonymous "people familiar with the matter." The .
TikTok's owners may retain some form of ownership but through a passive structure
A divestiture, which could result in a sale or IPO, is considered a last resort, to be pursued only if the company's existing proposal with national security officials doesn't get approved
"No one wakes up thinking they want to maximize the number of times they open Instagram that day," one Meta employee wrote in 2021. "But that's exactly what our product teams are trying to do."
The White House on Tuesday applauded a group of Senators for introducing the Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology (RESTRICT) Act
We have never had a potential adversary like China. So this week, I'm introducing bipartisan legislation to protect our national security against a wide range of foreign tech threats, said US Senator
The Technological Adversaries Act, or DATA Act, directs Biden to sanction or ban TikTok nationwide if his administration finds that the Chinese firm shared American users' data with the Chinese govt
The White House on Wednesday (local time) asserted that the Chinese-owned app TikTok is a "potential national security risk"
TikTok said on Wednesday that every account held by a user under the age of 18 will have a default 60-minute daily screen time limit in the coming weeks. The changes arrive during a period in which there are growing concerns among different governments about the app's security. Families have struggled with limiting the amount of time their children spend on the Chinese-owned video sharing app. Cormac Keenan, head of trust and safety at TikTok said in a blog post on Wednesday that when the 60-minute limit is reached, minors will be prompted to enter a passcode receive a passcode and make an active decision to keep watching. For accounts where the user is under the age of 13, a parent or guardian will have to set or enter an existing passcode to allow 30 minutes of extra viewing time once the initial 60-minute limit is reached. TikTok said it came up with the 60-minute threshold by consulting academic research and experts from the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children's ...
The U.S. and Canada issued orders this week to ban the use of TikTok on government-issued mobile devices, as privacy and cybersecurity concerns grow over the short-video app. TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company Bytedance, has long maintained that it does not share data with the Chinese government and that its data is not held in China. It also disputes accusations that it collects more user data than other social media companies, and insists that it is run independently by its own management. Despite TikTok's claims, many countries around the world remain cautious about the platform and its ties to China. Here are the countries and regions that have implemented partial or total bans on TikTok. India India imposed a ban on TikTok and dozens of other Chinese apps, including the messaging app WeChat, in 2020 over privacy and security concerns. The ban came shortly after a clash between Indian and Chinese troops at a disputed Himalayan border killed 20 Indian soldiers and .
Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, said there may or may not be further steps