Posts Tagged: TikTok
House passes bill that could ban TikTok
A bill that could force a sale or outright ban on TikTok passed the House just days after it was first introduced. The House of Representatives approved the measure Wednesday, in a vote of 352 – 65, in a rare showing of bipartisan support. It now goes to the Senate.
If passed into law, the legislation would give parent company ByteDance a six-month window to sell TikTok or face a ban from US app stores and web hosting services. While the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act” is far from the first effort to force a ban or sale of TikTok, it’s been able to draw more support far more quickly than previous bills.
The measure cleared its first procedural vote in the House last week, just two days after it was introduced. The bill will now move onto the Senate, where its future is less certain. Senator Rand Paul has said he would block the bill, while other lawmakers have also been hesitant to publicly back the bill.
TikTok has called the bill unconstitutional, saying it would “strip 170 million Americans of their Constitutional right to free expression” and hurt creators and businesses that rely on the service. Last week, the company sent a wave of push notifications to users, urging them to ask their representatives to oppose the bill. Congressional staffers reported that offices were overwhelmed with calls, many of which came from confused teenagers. Lawmakers later accused the company of trying to “interfere” with the legislative process.
Free speech and digital rights groups also oppose the bill, with many noting that comprehensive privacy laws would be more effective at protecting Americans’ user data rather than a measure that primarily targets one app. Former President Donald Trump, who once also tried to force ByteDance to sell TikTok, has also said he is against the bill, claiming it would strengthen Meta.
In a letter to lawmakers, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Fight for the Future and the Center for Democracy and Technology argued that the bill would “set an alarming global precedent for excessive government control over social media platforms” and would likely “invite copycat measures by other countries … with significant consequences for free expression globally.”
If the bill were to muster enough votes to pass the Senate, President Joe Biden says he would sign the bill into law. His administration has previously pressured ByteDance to sell TikTok. Officials maintain the app poses a national security risk due to its ties to ByteDance, a Chinese company. TikTok has repeatedly refuted these claims.
If the law was passed, the company would likely mount a legal challenge like it did in Montana, which passed a statewide ban last year. A federal judge temporarily blocked the ban in November before it could go into effect.
Developing…
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/house-passes-bill-that-could-ban-tiktok-144805114.html?src=rss
Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics
Lawmakers have a new plan to force ByteDance to sell TikTok
A group of lawmakers have introduced a new bill that would force ByteDance to sell TikTok in order for the app to remain available in the United States. The “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act” would prohibit US app stores and web hosting services from distributing TikTok unless it divested from parent company ByteDance.
The bill is the latest in a long line of attempts by lawmakers and other officials to ban or force a sale of the app. Former President Donald Trump attempted to force a sale of TikTok in 2020, but was ultimately unsuccessful. The Biden Administration has also pressured the company to divest. And a US District Court Judge recently blocked an attempt to ban the app in Montana.
The new bill, which comes from a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the House, takes a different approach. It would give ByteDance a six-month window to sell TikTok before app store-level bans would come into effect. It would also require TikTok and other apps to “provide users with a copy of their data in a format that can be imported” into competing apps. And though TikTok is referenced several times in the text of the bill, the legislation would open the door for bans on other “foreign adversary-controlled” apps if the president deemed them to be a national security threat.
“This bill is an outright ban of TikTok, no matter how much the authors try to disguise it,” TikTok said in a statement. “This legislation will trample the First Amendment rights of 170 million Americans and deprive 5 million small businesses of a platform they rely on to grow and create jobs.”
TikTok CEO Shou Chew has maintained that a divestment would not fully address officials’ concerns about US user data. The company has spent years trying to address national security concerns about its service with an initiative called Project Texas. Under the plan, created as a result of years of negotiations with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), US users’ data would be separated into US-based servers and government officials would be able to oversee audits of TikTok’s source code and other aspects of its operations.
The Washington Post reported last year that TikTok’s negotiations with CFIUS had been recently “revived amid doubts the [Biden] administration has the authority to ban TikTok on its own.” If Congress was able to pass the new bill, it would clear up such questions and create a new process for forcing ByteDance’s hand.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other digital rights groups have criticized the government’s efforts to ban TikTok. In a statement on the latest bill, the ACLU said the proposed measure was “unconstitutional” and would hurt free speech. “Just because the bill sponsors claim that banning TikTok isn’t about suppressing speech, there’s no denying that it would do just that,” senior policy counsel Jenna Leventoff said.
Columbia University’s nonprofit Knight First Amendment Institute raised similar concerns. “Congress can protect data privacy and security without banning Americans from accessing one of the world’s most popular communications platforms,” the organization’s executive director Jameel Jaffer said in a statement. “It should start by passing a comprehensive privacy law restricting the kinds of information that TikTok and other platforms can collect.”
Update March 5, 2024 6:50 PM ET: This story has been updated to add comments from the ACLU and Knight First Amendment Institute.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/lawmakers-have-a-new-plan-to-force-bytedance-to-sell-tiktok-220408004.html?src=rss
Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics
TikTok pulled a hashtag-tracking feature researchers used to study the platform
TikTok recently pulled a tool that allowed researchers and others to study the popularity of hashtags on its app. The change, first reported by The New York Times, came shortly after researchers published a report using data from the tool that criticized the company.
As The New York Times points out, the tool was one of the few publicly-accessible methods of tracking details about the popularity of specific hashtags. TikTok, like other social media companies, has made it difficult for outsiders to track how content spreads in its app.
The tool in question is a feature called Creative Center, which provides data about the popularity of hashtags to would-be advertisers and others. Researchers at Rutgers’ Network Contagion Institute had used Creative Center’s search function to track hashtags deemed “sensitive” to Chinese government interests. The researchers compared the prevalence of the hashtags between TikTok and Instagram and concluded that many “sensitive” topics were “dramatically underrepresented on TikTok” compared with Instagram.
Soon after the report was published, the researchers said the search feature in Creative Center disappeared without an explanation. “Search capacity for Hashtags has itself now been removed from the user interface entirely, which NCRI discovered to have occurred on Christmas day, days after this report’s initial release,” they wrote in an addendum to the report. They added that TikTok had also disabled direct access to a number of “sensitive” topics they had previously tracked, including hashtags related to US politics and other geopolitical issues.
In a statement to The New York Times, TikTok confirmed the change. “Unfortunately, some individuals and organizations have misused the Center’s search function to draw inaccurate conclusions, so we are changing some of the features to ensure it is used for its intended purpose,” a company spokesperson said.
The dust-up is the latest example of mounting tensions between social media companies and researchers trying to study thorny topics like misinformation. Meta has also found itself at odds with researchers, and reportedly plans to deprecate CrowdTangle, a tool widely used by researchers and journalists to study how content spreads on Facebook. X has also greatly restricted researchers’ access to data since Elon Musk took control of the company, making its once open APIs prohibitively expensive to most groups.
In TikTok’s case, the company may be particularly sensitive to what it considers improper use of its tools. The company has for years denied that it aligns its content policies with the interests of the Chinese government as numerous government officials have called for the app to be banned. More recently, the company faced increased scrutiny over its handling of content related to the Israel-Hamas war — criticism that was also fueled by what the company said was an inaccurate portrayal of hashtag data.
That said, the company has made some concessions to researchers. TikTok began offering an official Research API to some academic institutions last year, and reportedly plans to make the tools available to some civil society groups that have questioned the company’s content moderation practices.
But for researchers, the move to abruptly cut off a tool will likely fuel more questions about just how willing the company is to work with them. “This lack of transparency is of deep concern to researchers,” the NCRI researchers wrote.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/tiktok-pulled-a-hashtag-tracking-feature-researchers-used-to-study-the-platform-015454077.html?src=rss
Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics
TikTok ban in Montana blocked by US judge over free speech rights
Montana's unprecedented state-wide ban of Chinese short-video app, TikTok, was supposed to take effect on January 1, 2024, but as reported by Reuters, US District Judge Donald Molloy issued a preliminary injunction just one month ahead to block said ban. This means that for now, ByteDance and app stores are allowed to continue serving TikTok to users within the Montana state, without being fined $ 10,000 daily from the start date of the ban.
The judge was quoted saying the ban "oversteps state power and infringes on the constitutional rights of users" — echoing the legal challenge filed by five TikTok creators on the day after the bill was signed back in May, as well as another lawsuit filed by the platform's owner, ByteDance, later on in the same month. It was also questionable as to whether Google and Apple could have effectively enforced such a state-wide ban on their app stores.
The relevant bill was originally drafted based on claims that this Chinese app would share US users' personal data with the Chinese government, to which ByteDance had long denied since the presidency of Donald Trump. "TikTok US user data is stored in the US, with strict controls on employee access," the company claimed back in August 2020 — and again via a new "transparency" push earlier this year, with reference to "Project Texas" for safeguarding US user data with help from Oracle.
To date, no other US state had passed a bill to bar TikTok. The outcome of Montana's case may hold the key to this Chinese app's fate across the rest of the country.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/tiktok-ban-in-montana-blocked-by-us-judge-over-free-speech-rights-011846138.html?src=rss
Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics
Utah sues TikTok over child safety issues and its links to China
Utah has sued TikTok over child safety issues and the company’s China-based ownership, CNBC has reported. In the complaint, attorney general Sean Reyes called the app “an addictive product” and accused it of misleading users about its relationship with China-based parent company ByteDance. The state recently enacted some of the strictest social media laws in the country, requiring parental permission for teens to use social media.
The lawsuit compares TikTok to a slot machine that provides “dopamine manipulation” trigged by swiping up on videos. That addictive nature is particularly harmful for the “not-yet-fully-developed” brain of young users and can create a dependence on the app, the state claims. It noted that the US Surgeon General has warned about mental health harms around social media, and cited excessive TikTok usage based around the company’s own (redacted) figures.
“What these children (and their parents) do not know is that TikTok is lying to them about the safety of its app and exploiting them into checking and watching the app compulsively, no matter the terrible effects it has on their mental health, their physical development, their family, and their social life,” the complaint states.
The lawsuit also delves into TikTok’s links to China. “To avoid scrutiny from its users (and regulators), TikTok has also misled Utah consumers about the degree to which TikTok remains enmeshed with and under the control of ByteDance, it’s China-based parent company.”
TikTok previously said that it has dedicated more than $ 1.5 billion on data security, and has rejected allegations that it’s spying for the Chinese government. The company also recently opened a Transparency and Accountability Center in an effort to fend off regulators and potential bans.
The federal government has yet to take any concrete action against social media platforms, but states have been more active. Utah recently passed a law requiring parents to get permission before teens can create accounts on TikTok, Snap and other platforms. It also mandates curfew, parental controls and age verification features. The state didn’t go as far as Montana, however, which outright banned the use of TikTok. Tomorrow, a judge will hear arguments in TikTok’s lawsuit seeking to overturn that ban — a case that could open the company up to more scrutiny and set precedent around the US.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/utah-sues-tiktok-over-child-safety-issues-and-its-links-to-china-085516390.html?src=rss
Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics
TikTok users sue to overturn Montana’s statewide ban of app
Just hours after Montana announced a new law banning the TikTok app statewide from next year, a group of TikTok users has sued in a bid to block the ban.
Digital Trends
Montana’s governor signs bill banning TikTok
Montana’s TikTok ban is now official. Governor Greg Gianforte signed a bill banning the app in the state, one month after it was passed by the state’s legislature. The law is scheduled to take effect in 2024, though legal challenges could potentially delay that timeline.
The law prohibits the company from operating in the state and requires app stores to block users in Montana from downloading TikTok. The app’s users won’t face repercussions for using the service, but app stores and TikTok face daily fines of $ 10,000 for violating the law.
The statewide ban, and the expected legal challenge to it, offers a preview into how future attempts to ban the app could play out around the country. In a statement, a TikTok spokesperson said the Montana law “unlawfully” violates the First Amendment rights of its users.
“Governor Gianforte has signed a bill that infringes on the First Amendment rights of the people of Montana by unlawfully banning TikTok, a platform that empowers hundreds of thousands of people across the state,” the spokesperson said. “We want to reassure Montanans that they can continue using TikTok to express themselves, earn a living, and find community as we continue working to defend the rights of our users inside and outside of Montana.”
Like other officials who have proposed bans or restrictions on TikTok, Montana lawmakers have claimed that TikTok’s ties to ByteDance, a Chinese company, puts the personal data of US users at risk. The company has long denied that it would turn over such data to the Chinese government, and has invested more than $ 1 billion into Project Texas to address data security concerns raised by US regulators.
But officials have reportedly said those efforts don’t go far enough, and the US government is now trying to force ByteDance to sell TikTok. If it doesn’t, TikTok will face a nationwide ban and, likely, another massive legal fight.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/montanas-governor-signs-bill-banning-tiktok-225326086.html?src=rss
Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics
France bans TikTok (and Candy Crush) from government phones
It's no shock to see another country banning TikTok from government phones, but France is taking the restrictions a step further. Le Mondereports the French government is banning "recreational" apps like TikTok, Twitter, Netflix and even Candy Crush from public servants' devices. The apps represent cybersecurity risks that could jeopardize data for both the employees and the administration, according to the office of public service minister Stanislas Guerini.
The government hasn't provided an exact list of banned apps. However, Guerini said certain there could be some exceptions for the sake of necessary communication. This won't prevent a social media team from posting content, in other words. The ban takes effect immediately, but the penalties for defying the rule can be decided at the "managerial level," Guerini's office says. The approach doesn't affect personal devices.
The clampdown comes after the US federal government, dozens of states, Canada, the European Commission and the UK have banned TikTok on their workers' devices. In those cases, the rationale has been similar: officials are worried the Chinese government could collect data about important individuals, spread propaganda and compel ByteDance (TikTok's parent company) to hand over sensitive information.
TikTok has repeatedly denied collaborating with the Chinese government. In testimony before a House committee yesterday, CEO Shou Chew said ByteDance was "not an agent of China" and that American user data wouldn't be accessible to staff in other countries by the time a migration project wraps up later this year.
The French policy, however, isn't aimed at any one country or app category. Instead, it represents a general concern that entertainment apps may put government data at unnecessary risk. That's not so hot for employees hoping to watch Netflix during lunch, but it may reassure politicians worried employees might inadvertently expose info through their social media accounts.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/france-bans-tiktok-and-candy-crush-from-government-phones-170434409.html?src=rss
Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics
Senator asks Apple and Google to ban TikTok from their app stores
TikTok is facing yet another call from a prominent lawmaker for the app’s ban, Colorado Senator Michael Bennet, a Democrat who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, sent a letter to Apple and Google urging the companies to ban TikTok from their respective app stores.
In the letter, Bennet says that “TikTok, in its current form, [is] an unacceptable threat to the national security of the United States.” The letter, addressed to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, repeats many of the same points that have been raised by other lawmakers seeking to ban the app.
Specifically, Bennet raises the possibility that TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, could be compelled to “use its influence to advance Chinese government interests,” via TikTok. “Like most social media platforms, TikTok collects vast and sophisticated data from its users, including faceprints and voiceprints,” Bennet writes. “Unlike most social media platforms, TikTok poses a unique concern because Chinese law obligates ByteDance, its Beijing-based parent company, to ‘support, assist, and cooperate with state intelligence work.’”
TikTok has long denied that such scenarios could play out, and has attempted to downplay its ties to China. In a statement to CNN the company said Bennet’s letter “relies almost exclusively on misleading reporting about TikTok, the data we collect, and our data security controls.”
Apple and Google didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
While it seems unlikely either company would take such a drastic step based on a letter from one senator, it highlights the mounting pressure and scrutiny on TkTok. The company has spent the last two years negotiating with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) in order to secure its ability to continue to operate in the US. But that process is reportedly stalled, and the company has been waging a new charm offensive in an attempt to win over critics.
TikTok has also been sharing more details around its partnership with Oracle to safeguard US user data and comply with US regulators’ concerns. But lawmakers seem to be in no rush to let TikTok off the hook. The app has already been banned from federal devices, and numerous state governments have passed bans of their own. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is scheduled to testify at his first Congressional hearing next month,
TikTok says it’s getting better at detecting ‘borderline’ content
For the past several months, TikTok has been working on new ways to age-restrict certain types of content as part of a broader push to ramp up safety features for younger users. The app unveiled a new ratings system earlier this year, called Content Levels, to help it identify more “mature” content.
Now, the company has another update on those efforts. In a blog post, the company says that it’s launching a new version of its “borderline suggestive model,” which the company uses to automatically identify “sexually explicit, suggestive, or borderline content.” According to a TikTok spokesperson, the new model is better able to detect so-called “borderline content,” videos that don’t explicitly break the app’s rules, but may not be suitable for younger users.
TikTok isn’t the only platform to filter out this type of content from recommendations. Instagram has long attempted to weed borderline content out of its recommendations as well. But content with more “mature” themes, but that doesn’t contain explicit nudity, has long been more difficult for automated systems to consistently detect. TikTok didn’t offer specifics on how much more accurate the new system is, but it shared that in the last 30 days the company has “prevented teen accounts from viewing over 1 million overtly sexually suggestive videos.”
Elsewhere, the app is also rolling out the ability for creators to restrict their videos to adult viewers. This feature was previously only available for live videos, but will now be enabled for short-form clips as well.
TikTok will be banned on most US federal government devices
TikTok will be outlawed on almost all devices issued by the federal government after lawmakers passed a $ 1.7 trillion spending bill. Officials crammed the No TikTok on Government Devices Act, which the Senate unanimously approved last week, into the mammoth 4,155-page omnibus bill. The spending package was fast tracked in order to avoid a partial government shutdown. It will fund the government through September.
The Senate voted 68-29 to pass the bill on December 22nd. The House approved it on Friday with a vote of 225-201. On the same day, President Joe Biden signed a stopgap bill that funded the government for another week in order to avert a shutdown until the omnibus bill landed on his desk. Today, President Biden signed the bill into law.
The legislation requires the Biden administration to establish rules to remove TikTok from government devices by mid-February. The bill carved out exceptions for elected officials, congressional staff, law enforcement agents and other officials. However, the House of Representatives separately banned TikTok on devices it owns and manages.
Earlier this month, FBI Director Chris Wray warned that China could use the app (which is owned by Beijing-based company ByteDance) to collect data on users. Some attempts have been made, including in the last few weeks, to prohibit TikTok in the US entirely. Several states have banned TikTok from government devices, including Georgia, South Dakota, Maryland and Texas. Indiana has sued TikTok over alleged security and child safety issues.
TikTok has attempted to soothe US lawmakers' concerns that the app could be used for spying purposes. Since June, it has been directing all traffic from the country to Oracle servers based domestically. TikTok and ByteDance said they'd delete US user data from their own servers in the US and Singapore. In August, Oracle began a review of TikTok's algorithms and content moderation systems.
As Congress was voting on the bill, news broke that ByteDance fired four employees (two in the US and two in China) who accessed the TikTok data of US journalists. The workers were allegedly trying to find the sources of leaks to the reporters.
The omnibus bill includes other tech-related provisions, including more funding for federal antitrust officials. In addition, the package incorporates the Computers for Veterans and Students Act. This requires the government to hand over certain surplus computers to nonprofits. The systems will be repaired and/or refurbished, then distributed to schools, homeschooled students, veterans, seniors and others in need.
There's also another $ 1.8 billion in new funding to implement the CHIPS and Science Act, which aims to boost domestic production of semiconductors. The omnibus bill earmarks $ 25.4 billion for NASA — 5.6 percent more than the agency received in fiscal year 2022, but less than the $ 26 billion the White House asked for. The National Science Foundation will get $ 9.9 billion, an increase of 12 percent. The National Institute of Standards and Technology and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will receive increases of 32 percent (up to $ 1.6 billion) and 17.5 percent ($ 761 million), respectively.
Forget TikTok — it’s time to ban Twitter
Banning TikTok is silly. Twitter — and new owner Elon Musk — is what everyone should be worried about.
Digital Trends
This severe TikTok vulnerability gives hackers 70 ways to steal your info
Testing by Microsoft revealed a major vulnerability in the Android version of TikTok. The exploit could give attackers full access to a user’s account.
Android | Digital Trends
Finding recipes on TikTok and YouTube is my new favorite way to cook
Finding recipes on Google is a chore, so I decided to use TikTok and YouTube instead. And the results might surprise you.
Mobile | Digital Trends
TikTok says it’s storing US data domestically amid renewed security concerns
TikTok says it’s achieved a “significant milestone” toward its promises to beef up the security of its US users’ data. In a new update, the company says it has “changed the default storage location of US user data.”
As the company notes, it had already stored much of its user data in the United States, at a Virginia-based data center. But under a new partnership with Oracle, the company has migrated US user traffic to a new Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.
“Today, 100% of US user traffic is being routed to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure,” the company wrote in a blog post. “We still use our US and Singapore data centers for backup, but as we continue our work we expect to delete US users' private data from our own data centers and fully pivot to Oracle cloud servers located in the US.” Additionally, TikTok says it has made “operational changes,” including a new department “with US-based leadership, to solely manage US user data for TikTok.”
The moves are part of a longstanding effort by TikTok to address US officials’ concerns over how user data is handled by TikTok and parent company ByteDance. The company has been working to separate US user data so that it’s not accessible to China-based ByteDance as US lawmakers eye legislation to curb the influence of Chinese tech companies.
Still, the new safeguards are unlikely to fully sway critics of TikTok, who say the company still hasn’t addressed all potential concerns about how US user data is handled. In fact, just after TikTok published its blog post, BuzzFeed Newspublished a report that raises new questions about how the company handles the data of its US users.
The report, which was based on hours of internal meetings leaked to BuzzFeed, says that “China-based employees of ByteDance have repeatedly accessed nonpublic data about US TikTok users.” The recordings, which cover a time period between last September and January 2022, offer new details about the complex effort to cut off Bytedance's access to US user data.
The report quotes an outside consultant hired by TikTok to oversee some of the work saying that they believed there was “backdoor to access user data in almost all” of the company’s internal tools. It also quotes statements from several employees who say “that engineers in China had access to US data between September 2021 and January 2022, at the very least.”
It also notes that while data deemed “sensitive,” like users’ birth dates and phone numbers, will be stored in the Oracle servers, other information about US-based users could remain accessible to ByteDance. “ByteDance’s China-based employees could continue to have access to insights about what American TikTok users are interested in, from cat videos to political beliefs,” the report says.
That may not seem as serious as more personal information like birthdays and phone numbers, but it’s exactly the kind of details that some lawmakers in the US have raised concerns about. US officials have questioned whether the app’s “For You” algorithm could be used as a means of foreign influence.
“We know we're among the most scrutinized platforms from a security standpoint, and we aim to remove any doubt about the security of US user data,” TikTok said in a statement to BuzzFeed News.
TikTok is diving into games
TikTok is pulling a Netflix by venturing into video games, testing them on younger audiences in Vietnam.
Mobile | Digital Trends
Federal investigation into child sexual abuse targets TikTok
The Department of Homeland Security is said to have launched an investigation into TikTok over the platform’s handling of child sexual abuse material.
Mobile | Digital Trends
Russian TikTok creators have reportedly been paid to share propaganda
The White House isn't the only one trying to steer discussion of Ukraine on TikTok. Vice News has discovered that Russian TikTok influencers are reportedly being paid to share videos promoting the Putin government's narrative surrounding the invasion. An anonymous operator in a Telegram channel has been telling creators what and when to post, what goals they must meet and otherwise dictating their content. At least some of the followers have over a million followers.
It's unclear who is behind the campaign, but the operator claims to be a journalist and has looked for posters for additional pro-government content (such as supporting Russian athletes in the Olympics) and private companies. However, TikTok's ban on new videos from Russia apparently isn't an obstacle. The channel administrator tells influencers how to dodge the ban, and at least some producers have posted videos after the ban took effect.
The channel suddenly shut down on March 9th as Vice conducted its investigation. Most of the videos have since been removed, but the campaign team reportedly asked them to do this. Others remain, and it's not certain how many similar initiatives might be underway. It's also unclear if the propaganda was effective.
TikTok hasn't commented on the pro-Kremlin campaign and told Vice about its general efforts to spot "emerging threats" and "harmful misinformation" surrounding Russia's war against Ukraine.
Whether or not the Russian government was involved with this TikTok effort, there's little doubt the country has tried to control the online narrative on Ukraine. It has blocked social networks like Instagram, posted misinformation through its embassies' accounts, circumvented bans on its state news outlets and criminalized media reports that contradict the official stance on the war. TikTok's large user base may be a tempting target if Russia hopes to sway more of the internet to its side.
The US ban on TikTok and WeChat from app stores begins September 20th
As per the Executive Order signed by the US President on August 6th, September 20th will see the TikTok and WeChat apps banned from app stores in the United States. The move will prevent users from downloading or updating the two apps from Google’s and Apple’s respective app stores from Sunday onwards. According to the […]
Come comment on this article: The US ban on TikTok and WeChat from app stores begins September 20th
Google takes on TikTok with YouTube Shorts
TikTok has gained popularity and seemingly notoriety in recent months with the US government using it as a new weapon in its trade war with China. While it seems that Oracle is set to do a deal with TikTok so that it can continue operating in the US, Google has taken the opportunity to launch […]
Come comment on this article: Google takes on TikTok with YouTube Shorts
Chinese government reportedly would rather TikTok shut down than be sold
China could throw yet another wrench in TikTok’s attempts to secure its future in the US. Officials in the country are opposed to a sale and would rather see the app be banned than sold to an American company, Reuters reports.The report, which cites…
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China’s new AI trade rules could hamper a TikTok sale
TikTok’s attempt to sell itself and avert a possible US ban may run into some complications. The Wall Street Journal reports that China has unveiled new restrictions on AI technology exports that could affect TikTok. The new rules bar the exports of…
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Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G gets manhandled on TikTok
It was announced on August 5th when Samsung launched the Note 20 Series, Galaxy Tab S7 series tablets, Galaxy Watch 3, and the bean-like Galaxy Buds Live, but it wasn’t really shown off during the unpacked event. Ahead of becoming available to pre-order in early September, a TikTok user has posted a hands-on video of […]
Come comment on this article: Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G gets manhandled on TikTok
FT: Oracle joins Microsoft as a possible bidder for TikTok
For a couple of weeks, Microsoft had been the only name publicly attached as a potential buyer for TikTok, and it has about a month left before the announced September 15th deadline to make a deal. Since then, Twitter was reported as a company in “pr…
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China’s TikTok and WeChat apps face US ban thanks to Trump’s latest Executive Orders
As it so often does, the United States’ ongoing feud with China has kicked on a step with President Trump’s signing of an Executive Order that prohibits the US from doing business with TikTok, WeChat, and their owners. It’s a move that is guaranteed to ramp up the rhetoric between the two nations as they […]
Come comment on this article: China’s TikTok and WeChat apps face US ban thanks to Trump’s latest Executive Orders
Microsoft says it’s aiming to close TikTok deal by September 15th
Microsoft added a dose of clarity to the reports of its impending TikTok purchase tonight, issuing a blog post that confirms it’s pursuing discussions with ByteDance. The company notes that CEO Satya Nadella discussed the matter with President Trump,…
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The Morning After: Trump threatens to ‘ban’ TikTok
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TikTok rolls outw comment ‘dislike’ button to all users
You now have a way to show your disapproval of hurtful (or simply pointless) TikTok comments. In the wake of a test this spring, TikTok has started the global rollout for a comment 'dislike' button. As with other social networks, you can tap a thumbs-down button to express your displeasure, or undo the action if you've had second thoughts.
The company bills the feature as another way to get feedback regarding "irrelevant or inappropriate" comments. Ideally, a comment with a large volume of dislikes will warn TikTok about hate speech, spam or trolling that it might otherwise miss. That, in turn, could promote healthier comment sections.
Before you ask: yes, TikTok is aware of the potential for abuse. Like YouTube, TikTok won't show dislike counts. A mob might have less incentive to downvote comments it disagrees with. TikTok hasn't said if it will crack down against misuses of the button, but we've asked the company for clarification.
This isn't the only moderation tool at TikTok's disposal, and the combined resources could help the company get a handle on comment sections that all too frequently go downhill. With that in mind, it's not clear how effective the dislike button might be given TikTok's challenges with enforcing its policies. TikTok still has problems controlling misinformation, for instance. Dislikes might help, but they don't represent a surefire fix.
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