Bytedance

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Today we look at an investigation into ByteDance, a job opening with the Ocasio-Cortez campaign and tech leaders’ efforts to get a bailout for Silicon Valley Bank. The FBI And DOJ Are Investigating ByteDance’s Use Of TikTok To Spy On Journalists “The FBI and the Department of Justice are investigating the events that led TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to use the app to surveil American journalists , including this reporter, according to sources familiar with the departments’ actions,” reports Emily Baker-White: According to a source in position to know, the DOJ Criminal Division, Fraud Section, working alongside the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, has subpoenaed information from ByteDance regarding efforts by its employees to access U.S. journalists’ location information or other private user data using the TikTok app. According to two sources, the FBI has been … [Read more...] about Checks & Imbalances: Feds Investigate ByteDance, AOC Is Hiring

The U.S. government has reportedly asked the Chinese parent company of TikTok to sell its stake or face a possible ban. Key Takeaways The U.S. has told Chinese firm ByteDance to divest its TikTok stake or face a ban. TikTok staff announced the news one day after threatening to split from its parent over security pressures. The move could boost U.S. social media firms as users fret over a ban for the popular app. The news comes a day after TikTok said it would consider splitting from ByteDance due to national security pressures. TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter confirmed to Reuters the company had been approached by the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). The committee is led by the Treasury Department and is tasked with reviewing foreign investments in the U.S. President Biden expanded the scope of the CFIUS in September 2022 with Executive Order 14083 in light of the "evolving national security threat" that foreign technology … [Read more...] about U.S. Government Pressing ByteDance to Sell TikTok

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin On Thursday, the UK government announced that beginning immediately TikTok would be banned on government devices. This would bring the UK in line with the United States and the European Commission, while also reflecting the deteriorating relations with Beijing. This was a surprise move as it was a complete reversal from the UK's previous position on the Chinese-owned social video-sharing app. The move also came as Washington called for ByteDance – the owner of TikTok – to sell the app or face a possible ban in the United States. The decision followed a review that was conducted by government cybersecurity experts that began last November. The app will now be banned on all government devices, but not any personal mobile phones. The UK had previously taken a more relaxed view of the app, which is popular with millions of young people as well as celebrities and influencers around the world. According to reports from … [Read more...] about Security Experts Weigh In On UK’s Ban Of TikTok On Government Devices

India’s 150 million users were forced to stop using the Chinese-owned app in 2020. But an internal tool reviewed by Forbes showed that ByteDance and TikTok employees can still mine some of their most sensitive data. One employee called it “NSA-To-Go.” By Alexandra S. Levine , Forbes Staff A lmost three years after TikTok’s largest market, India, banned the Chinese-owned social media app over geopolitical tensions, troves of personal data of Indian citizens who once used TikTok remain widely accessible to employees at the company and its Beijing-based parent, ByteDance, Forbes has learned. The revelation comes as President Joe Biden’s administration threatens to ban the platform used by more than 100 million Americans if TikTok’s Chinese owner does not sell its stake. Officials in the highest levels of the U.S. government see a blanket TikTok ban as a possible solution to the country’s national security concerns about the potential for China to surveil or … [Read more...] about India Banned TikTok In 2020. TikTok Still Has Access To Years Of Indians’ Data.

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Topline TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will highlight the app’s safety measures to protect minors and efforts to firewall U.S. user data from foreign access as he speaks to U.S. lawmakers Thursday, according to the text of his prepared remarks released by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, whose members are expected to grill Chew as the app faces bans from governments globally because of security concerns. Key Facts Chew will tell Congress more than 150 million people in the U.S. use TikTok, and highlight the exposure the app has brought to “American musicians, artists, chefs, and many more.” He will outline various efforts on TikTok’s part to protect minor users—especially teenagers—saying TikTok has “been a leader on these issues” and “other platforms have adopted some of the protections that we have pioneered.” Chew will also highlight TikTok’s plan to safeguard Americans users’ data and national … [Read more...] about TikTok Scrutiny: CEO Will Tell Lawmakers App Is Safe For Minors And Ban Would ‘Hurt’ U.S. Economy

A U.S. ban on the world’s most popular social media app would affect far more American businesses and people than just the 150 million using the platform here. C asey Evertsen drove down a suburban Utah street lined with trash bins, speaking into his phone’s camera as he gave a tour of the brightly-colored truck he uses for his garbage can-cleaning business. “If you like seeing dirty stuff get cleaned and watching how cool stuff works, follow along,” he said in the video shared on TikTok. “Let’s clean some bins!” Evertsen’s service, Bin Blasters , had for a whole year struggled to get traction through Facebook and Instagram. So taking a cue from his teenage daughter, he decided to try promoting it on TikTok instead. On his eighth video, just one month in, Evertsen “blew up.” "I went out and just started cleaning bins that day, started on our route, and I look at my phone like an hour later, and there's 17,000 views,” he recalled. “Then it just got in the millions.” … [Read more...] about How A TikTok Ban Would Deal A Blow To Creators, Businesses And The American Economy

India’s 150 million users were forced to stop using the Chinese-owned app in 2020. But an internal tool reviewed by Forbes showed that ByteDance and TikTok employees can still mine some of their most sensitive data. One employee called it “NSA-To-Go.” By Alexandra S. Levine , Forbes Staff A lmost three years after TikTok’s largest market, India, banned the Chinese-owned social media app over geopolitical tensions, troves of personal data of Indian citizens who once used TikTok remain widely accessible to employees at the company and its Beijing-based parent, ByteDance, Forbes has learned. The revelation comes as President Joe Biden’s administration threatens to ban the platform used by more than 100 million Americans if TikTok’s Chinese owner does not sell its stake. Officials in the highest levels of the U.S. government see a blanket TikTok ban as a possible solution to the country’s national security concerns about the potential for China to surveil or … [Read more...] about India Banned TikTok In 2020. TikTok Still Has Access To Years Of Indians’ Data

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Topline India banned TikTok in June 2020 citing national security concerns after a military clash with China, opening the door for Instagram to dominate and some TikTok duplicates to suddenly emerge as major players in the vacated market. Key Facts Shortly after India banned TikTok, Instagram saw a surge of downloads, propelling it to become the country’s most popular social media app by 2021, up from No. 6 in 2019, and to surpass TikTok in global downloads by the fourth quarter of 2021. Key to Instagram’s success in India was Reels, its algorithm-based, endlessly scrolling vertical video feed that closely resembles TikTok’s For You Page and other TikTok copycats like YouTube Shorts and Snapchat Spotlight. Both Instagram and YouTube bet on Shorts and Reels as potential TikTok alternatives: They tested these features in India after the country banned TikTok before launching them worldwide. … [Read more...] about Here’s What Happened When This Massive Country Banned TikTok

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Topline Some politicians, legal experts and free speech advocates fear a potential U.S. TikTok ban would violate the First Amendment and clash with legal precedent that protects the “vast democratic forums of the Internet.” Key Facts The American Civil Liberties Union and other free speech organizations are urging lawmakers not to ban TikTok on free speech grounds, citing the app’s wide usage as a source of information and a forum for political discussion and artistic expression. First Amendment advocates fear a TikTok ban would set a dangerous precedent for how strictly the government could regulate online behavior, with Jameel Jaffer, executive director at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, calling social media bans “a hallmark of authoritarian regimes.” The government would need to demonstrate data privacy and national security concerns cannot be addressed in a narrower … [Read more...] about A TikTok Ban May Violate Constitution, First Amendment Advocates Say

(CTN News) – Ministers and civil servants will no longer be able to access the Chinese-owned TikTok app on their phones, bringing the UK in line with the US and EU. Earlier, TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, had said Washington told them to sell the app or face a possible ban in the country. The UK’s decision marks a sharp U-turn from the earlier position. Oliver Dowden, Cabinet Office minister, announced the decision in the Commons on Thursday. The ban was effective immediately. TikTok was reviewed by government cybersecurity experts in November, Dowden said, and will cover work phones of civil servants and ministers, but not personal phones. He added that this is proportionate to a specific risk with government devices. Users must give TikTok permission to access data stored on their devices, which is collected and stored by the company. The company can access a variety of data, including contacts, user content, and geolocation data. The ban is justified, Dowden said. TikTok … [Read more...] about TikTok Banned From Government Phones In The UK