Category Archives: TikTok

TikTok CEO grilled for over five hours on China, drugs and teen mental health

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Shou Zi Chew attempts to play down concerns over data and privacy as lawmakers call for ban on Chinese-owned app

The chief executive of TikTok, Shou Zi Chew, was forced to defend his company’s relationship with China, as well as the protections for its youngest users, at a testy congressional hearing on Thursday that came amid a bipartisan push to ban the app entirely in the US over national security concerns.

The hearing marked the first ever appearance before US lawmakers by a TikTok chief executive, and a rare public outing for the 4o-year-old Chew, who has remained largely out of the limelight as the social network’s popularity soars. TikTok now boasts tens of millions of US users, but lawmakers have long held concerns over China’s control over the app, which Chew repeatedly tried to assuage throughout the hearing. “Let me state this unequivocally: ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country,” Chew said in Thursday’s testimony.

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New Zealand to ban TikTok from government devices

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MPs were informed of the decision, which comes after similar moves by western allies, by parliamentary service on Friday

New Zealand’s parliament will ban TikTok from all parliamentary devices, amid mounting international security concerns surrounding the app.

The country’s MPs were informed by parliamentary service on Friday that the Chinese-owned video-sharing app would be blocked from all parliamentary devices at the end of the month, and were told via email that “the Service has determined that the risks are not acceptable in the current New Zealand parliament environment”.

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MPs and peers ask information commissioner to investigate TikTok

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Letter argues that Chinese-owned video-sharing app could be in breach of UK law

A cross-party group of MPs and peers have asked the information commissioner to investigate whether the Chinese-owned TikTok’s handling of personal information is in breach of UK law.

The letter from the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) argues that TikTok cannot be compliant with data protection rules – and comes just hours after the UK announced a ban on the popular video-sharing app appearing on ministers’ and officials’ government-owned phones.

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Will UK follow US in demanding TikTok be sold by its Chinese owner?

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TikTok will be concerned Rishi Sunak will match each upward ratchet in pressure from his allies

When asked this week whether the UK would ban TikTok on government phones, Rishi Sunak’s response signalled a change in stance: “We look at what our allies are doing.”

Previously ministers had seemed sanguine, even saying that whether or not the app stayed on someone’s phone should be a matter of “personal choice”.

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NHS workers expected to be offered one-off payments worth up to 6% as part of revised pay offer – UK politics live

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Health secretary expected to announce a formal pay offer to key unions later today

Sinn Féin’s US fundraising arm has caused a row by calling for a referendum on Irish unity in adverts in the New York Times, Washington Post and other US publications.

The half-page ads were paid for by Friends of Sinn Féin and ran on Wednesday urging support for unity referendums in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. “It is time to agree on a date,” it said. “Let the people have their say.”

They’re ads from Irish American organisations whose view on reunification is well known and held for a very long time and they take out ads every year. So, the focus now needs to be on getting back to work [at Stormont].

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UK bans TikTok from government mobile phones

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Move brings Britain in line with US and Europe and reflects worsening relations with China

Britain is to ban the Chinese owned video-sharing app TikTok from ministers’ and civil servants’ mobile phones, bringing the UK in line with the US and the European Commission and reflecting deteriorating relations with Beijing.

The decision marks a sharp U-turn from the UK’s previous position and comes a few hours after TikTok said its owners, ByteDance, had been told by Washington to sell the app or face a possible ban in the country.

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Boris Johnson ‘Partygate’ evidence to be heard next Wednesday afternoon – UK politics live

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Former prime minister’s session with inquiry will be televised

Humza Yousaf, the Scottish health secretary who is seen by many as the frontrunner in the SNP leadership contest, claimed this morning that his support has “dramatically increased” among SNP voters.

Speaking on a visit in Dundee, he acknowledged that he and his opponents’ approval ratings were a long way behind Nicola Sturgeon’s. “What we’re trying to do is build upon that legacy,” he said.

In three weeks I’ve also quadrupled my support among the Scottish public.

If I’ve been able to do that in three weeks, I believe that bodes well for the next three months and even the next three years.

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NSW government considers banning TikTok on all public sector devices

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Exclusive: State government does not have an overarching policy on the app’s use, but it is understood that is now being reviewed

The New South Wales government is considering banning public sector employees from using TikTok on work devices, engaging federal cybersecurity agencies for advice amid concerns over the social video app’s links to China.

As the federal government considers the security of the app, the NSW electoral commission has confirmed software – including TikTok – is not permitted to be downloaded on to work mobile phones without prior approval.

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TikTok unveils European data security plan amid calls for US ban

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Move comes as White House backs bill that could give it power to ban Chinese-owned app nationwide

TikTok has announced a data security regime for protecting user information across Europe, as political pressure increases in the US to ban the social video app.

The plan, known as Project Clover, involves user data being stored on servers in Ireland and Norway at an annual cost of €1.2bn (£1.1bn), while any data transfers outside Europe will be vetted by a third-party IT company.

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Heads warn UK parents not to back pupil protests spreading via TikTok

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Teachers condemn family support for trend escalating on social media that leads to school ‘stampedes’

The TikTok videos show pupils throwing bins, tables and even urine. Across England and Wales, a handful of schools have been hit by protests against rules such as banning trips to the toilet during lessons or regulations against rolled up skirts.

Schools admit they are extremely worried about the copycat protests that have erupted in the last two weeks, typically sparked by videos shared on TikTok with many thousands of views. But what has shocked many leaders most is the number of parents on social media applauding pupils taking part.

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House committee advances legislation to ban TikTok over security concerns

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Republican committee chair describes Chinese-owned social app as a ‘spy balloon in your phone’

A powerful US House committee has applied further pressure to TikTok by backing legislation that could give Joe Biden the power to ban the social video app.

The House foreign affairs committee voted on Wednesday along party lines to grant the administration new powers to ban the Chinese-owned app as well as other apps believed to pose security risks. The fate of the measure is still uncertain and it would need to be passed by the full House and Senate before it can go to Biden.

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‘Abusing state power’: China lashes out at US over TikTok bans

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Beijing – which itself blocks access to Facebook, Twitter and many others – hits out at ban on Chinese-owned software on US government devices

US government bans on Chinese-owned video sharing app TikTok reveal Washington’s own insecurities and are an abuse of state power, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson has said.

China, though, has itself long blocked a large list of foreign social media platforms and messaging apps, including YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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Canada bans TikTok on government devices over security risks

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EU and parts of US already block access to Chinese-owned app amid concerns over data privacy and security

Canada has joined the US and EU in enacting a sweeping ban preventing TikTok from being installed on all government-issued mobile devices, as western officials take action over the Chinese-owned video-sharing app.

Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, did not rule out further action. “I suspect that as government takes the significant step of telling all federal employees that they can no longer use TikTok on their work phones, many Canadians from business to private individuals will reflect on the security of their own data and perhaps make choices,” he said.

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Rishi Sunak faces calls to ban TikTok use by government officials

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PM under pressure to follow EU and US in taking step over fears Chinese-owned app poses cybersecurity risk

Rishi Sunak has been urged to ban government officials from using TikTok in line with moves by the EU and US, amid growing cybersecurity fears over China.

Officials in Europe and the US have been told to limit the use of the Chinese-owned social video app over concerns that data can be accessed by Beijing.

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Australian TikTok creators could dump app after month-long test removed sound from videos

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‘It makes you feel like it’s a platform that doesn’t value us as much as it should,’ says one frustrated creator and others say it may be the ‘final straw’

A month-long test by social media platform TikTok has resulted in many of its Australian users having the sound removed from their videos, rendering them unwatchable.

According to a spokesperson for TikTok, it has been testing in Australia to analyse how music is accessed and used on the platform.

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TikTok CEO to testify before US Congress next month over data privacy

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Shou Zi Chew will face legislators amid concerns over the social media app’s alleged collusion with Beijing in accessing user data

As the US legislative battle over TikTok continues to escalate, Shou Zi Chew, the chief executive of the video-sharing app, will make his first appearance before Congress to testify next month.

Chew will testify before the House energy and commerce committee on 23 March, Republican representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers confirmed in a statement on Monday, as scrutiny of the Chinese-owned app over data privacy concerns grows.

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Seattle public schools sue social media platforms for youth ‘mental health crisis’

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Lawsuit accuses companies behind TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube of harming young people’s mental health

Seattle’s public schools district has filed a lawsuit in the US against multiple major social media companies, accusing them of harming young people’s mental health across the country.

The lawsuit which was filed on Friday with a US district court accused the social media companies behind TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube of creating a “mental health crisis among America’s youth”.

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‘Urgent need’ to understand link between teens self-diagnosing disorders and social media use, experts say

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Sufferers may be driven online because of the difficulty in accessing affordable GP appointments, professor says

There is an “urgent need” to investigate the increasing number of children and teenagers self-diagnosing with neurological conditions, mental illnesses, and personality disorders, a trend being driven by social media and difficulty accessing healthcare, psychiatrists and paediatricians say.

A paper published in January in the journal Comprehensive Psychiatry describes how prolonged social media use, especially on video-sharing platforms like TikTok, is exposing young people to a growing number of content creators making videos about their self-described tics, Tourette syndrome and other self-diagnosed disorders.

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Professor sues TikTok accuser for linking her to Idaho students’ murders

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Rebecca Scofield said a TikTok user spread baseless and false claims linking her to the November slayings of four students

A University of Idaho professor has filed a defamation lawsuit against a self-proclaimed psychic on TikTok after the tarot card reader accused her of killing four of the school’s students, whose murders shocked the US last month.

The federal lawsuit filed by the university’s history department chair Rebecca Scofield on Wednesday alleges that TikTok user Ashley Guillard spread baseless claims which falsely linked the professor to the 13 November slayings of Xana Kernodle, 20; Ethan Chapin, 20; Maddie Mogen, 21; and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, in Moscow, Idaho.

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TikTok’s parent company fires four workers for improper access of user data

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ByteDance said four employees were fired for examining data of two journalists in attempt to find leak source

ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of popular video app TikTok, said on Thursday that some employees improperly accessed TikTok user data of two journalists and were no longer employed by the company, an email seen by Reuters shows.

ByteDance employees accessed the data as part of an unsuccessful effort to investigate leaks of company information earlier this year, and were aiming to identify potential connections between two journalists, a former BuzzFeed reporter and a Financial Times reporter, and company employees, the email from ByteDance general counsel Erich Andersen said.

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