Category Archives: TikTok

The true story behind the viral TikTok sea shanty hit

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Rediscovered song, which has a ‘cheerful energy’, was likely written by a teenage sailor or shore whaler in New Zealand in the 1830s

Even from “the back of nowhere, far from any city” – not to mention the sea – John Archer caught wind of the sea shanty revival before anyone else.

From his home in landlocked Ōhakune, Archer had noticed a sharp uptick in visitors to the New Zealand Folk Song website he set up in 1998. One 19th-century seafaring epic was of particular interest: Soon May The Wellerman Come.

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Noxious internet drama makes me nostalgic for the good old days of passive aggressive notes | Brigid Delaney

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TikTok artist Lubalin brilliantly captures the drama of low stakes online fights. But internet discord is increasingly spilling into everyday life

It was summer 2016 and I was looking after a friend’s flat in Kirribilli.

Out the back was a communal laundry and clothesline.

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TikTok to tackle grooming with safeguards for young users

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NSPCC welcomes changes as it says abusers are taking advantage of pandemic to target children online

Children on TikTok will face “groundbreaking” new restrictions in an attempt to prevent grooming on the platform, the video-sharing company has announced, with particularly strict new rules for users under 16.

The platform, which has a lower age limit of 13, said users under 16 would no longer be able to receive comments from strangers, have their videos used for “duets” or mark their posts as available to be downloaded.

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Blocked: how the internet turned on Donald Trump

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From Facebook and Twitter to Reddit and Amazon, tech firms are moving to silence the president, and his QAnon supporters

Twitter’s decision to suspend Donald Trump’s account on Wednesday evening has opened the floodgates for tech companies and platforms to remove the outgoing US president from their services.

Twitter’s suspension was followed by Facebook, which a day later announced the move would be “indefinite”. Twitter then announced a “permanent” suspension of Trump’s account.

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Opinion divided over Trump’s ban from social media

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Actions spark debate on free speech and whether chief executives of tech firms are fit to act as judge and jury

As rioters were gathering around the US Capitol last Wednesday, a familiar question began to echo around the offices of the large social networks: what should they do about Donald Trump and his provocative posts?

The answer has been emphatic: ban him.

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Cast unveiled for Broadway debut of TikTok musical Ratatouille

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Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt star Tituss Burgess will play Remy the rat in the crowd-created musical phenomenon

The star of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and 30 Rock, Tituss Burgess, will play the role of Remy the rat in the highly anticipated Broadway debut of Ratatouille, dubbed “the TikTok musical”.

The cast of the unlikely musical phenomenon, which tells the story of a gastronomically blessed French rat, was announced on Monday.

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TikTok asks US court to intervene after Trump administration leaves app in limbo

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Platform says it’s received ‘no clarity’ from government about status of proposal to place app under control of US companies

The popular video-sharing app TikTok says its future has been in limbo since Donald Trump tried to shut it down earlier this fall and is asking a federal court to intervene.

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Most girls and young women have experienced abuse online, report finds

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Cyberstalking, body shaming and being sent explicit content among issues highlighted by Plan International

Most girls and young women using social media have experienced abuse that has driven them offline and left them traumatised, according to a new global survey.

More than half of the 14,000 15- to 25-year-olds interviewed by Plan International said they had been cyberstalked, sent explicit messages and images, or abused online.

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US judge temporarily blocks Trump order banning TikTok app store downloads

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Judge grants injunction sought by video sharing app’s owner ByteDance to allow it to remain available at US app stores

A judge in Washington has temporarily blocked a Trump administration order banning Apple and Google from offering Chinese-owned app TikTok for download that was set to take effect at 11:59pm on Sunday.

US district judge Carl Nichols granted a preliminary injunction sought by TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, to allow the app to remain available at US app stores, but declined “at this time” to block additional commerce department restrictions that are set to take effect on 12 November that TikTok has said would have the impact of making the app impossible to use in the United States.

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ByteDance to float TikTok Global to allay transparency fears

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Parent company ByteDance, under pressure in China not to give in to US demands, said the plan ‘does not involve the transfer of any algorithms’

A new company set up to allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States plans to float on the stock market in an effort to increase transparency and show the Trump administration that it will adhere to regulatory oversight.

TikTok Global plans to hold a public listing, its Chinese parent company ByteDance said Monday, after announcing a deal over the weekend that would avert a shutdown of the popular app in the US.

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Trump says he approves TikTok Oracle deal which may include Walmart

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  • President says he will allow Chinese-owned app in US
  • Walmart could acquire stake and seat on global board

Donald Trump has said he “approves a deal in concept” that will allow TikTok to continue to operate in the US, after threatening to ban the Chinese-owned app.

Related: China attacks US 'bullying' over ban on Tiktok and WeChat

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‘Stay calm!’: US TikTok users prepare for world without newly banned app

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Donald Trump’s decision to ban downloads of the Chinese-owned platform prompts realignment of tech space

TikTok users in the United States have reacted with a collective shrug to Donald Trump’s decision to ban new downloads of the video-sharing app, but many are already planning an exit to other platforms should the clampdown lead to an outright ban.

“Oh my God! Ok! It’s happening! Everybody stay calm!” TikToker Nick Foster told his 577,000 followers, dubbing a video of himself with audio of actor Steve Carell’s character on the series The Office panicking during a fire alarm.

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TikTok: Trump questions Oracle deal if ByteDance keeps stake

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President warns any agreement to continue operating in US must be ‘100% as far as national security is concerned’

Donald Trump has questioned plans by the Chinese tech firm ByteDance to keep a majority stake in TikTok’s US operations as part of a “trusted technology deal” with Oracle.

“Conceptually I can tell you that I don’t like that,” Trump told a news conference when asked about a reported proposal to give Oracle only a minority share. “I’m not prepared to sign off on anything. They’re going to be reporting to me tomorrow morning and I’ll let you know.”

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TikTok: ByteDance ‘to partner with Oracle’ in US after rejecting Microsoft bid

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Oracle reported to be ‘technology partner’ after Donald Trump set a 15 September deadline for US businesses to stop dealing with Bytedance

Bytedance will not sell TikTok’s US operations to Microsoft, the US tech-giant said in a statement, with reports it has instead picked a consortium led by Oracle as a “technology partner”.

ByteDance has been in talks to sell TikTok’s US business since Donald Trump threatened last month to ban the service if it was not sold. The president’s executive order in August gave Americans until 15 September to stop doing business with the video platform’s Chinese parent company ByteDance, or it would be shut down in the US. It effectively set a deadline for a potential pressured sale of part of the tech company to an American bidder.

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TikTok battles to remove video of livestreamed suicide

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Graphic footage originally broadcast on Facebook has spread across social network

TikTok is battling to remove a graphic video of a livestreamed suicide, after the footage was uploaded to the service on Sunday night from Facebook, where it was initially broadcast.

Although the footage was rapidly taken down from TikTok, users spent much of Monday re-uploading it, initially unchanged, but later incorporated into so-called bait-and-switch videos, which are designed to shock and upset unsuspecting users.

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TikTok US sale faces fresh hurdle after China tightens tech export rules

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Beijing says some exports will now need government approval in move believed to be linked to Trump sale order

New Chinese government restrictions could complicate ByteDance plans to sell TikTok to a US company and avoid a ban threatened by Donald Trump.

Late on Friday, Beijing issued new restrictions or bans on tech exports, requiring companies to seek government approval – a process that can take up to 30 days. In mid-August, Trump gave the company 90 days to sell up or face a shutdown.

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TikTok chief executive Kevin Mayer resigns after Trump call to sell US assets

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In a letter to staff Meyer cited a ‘sharply changed’ political environment, after Donald Trump ordered ByteDance to sell up within 90 days

Tik Tok’s chief executive, Kevin Mayer, has quit just months after his appointment, amid a “sharply changed” political environment after Donald Trump accused the platform of threatening national security.

The Financial Times reported on Thursday that the former Disney executive would be replaced in the interim by Vanessa Pappas, the general manager. In a letter to staff, parts of which have been seen by the Guardian, Mayer said he had decided to leave after Trump ordered TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell its US assets to a US company within 90 days.

“In recent weeks, as the political environment has sharply changed, I have done significant reflection on what the corporate structural changes will require, and what it means for the global role I signed up for,” the letter said.

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TikTok suing Trump administration over executive order

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App says in blogpost it strongly disagrees with White House position that it is a national security threat

TikTok, the fast-growing video sharing app, announced it was suing the US government on Monday over an executive order banning transactions with the Chinese company in the US.

In a blogpost, TikTok said it strongly disagreed with the White House’s position that the company was a national security threat, saying it had “taken extraordinary measures to protect the privacy and security of TikTok’s US user data”.

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Your data is not destined for China, assures TikTok’s UK boss

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The controversial app’s users are ignoring geopolitical battle over its digital security, says Richard Waterworth

TikTok’s UK chief has strenuously denied the video-sharing app, which Donald Trump has threatened to ban, shares data with China.

Richard Waterworth told the Observer that the UK and European arm of TikTok was growing quickly, despite the “turbulent” geopolitical battle in which the Chinese-born app has found itself.

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Microsoft’s TikTok deal: bargain of the decade or a $50bn blunder?

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Jury is out on whether video-sharing site could make Microsoft a social media giant

As the clock ticks on Microsoft’s fast-track talks to buy TikTok the jury is out on whether it marks a unique opportunity to become a global social media giant overnight, or a $50bn (£38bn) geopolitically fuelled business blunder.

Donald Trump’s trade war with China has forced ByteDance, the privately owned Beijing-based parent of the video-sharing site TikTok, to pursue a sale of its US business after the president signed an executive order last week that could shut it down on 15 September.

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