Next, an array of sharing options pop up. You can choose the email option to send the file to yourself as an attachment, or upload it to a cloud service like Google Drive. To directly download the file, swipe to the end of the Share To options and tap More. There will be even more options. Look for options that allow you to save the video locally.
On Android, the best option for saving it to your phone will be labeled Files by Google. Tap this icon to download the video to your phone, then use Android’s built-in Files app to browse your downloads. On iOS, look for the option Save to Files, then choose to save the video either in your device’s internal storage or in your iCloud drive.
Download TikTok Videos to Your Computer
The simplest option for collecting your work is to download the videos from TikTok’s website or desktop app. This process is very easy compared to the mobile option.
Go to your favorite video on TikTok.com and right-click on it. If you’re looking at your own video and you’re logged in to your account, or if the video’s creator has marked their posts as downloadable, there will be an option in the right-click menu that says Download Video.
Click that option.
Congrats, you’ve done it! The video will be saved as an MP4 in your downloads folder.
If you don’t see the option to download the video when you right-click, that probably means the video’s creator hasn’t shared the video publicly or has chosen to disallow downloads.
Use Screen Record
It’s not the tidiest option, but you can also record a copy of the video via screen record on your phone. Screen record basically takes a video screenshot; once turned on, it will record whatever is playing on your screen until you hit Stop. Play the TikTok clip while screen recording and you’ll have a quick-and-dirty copy saved to your device.
You’ll need to play the video all the way through in real time. Keep in mind that this will capture everything that happens on the screen while you’re recording, so if a notification pops up or you swipe to another app, that will all be in the video. It also means you’ll still see all the menu buttons and text that are normally around the edges of the screen in a TikTok video, so it won’t be a perfectly clean copy of the video. But it’s better than nothing.
You can record your screen on iOS and on Android phones with Android 11 or higher.
On iOS, go into Settings, then Control Center. Tap the green plus sign Add button next to the Screen Recording option. This will add a little gray-dot icon button to your homescreen. Tap that and Screen Recording will start.
On Android, swipe down from the top of your screen to bring up your notifications and settings screen. From there, you might have to expand the menu at top and swipe through your settings widgets. Look for Screen Record. Tap that and you’ll have options to record device audio and whether to show touches on the screen. Tap start to record.
What’s With the Watermark?
If you’ve downloaded your videos, you probably noticed the faint TikTok watermark in the frame. This watermark will appear in any videos you’ve published as well as in videos you download from other creators. Unfortunately, there’s no official way to download a video directly from the platform after it’s been posted without that watermark being applied. If a video is still in your drafts in the TikTok app—meaning you’ve shot and edited it but not posted it yet—you can select the Save Video option and download a version of it without the watermark.
In general, if you’re creating videos, your best bet is to use a separate video editing app to edit your video before posting it online. That way you’ll always have the original cut and not have to worry about whether your distribution platform—and all your hard work—is about to suddenly go poof.
Bobby Kotick, the former CEO of Activision Blizzard who stepped down at the end of last year, is apparently interested in buying TikTok as a new or force its sale. According to a report by , Kotick mentioned the idea of partnering on such a purchase to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and others seated with him at a conference dinner last week, and brought it up with ByteDance Executive Chair Zhang Yiming. If TikTok is sold, the WSJ notes, it would likely go for hundreds of billions of dollars.
Kotick led Activision for over 30 years but didn’t exactly leave on a good note. In , the company was accused of fostering sexual harassment and gender discrimination under his leadership, in what was described as a “pervasive frat boy workplace culture.” soon after reported that Kotick was aware of misconduct and assault allegations over the years and did not properly disclose some of these instances to the board. He was also accused of harassment himself, noted at the time. Activision Blizzard called the report “misleading.”
After the information came to light, and demanded Kotick resign, but that did not happen. Kotick ultimately stayed on as head of Activision Blizzard in 2023.
Kotick’s alleged interest in TikTok comes at a tumultuous moment for the immensely popular platform after lawmakers introduced the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act” last week, which he would sign, if it passes. Under the bill, which goes to the House floor on Wednesday for a vote, TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, within six months. Otherwise, it’ll be banned from US app stores.
TikTok has been trying to get its millions of US users to rally behind it in wake of the bill’s sudden momentum, and sent out push notifications last week . After the House vote, where it’s expected to be approved after clearing the Energy and Commerce Committee in a unanimous vote last week, the bill would move on to the Senate. While lawmakers’ concerns about TikTok center on fears of data privacy and its connection to China, WSJ notes that involving Altman in its purchase could open the app up to the possibility of being used by OpenAI to train its AI models, which doesn’t exactly sound ideal for users, either.
This article contains affiliate links; if you click such a link and make a purchase, we may earn a commission.
Donald Trump appeared to come out in defense of TikTok, the social media platform facing a potential ban by Congress, in a post late Thursday on his social media platform Truth Social—the same platform that experienced a widespread outage as the former president attempted to live-tweet President Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech.
Mourning the Loss of Addison Rae’s Debut Album | The Meme Machine
“If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business. I don’t want Facebook, who cheated in the last Election, doing better. They are a true Enemy of the People!” Trump wrote on Thursday night.
It’s unclear why Trump called Facebook an “enemy of the people,” a phrase that he usually saves for mainstream media outlets not named Fox News. And it doesn’t appear Trump has ever used the nickname “Zuckerschmuck” for Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg before, which, according to a simple Google search, looks like the name of a real online store centered around diabetes.
Trump’s opposition to a TikTok ban would be a reversal of policy for the former president, who signed an executive order in the summer of 2020 that would’ve forced TikTok’s parent company in China, ByteDance, to completely divest of the social media site or face a ban on U.S. soil.
Trump’s executive order, which was held up in federal court before being reversed when Biden took office in 2021, called TikTok’s existence a “national emergency” for the U.S. that could threaten the country’s security and economy.
“This mobile application may also be used for disinformation campaigns that benefit the Chinese Communist Party, such as when TikTok videos spread debunked conspiracy theories about the origins of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus,” Trump’s executive order read in a line that’s particularly ironic, given Trump’s embrace of many such conspiracy theories.
The executive order also featured claims of censorship on TikTok by the Chinese Communist Party, especially around, “protests in Hong Kong and China’s treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities.” Because who doesn’t love “Muslim minorities” more than Trump, right?
Why is Trump reversing course on TikTok? Who knows why Trump does anything? Maybe he’s making the calculation that it helps his own social media platform in some way. Or maybe it’s because Trump reportedly saw at least $5.5 million flowing to his businesses from Chinese sources while he was president. Could it have anything to do with the fact that Republican mega-donor Jeff Yass, a billionaire with a big investment in ByteDance, recently had a friendly phone call with Trump, according to Politico?
Better yet, maybe Trump wants to delay a ban until he hypothetically returns to the White House, a tactic he’s already deployed to sink a bipartisan immigration reform deal because he wants to campaign on the issue of a “broken border.” It really could be anything, as far as we know.
But Congress is moving ahead with a potential ban on TikTok, with a bipartisan bill expected to make its way to the House for a vote very soon. The bill already cleared a House committee in a unanimous vote of 50-0. Much like Trump’s original executive order, the bill would force ByteDance to sell the platform and, if the company refused, would allow Congress to ban the site altogether.
The bill has mobilized some of TikTok’s estimated 150 million American users, with Congressional offices reportedly getting flooded on Thursday by calls imploring members of Congress not to ban the app. TikTok even alerted users in the U.S. about the potential ban on Thursday, a move that made politicians quite angry.
President Biden has come out in support of the effort by Congress to get ByteDance to divest and the White House has claimed the president only killed Trump’s executive order to conduct its own security review while it was tied up in federal court. But it will be interesting to see if the courts agree that Congress has the right to ban TikTok, a move that the company says conflicts with the free speech rights of Americans.
“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,” a TikTok spokesperson told Gizmodo on Thursday.
The House vote hasn’t been scheduled yet, but it sure seems like we’re going to find out sooner rather than later if TikTok has a future in the U.S. Incredibly, Trump wants TikTok to be allowed to continue as usual. At least for now.
U.S. President Joe Biden arrives at John F. Kennedy International Airport, in New York City, U.S., February 7, 2024.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign launched an official TikTok account Sunday evening. The account is noteworthy because TikTok is currently banned on most U.S. government-issued devices.
The TikTok account, with the handle “@bidenhq,” debuted Sunday during Lunar New Year celebrations in China and Super Bowl 58 in the U.S.
In late 2022, Biden signed legislation that barred most federal government-owned devices from using TikTok. The provision was part of a massive omnibus spending bill and, at the time, it represented a major win for China hawks in Congress.
Several states and New York City also followed suit, banning TikTok on government-owned devices last year, pointing to a wide range of security concerns.
TikTok’s parent company is China-based ByteDance. The company’s CEO Shou Zi Chew is Singaporean and a graduate of Harvard Business School.
One of TikTok’s biggest outside investors is Susquehanna International Group. Billionaire co-founder of the firm, Jeffrey Yass, has donated millions to lawmakers who want to block an outright ban of the app in the states.
Several U.S. lawmakers have accused TikTok, and other social media platforms, of spreading content online that has been harmful to children’s mental health and failing to protect kids online.
Biden campaign advisors told NBC News the TikTok account is part of an effort to meet voters where they are.
The app remains essential to younger people, including of those of voting age in the U.S. According to Pew Research data released in late 2023, about a third of 18-29 year olds in the U.S. said they regularly get news on TikTok, a higher share than ever before.
Tighter regulation of social media companies including TikTok, Meta, Snap, Discord and X (formerly Twitter) represented a rare issue of bipartisan agreement during a Senate hearing on child safety last month.
The Biden White House has carried on a love-hate relationship with TikTok since Biden took office. On one hand, the administration openly courted TikTok stars and content producers to help spread public service messages and engage young people with civic events.
But as China-skeptical lawmakers ratcheted up their campaign against the company in recent years, the Biden White House tacitly agreed with them, going so far as to reportedly pressure ByteDance to sell TikTok.
Shou Zi Chew, a 40-year-old entrepreneur, was born on January 1, 1983, in Singapore.
Raised in an affluent family alongside his brothers, he received his education at Hwa Chong Institution before serving as a commissioned officer in the Singapore Army.
Following his military service, Chew relocated to London to complete his undergraduate studies in economics at the University of London.
He further advanced his education by earning a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School, where he also completed a summer internship at Facebook.
Key Takeaway
Net Worth around USD 1.5 billion as of 2024.
CEO of ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, since May 2021.
Former Chief Financial Officer for Xiaomi Corporation.
Bachelor of Economics from the University College London.
Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.
Married to Vivian Kao, a successful businesswoman and CEO at Tamarind Global.
41 years old (Born on January 1, 1983).
Net Worth 2024
In May 2021, Shou Zi Chew assumed the role of CEO at ByteDance, taking over from the company’s founder, Zhang Yiming.
Before his tenure at ByteDance, he served as the Chief Financial Officer for Xiaomi Corporation and had a stint as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs.
As we enter 2024, his estimated net worth stands at approximately $1.5 billion USD according to Hot New HipHop.
While Chew has amassed an impressive fortune, it is important to note that he is not the owner of ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok. That title belongs to Zhang Yiming. As of 2023, Yiming’s net worth was estimated to be a staggering $43.4 billion, according to Forbes.
Professional Career
Shou began his professional journey after completing his education at the University of London, starting his career in the banking sector with Goldman Sachs, a leading American investment bank and financial services company based in London as noted by Straits Times.
Before this role, he had already acquired a diverse set of experiences across various fields.
After a two-year stint at Goldman Sachs, Shou transitioned to a venture capital firm named DST Global, where he led the team focused on ByteDance investments.
He then joined Xiaomi, a Chinese multinational company specializing in the design and manufacturing of electronics, initially serving as its Chief Financial Officer.
By 2019, Shou had risen to the position of President of Xiaomi’s international division. In 2021, ByteDance appointed him as Chief Financial Officer.
However, after a brief period, he left the CFO position to become the CEO of TikTok, succeeding the former American businessman Kevin A. Maye.
Before joining Xiaomi, Shou Zi Chew was employed at DST, an investment firm founded by Yuri Milner, an Israeli-Russian billionaire in the tech industry as reported by The New York Times.
During his five-year tenure there, he managed a team that was among the initial investors in ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok.
In March 2021, Shou became the first person to hold the position of Chief Financial Officer for the media conglomerate. Shortly after, in May 2021, he was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company. This move garnered significant admiration for Shou Zi Chew.
Zhang Yiming, ByteDance’s founder and former CEO, praised Shou for his extensive understanding of the company and the broader technology sector.
He highlighted Shou’s leadership of a team that was one of ByteDance’s earliest investors and his decade-long experience in tech.
Kevin Mayer, Chew’s predecessor, left the role after just three months to join Walt Disney. It was reported that Mayer’s departure was influenced by pressure from American lawmakers concerned about the security implications of the app.
Career Milestones
From July 2006 to July 2008, worked at Goldman Sachs International.
Completed an internship at Facebook during its start-up phase.
Held the position of Director at Kingsoft Cloud Holdings Limited, a branch of Kingsoft Corporation Limited.
Became a partner at DST Investment Management Ltd in July 2015.
In 2019, took on the roles of Senior Vice President, Executive Director, and President of Global Business Groups at Xiaomi.
Wife and Family Life
Shou Zi Chew is married to Vivian Kao, a fellow Singaporean and successful businesswoman, with whom he shares two children. The couple maintains a low profile, opting for private settings on their Instagram and other social media accounts, reflecting their preference for privacy.
Their paths first crossed at Harvard University, where both were pursuing their MBAs. It was during this intense period of academic endeavor that they found love, even as they focused on achieving their educational goals.
Their initial connection was made via email in 2008, but it wasn’t until the following summer, when both were interning in California, that they truly got to know each other.
Vivian Kao holds the position of CEO at Tamarind Global, a company that specializes in financial services.
Tamarind Global is dedicated to managing the investment portfolio and philanthropic efforts of a prominent Singaporean family spanning the third and fourth generations.
The firm’s mission is centered on ensuring long-term capital preservation and growth, with a particular emphasis on investments.
The family, now including Shou Zi Chew, Vivian Kao, their two children, and the family dog, has settled in Beijing, China. Before making Beijing their home, they traveled extensively, visiting places like London, Singapore, and Hong Kong according to Harvard Business School Alumni.
Both are also recognized for their philanthropy, being active donors and members of the Harvard Business School Fund Investors Society.
Congressional Testimony and Controversy
In March 2023, he faced a significant challenge when he was called upon to address the U.S. Congress regarding TikTok’s ties to China and the potential implications for national security as stated by CNBC.
The Biden administration had taken a firm stance, proposing to ban TikTok unless its Chinese stakeholders divested their shares in the app.
This situation intensified the scrutiny on Chew, especially as the app was already banned on government devices in the U.S. and other nations, heightening suspicions about its operations.
Repeated Citizenship Queries
During a tense congressional testimony focused on online safety for children, Singaporean TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew was persistently questioned by Sen. Tom Cotton about his citizenship and potential affiliations with the Chinese Communist Party according to Business Insider.
Despite Chew’s repeated clarifications of his Singaporean nationality, the line of questioning continued, touching on his past, present, and future citizenship, his family’s American citizenship, and his connections to the Chinese communist party.
This interrogation took place amidst a broader, combative hearing with CEOs from four other social media companies, including X, Meta, Snap, and Discord, all scrutinized for their platforms’ safety measures for children.
The intense focus on Chew and TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, reflects ongoing concerns over Chinese government influence and data misuse, amidst a backdrop of anti-Asian rhetoric that conflates Chinese ancestry with the actions of the Chinese Communist Party.
Philanthropy Initiatives
Shou Zi Chew, the successful CEO of TikTok, is not only focused on the growth of his company and followers but is also actively involved in philanthropy. Under his leadership, TikTok has contributed to numerous social causes, and Chew himself has also engaged in personal charitable activities.
One of TikTok’s notable initiatives is the Creativity for Good program, which encourages users to demonstrate their creativity in addressing societal issues. This program has led to numerous innovative ideas and campaigns designed to raise awareness and funds for various non-profit organizations.
Shou Zi Chew’s commitment to education is also evident in his support for underprivileged students. He has personally donated to several scholarship programs, providing financial assistance for bright students from low-income families to pursue their higher education. This effort underlines Chew’s dedication to narrowing the education gap and improving access to quality education for all.
FAQ
What is ByteDance’s business model and how does it contribute to TikTok’s success?
ByteDance operates on a content platform model that leverages advanced AI algorithms to personalize and recommend content to users. This model is central to TikTok’s success, driving user engagement and growth by delivering tailored video content that matches individual interests and behaviors.
How does TikTok address data privacy concerns, especially in Western markets?
As of 2024, TikTok has implemented several measures to address data privacy concerns, including establishing a transparency center, undergoing third-party audits, and storing US user data on servers located in the United States to mitigate risks related to data privacy and governmental concerns.
What measures has Shou Zi Chew taken to address regulatory challenges faced by TikTok?
Under Chew’s leadership, TikTok has taken proactive steps to address regulatory challenges, including enhancing data privacy measures, engaging in transparent dialogue with regulators, and restructuring operations to comply with local laws and guidelines in various markets.
How does Shou Zi Chew plan to expand TikTok’s user base and market reach?
Chew focuses on localizing content and features to cater to diverse global audiences, investing in technology to enhance user experience, and exploring new markets with untapped potential. He also seeks strategic partnerships to broaden TikTok’s ecosystem and reach.
How has His leadership style influenced TikTok’s corporate culture and innovation?
Shou Zi Chew’s leadership is characterized by a focus on innovation, inclusivity, and adaptability, fostering a corporate culture that encourages creativity, collaboration, and a forward-thinking approach to challenges and opportunities in the digital space.
What future technologies is TikTok investing in to enhance user experience and content creation?
TikTok is investing in advanced AI, augmented reality (AR), and machine learning technologies to enhance content personalization, improve user experience, and offer new creative tools for content creators, ensuring the platform remains at the forefront of digital innovation.
Final Words
Shou Zi Chew’s remarkable journey from a young student in Singapore to the CEO of ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, is a testament to his visionary leadership, strategic acumen, and unwavering commitment to innovation.
His tenure at ByteDance has been marked by significant achievements, including navigating regulatory challenges, spearheading philanthropic initiatives, and driving TikTok’s global expansion.
Chew’s leadership has not only propelled TikTok to unprecedented success but has also positioned the platform as a pivotal player in the digital landscape, influencing content creation, social interaction, and digital marketing strategies across the globe.
Olivia Rodrigo’s music was pulled from TikTok today after the short-form video platform fell out with Universal Music Group. Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for Lionsgate
Today (Feb. 1), Universal Music Group (UMG), which houses megastars like Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo, officially removed its artists’ music from TikTok after its licensing agreement with the short-form video platform expired and the two companies failed to reach an agreement on artist royalties. TikTok users can no longer use UMG artists’ licensed songs in their videos.
UMG published an open letter to TikTok on Jan. 30 accusing the platform of underpaying its artists and allowing A.I.-generated songs that mimic the vocals of famous artists like Drake to thrive on the app. TikTok responded with a harsh statement alleging UMG has “put their own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters.”
According to TikTok, 88 percent of its users believe that music is essential to the platform’s experience. In order to work better with the major music labels, who are oftentimes at odds with TikTok, the social platform created the TikTok Commercial Music Library to house licensed music from labels like UMG for creators to use in their videos. But UMG said TikTok only accounts for only 1 percent of the music conglomerate’s revenue “despite its massive and growing user base, rapidly rising advertising revenue and increasing reliance on music-based content.”
Some sounds are still available to hear, but not for use. On Ariana Grande’s TikTok account, for example, the official version of her new single “Yes, And” can still be played. But when you click on the sound, a message pops up saying the “copyright owner hasn’t made the sound available in your country.” Many other sounds have disappeared completely, as in this Taylor Swift video and this Ice Spice video.
It’s unclear how much the actual user experience will shift without UMG music. Many licensed songs by UMG artists that become popular on TikTok also include concert footage, live renditions and snippets of their songs that may not be pulled. Remixes of UMG artist’s songs made by regular TikTok users like this one posted by Olivia Rodrigo are also popular on the platform and are often beloved as much as the original versions.
Bytedance, the unlisted Chinese tech giant that owns TikTok, is poised to slash part of its games operations, including Nuverse, which publishes ‘Marvel Snap,’ according to financial news sources.
News was reported by Bloomberg, Reuters and other tech news providers The Information and The Verge on Monday that Bytedance will retreat from its mainstream video games operation with the loss of some 1,000 jobs.
“We regularly review our businesses and make adjustments to centre on long-term strategic growth areas,” a ByteDance representative said in a statement sent to some media. “Following a recent review, we’ve made the difficult decision to restructure our gaming business.” Variety has also reached out to Bytedance for comment.
Nuverse, the unit for most of Bytedance’s games, is understood to have told employees that it will halt nearly all games that have not yet launched. And two of its recently- launched titles – anime-style role-playing game “Crystal of Atlan” and survival game “Earth: Revival” – may be sold to other publishers. It plans to keep the smaller social games activities that can be played within Douyin, the Chinese twin of TikTok.
‘Marvel Snap’ is a digital collectible card game developed by Second Dinner and published by Nuverse.
Bloomberg also reported that Bytedance is considering selling Shanghai Moonton Technology, a games company it paid $4 billion for in 2021.
The moves would re-focus Bytedance on social video – Tiktok and Douyin – and e-commerce. It has also made moves into music streaming and AI this year.
Games have been increasingly heavily regulated within China over the past three years, with authorities increasingly stringent about protecting young users’ health. They have intervened by delaying new license approvals or permits allowing monetization and the introduction of requirements that platforms limit game-play by minors. The cycle of regulation may now have turned more favorable and permits are being green-lighted again, but analysts suggest that the games market is headed for slower growth than in recent times.
Bytedance is privately-held and is not required to publicly disclose its financial position. However, occasional disclosures to investors have been reported by financial media. These show that Bytedance is approaching Facebook owner Meta in term of revenue. The company was reported as having $85 billion of revenue in 2022, while revenue for the first half of 2023 was reported as $54 billion.
TikTok owner ByteDance is looking to get out of mainstream gaming, including at its subsidiary Nuverse, the publisher of Marvel Snap. ByteDance confirmed Monday in a statement to Polygon that it will “restructure” its gaming business. The decision is expected to lead to hundreds of layoffs, according to Reuters, which first reported the news. ByteDance has not confirmed the scope of its layoffs.
“We regularly review our businesses and make adjustments to center on long-term strategic growth areas,” a ByteDance representative said in a statement. “Following a recent review, we’ve made the difficult decision to restructure our gaming business.”
Though ByteDance is divesting from Nuverse, Marvel Snap “will continue to operate and flourish in the future,” according to a tweet posted early Monday on X (formerly Twitter) by the official Marvel Snap X account. The game is developed by Irvine, California-based indie studio Second Dinner.
Dear SNAPPERS, Some of our players have expressed their concerns regarding reported structural changes at Nuverse. We wish to thank you for your concern and assure you that regardless of any changes at Nuverse, SNAP will continue to operate and flourish in the future!
Reuters, citing four unnamed sources, reports that ByteDance has no plans to enter the mainstream gaming market again. The company’s casual games publisher Ohayoo — which work with Chinese social media platform Douyin — will not be impacted, nor will the casual games that run on TikTok. Beyond Nuverse, ByteDance is reportedly looking to sell off mobile gaming subsidiary Moonton Technology, Reuters reported. Earlier this month, ByteDance restructured its virtual reality company Pico, resulting in hundreds of employees being laid off, TechCrunch reported.
ByteDance has invested heavily in the video game industry over the past few years as it looked to compete with Chinese gaming giants Tencent and NetEase. Marvel Snap was a success in the U.S., reaching a reported $116 million in revenue. Other Nuverse games include One Piece: The Voyage and Warhammer 40,000: Lost Crusade. Moonton Games is responsible for Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and Watcher of Realms.
ByteDance’s gaming ambition has been an expensive, short-lived pursuit.
In late 2021, the TikTok parent’s plans for video games came into the spotlight after it became one of the firm’s six core business units, posing a new threat to incumbents such as Tencent and NetEase and rising star MiHoYo. Nonetheless, after two years of tepid performance, the gaming department, called Nuverse, is significantly scaling back its operations in a move that has surprised many employees.
“We regularly review our businesses and make adjustments to center on long-term strategic growth areas. Following a recent review, we’ve made the difficult decision to restructure our gaming business,” a ByteDance spokesperson told TechCrunch in a statement.
This round of mass layoffs started on Monday and many members of Nuverse are still anxiously awaiting a verdict on their future, people familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. It’s unclear how many employees will be affected by the restructuring eventually, but Nuverse had quickly grown to around 3,000 people in 2021 and has largely remained that size over the past few years, according to Chinese tech news outlet LatePost.
ByteDance has also spent heavily on acquisitions, including a $4 billion purchase of a promising Shanghai-studio studio called Moonton. Reuters reported earlier this month that the firm is looking to divest the studio and has met with a Saudi Arabia-based firm for discussion.
Reuters first broke the news about the layoffs on Monday morning, reporting that ByteDance would soon announce the “winding down of its Nuverse gaming brand and full retreat from mainstream video games,” citing sources. But ByteDance’s comment suggests that portions of the team will be retained.
ByteDance’s debacle in video games — and its virtual reality endeavor Pico — casts doubt over the universal applicability of its data-driven, A/B testing strategy that has catapulted TikTok to global dominance. Through its short video apps, ByteDance has amassed an unparalleled wealth of consumer insights. The success of video games, however, demands a much longer, more patient creative process and is arguably less predictable than the instant gratification delivered by dopamine-fused video clips. Both of its rivals Tencent and NetEase have been pouring more resources into games with longer development cycles.
Without a breakthrough title or commercial success after two years, Nuverse’s positioning as one of ByteDance’s key revenue drivers is likely under close examination by the firm’s management team. ByteDance remains one of the rare Chinese internet giants that have not gone public, partly due to its entanglement in rising U.S.-China tensions.
The mass layoffs at Nuverse add more bad news to the Chinese internet industry which is reeling from a widespread regulatory crackdown in recent years, leading to dampened businesses and slashed workforces. The video gaming sector in particular was hit hard by a hiatus in license approvals, and even though the process has resumed, the space’s recovery has been limited by macroeconomic challenges.
Signage at the Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. booth at the Smart China Expo in Chongqing, China, on Monday, Sept. 4, 2023.
Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Alibaba needs to be “user first” and “AI-driven,” new CEO Eddie Wu told employees on Tuesday, as he laid out the strategic priorities for the Chinese tech giant.
Wu, who is just three days into the job as Alibaba chief executive, called for the e-commerce firm to “adopt a start-up mindset” as he looks to steer the company back to growth following one of the most tumultuous times in its 24-year history.
“Times are changing, and so must Alibaba! As the world progresses, Alibaba needs to evolve even faster!,” Wu said in a letter to employees that was seen by CNBC.
Wu said Alibaba’s two main strategic focuses will be “user first” and “AI-driven.” The company will “reinforce” its strategic investments in three areas.
The first it calls “technology-driven internet platforms.” Wu said that Alibaba’s business should “seek out the most open and collaborative relationships,” even with competitors. This is a different approach from Alibaba which has tended to try to keep users within its ecosystem of products.
Wu also touted the need to invest in artificial intelligence. Alibaba’s cloud unit has tried to position itself as a leader in AI inside China as it looks to reignite growth in the business.
“Each of our businesses generates massive numbers of use cases; therefore, we must transform these use cases into applications for AI technology, driving breakthrough user experience and business models through technology innovation,” Wu said.
“If we don’t keep up with the changes of the AI era, we will be displaced.”
Alibaba Cloud has its large language model called Tongyi Qianwen, released earlier this year. An LLM is an AI model trained on huge amounts of data and underpins chatbot applications. It’s the same type of model that OpenAI’s ChatGPT is based on.
Wu also said Alibaba needs to continue to invest in “globalization.”
Alibaba will also look to promote younger talent. Within the next four years, the company will promote those born after 1985 and the 1990s “to form the core of our business management teams,” Wu said.
“To protect Montanans’ personal and private data from the Chinese Communist Party, I have banned TikTok in Montana,” wrote Gianforte on Twitter.
The ban was quickly criticized by the ACLU amid concerns that the bill infringes on First Amendment rights.
“With this ban, Governor Gianforte and the Montana legislature have trampled on the free speech of hundreds of thousands of Montanans who use the app to express themselves, gather information, and run their small business in the name of anti-Chinese sentiment,” said Keegan Medrano, policy director at the ACLU of Montana. “We will never trade our First Amendment rights for cheap political points.”
To protect Montanans’ personal and private data from the Chinese Communist Party, I have banned TikTok in Montana.
— Governor Greg Gianforte (@GovGianforte) May 17, 2023
The governor’s office claimed in a news release about the ban that “penalties will be enforced by the Montana Department of Justice,” and that anyone in violation of the law is liable to pay $10,000 per violation, and also liable for an additional $10,000 each day the violation continues, according to the text of S.B. 419.
“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,” said TikTok in a statement provided to CBS News. “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.”
Last month, Montana became the first state to pass a bill banning the app — which raised concerns from technology experts about how realistic expectations were around enforcement.
At a hearing about the bill in March, a representative from TechNet said that app stores “do not have the ability to geofence” apps on a state-by-state basis, making it impossible for the restriction to be enforceable in popular app marketplaces, such as the Apple App Store or the Google Play App Store.
Some have also argued that banning the app may infringe users’ First Amendment rights. “Montanans are indisputably exercising their First Amendment rights when they post and consume content on TikTok,” said Jameel Jaffer, executive director at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, in a statement. “Because Montana can’t establish that the ban is necessary or tailored to any legitimate interest, the law is almost certain to be struck down as unconstitutional.”
TikTok has been an ongoing subject of debate in both local and federal government, as concerns mount in several areas, such as the potential for TikTok to be addicting to younger users and the ability for people to use the app to spread misinformation or incite violence. While these are concerns for other major social media platforms as well, what makes TikTok particularly alarming to government officials are privacy issues related to the app’s ownership by China-based ByteDance.
Like all Chinese companies, ByteDance has ties to the Chinese Communist Party, and as tensions continue to mount between the U.S. and China, access to user data has become a point of uneasiness for Congress, the Biden administration, and state and local governments. Many now see banning the platform as a simple solution.
TikTok has repeatedly denied that it shares any data with the Chinese government.
Michael Beckerman, TikTok’s head of public policy for the Americas, has told CBS News that lawmakers’ concerns over TikTok sharing user data with the Chinese government are overstated and “makes for good politics.” He also said that TikTok collects less data than other social media apps and is working to move user data to servers in the U.S., out of reach of China.
Some experts agree that national security concerns over TikTok are unfounded.
Milton Mueller, a professor of cybersecurity and public policy at Georgia Tech, previously told CBS News, “There have been three technical studies done of this. They basically all say it is exactly what they tell you it is in their privacy statement.”
What comes next?
A group of TikTok users in Montana on Wednesday, May 17, filed the first challenge to the law in U.S. District Court in Montana. They alleged that the state’s ban on the app infringes on their constitutional right to freedom of speech.
“The Act attempts to exercise powers over national security that Montana does not have and to ban speech Montana may not suppress,” read the complaint, which was filed by five content creators.
“Montana can no more ban its residents from viewing or posting to TikTok than it could ban the Wall Street Journal because of who owns it or the ideas it publishes,” the lawsuit continued.
TikTok has declined to comment on the suit and has not yet announced its own challenge to the law.
Montana has become the first state in the nation Friday to pass a bill banning TikTok from operating in the state. The bill now goes to the governor’s desk for his signature. It could face several legal hurdles.
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
Montana became the first state in the nation Friday to pass a bill banning TikTok from operating in the state, a move that’s bound to face legal challenges but also serve as a testing ground for the TikTok-free America that many national lawmakers have envisioned.
The Montana House voted 54-43 to send the bill to Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte for his signature.
“The governor will carefully consider any bill the legislature sends to his desk,” the governor’s office told CBS News in a statement. “We will keep you apprised of the bill’s status once the governor acts on it.”
Gianforte has already banned TikTok on government devices in Montana. The Senate passed the bill 30-20 in March.
The proposal backed by Montana’s GOP-controlled legislature is more sweeping than bans in place in nearly half the states and the federal government, which prohibit TikTok on government devices.
In response to the bill’s passage, a TikTok spokesperson said in a statement to CBS News on Friday afternoon, “The bill’s champions have admitted that they have no feasible plan for operationalizing this attempt to censor American voices and that the bill’s constitutionality will be decided by the courts. We will continue to fight for TikTok users and creators in Montana whose livelihoods and First Amendment rights are threatened by this egregious government overreach.”
TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese tech company ByteDance, has been under intense scrutiny over concerns it could hand over user data to the Chinese government or push pro-Beijing propaganda and misinformation on the platform. Leaders at the FBI, CIA and numerous lawmakers of both parties have raised those concerns but haven’t presented any evidence to prove it has happened.
Supporters of a ban point to two Chinese laws that compel companies in the country to cooperate with the government on state intelligence work. They also point out other troubling episodes, such as a disclosure by ByteDance in December that it fired four employees who accessed the IP addresses and other data of two journalists while attempting to uncover the source of a leaked report about the company.
Congress is considering legislation that doesn’t call out TikTok but gives the Commerce Department the ability to restrict foreign threats on tech platforms. That bill is being backed by the White House but has received pushback from privacy advocates, right-wing commentators and others who say the language is too broad.
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen had urged state lawmakers to pass the bill because he wasn’t sure Congress would act quickly on a federal ban.
“I think Montana’s got an opportunity here to be a leader,” Knudsen, a Republican, told a House committee in March. He says the app is a tool used by the Chinese government to spy on Montanans.
Montana’s ban wouldn’t take effect until January 2024 and would be void if Congress passes a ban or if TikTok severs its Chinese connections.
The bill would prohibit downloads of TikTok in Montana and would fine any “entity” — an app store or TikTok — $10,000 per day for each time someone “is offered the ability” to access the social media platform or download the app. The penalties wouldn’t apply to users.
Opponents argued the bill amounted to government overreach and that residents could easily circumvent the proposed ban by using a Virtual Private Network. A VPN encrypts internet traffic and makes it more difficult for third parties to track online activities, steal data and determine a person’s location.
At a hearing about the bill in March, a representative from the tech trade group TechNet said app stores also “do not have the ability to geofence” apps on a state-by-state basis and that it would be impossible for its members, like Apple and Google, to prevent TikTok from being downloaded in Montana.
Knudsen said Thursday the geofencing technology is used with online sports gambling apps, which he said are deactivated in states where online gambling is illegal. Ashley Sutton, TechNet’s executive director for Washington state and the Northwest, said in a statement Thursday that the “responsibility should be on an app to determine where it can operate, not an app store.”
“We’ve expressed these concerns to lawmakers. We hope the governor will work with lawmakers to amend the legislation to ensure companies that aren’t intended targets of the legislation” aren’t affected, Sutton said.
Some opponents of the bill have argued the state wasn’t looking to ban other social media apps that collect similar types of data from their users.
“We also believe this is a blatant exercise of censorship and is an egregious violation of Montanans’ free speech rights,” said Keegan Medrano with the ACLU of Montana.
Democratic Rep. Katie Sullivan offered an amendment Thursday to broaden the ban to include any social media app that collected personal information and transferred it to a foreign adversary, such as Russia, Iran, Cuba, North Korea and Venezuela, along with China. The amendment was narrowly rejected 48-51.
Supporters of the bill said it made sense to target TikTok first because of specific concerns with China and that it was a step in the right direction even if it doesn’t address challenges related to other social media companies.
TikTok has been pushing back against the bill. The company, which has 150 million users in the U.S., has encouraged users in the state to speak out against the legislation and hired lobbyists to do so as well. It has also purchased billboards, run full-page newspaper ads and has a website opposing Montana’s legislation. Some ads placed in local newspapers highlight how local businesses were able to use the app to drive sales.
The bill would “show Montana doesn’t support entrepreneurs in our own state,” Shauna White Bear, who owns White Bear Moccasins, said during a March 28 hearing. She noted her business receives much more engagement on TikTok than on other social media sites.
Knudsen, the attorney general whose office drafted the bill, said he expects the bill to face legal challenges if it passes.
“Frankly, I think it probably needs the courts to step in here,” he said. “This is a really interesting, novel legal question that I think is ripe for some new jurisprudence.”
The Montana bill isn’t the first blanket ban the company has faced. In 2020, then-President Donald Trump issued executive orders that banned the use of TikTok and the Chinese messaging platform WeChat. Those efforts were nixed by the courts and shelved by the Biden administration.
TikTok continued negotiations with the administration on the security concerns tied to the app. Amid rising geopolitical tensions with China, the Biden administration more recently has threatened it could ban the app if the company’s Chinese owners don’t sell their stakes. To avoid either outcome, TikTok has been trying to sell a data safety proposal called “Project Texas” that would route all its U.S. user data to servers operated by the software giant Oracle.
Lemon8 es una nueva aplicación de fotos y videos propiedad de ByteDance, la empresa matriz de TikTok. Según los datos compartidos con Axios por la firma de análisis Apptopia, la aplicación ha sido descargada 650,000 veces en Estados Unidos en la última semana y media.
Actualmente, Lemon8 ocupa el segundo lugar en la categoría de las mejores aplicaciones de estilo de vida en la tienda de aplicaciones de Apple. Según Fast CompanyLemon8 se lanzó en Estados Unidos y el Reino Unido en febrero de 2023 después de debutar en Japón en 2020.
Según Apptopia, Lemon8 ha sido descargada 17 millones de veces en todo el mundo desde su lanzamiento, pero Japón sigue siendo su principal mercado con el 36.5% de las descargas totales.
Sin embargo, el aumento de popularidad de Lemon8 sigue a la controversia en torno a su empresa matriz ByteDance y las preocupaciones de seguridad nacional debido a los vínculos de la marca con China. TikTok, que también es propiedad de la misma empresa matriz, ha estado bajo escrutinio en Estados Unidos, incluso con varias agencias prohibiendo la aplicación en dispositivos gubernamentales.
En marzo, el CEO de ByteDance, Shou Zi Chew, testificó ante el Congreso, afirmando que todos los datos de los usuarios de Estados Unidos se almacenan en servidores en Estados Unidos y Canadá, propiedad de la empresa de software Oracle.
Lemon8 permite a los usuarios compartir videos y fotos fijas. Su interfaz es una combinación entre Instagram, TikTok y Pinterest, que permite al usuario desplazarse por videos y fotos y un enfoque en el contenido de estilo de vida.
Según presentaciones compartidas por Lemon8 con agencias de marketing en enero, el creador de contenido ideal de la aplicación es una mujer entre los 22 y los 26 años, que vive en Nueva York o Los Ángeles y está enfocada en la moda y la belleza.
Igual que TikTok, la aplicación cuenta con una sección “Para ti” con recomendaciones personalizadas y una sección “Siguiendo” que destaca las cuentas que los usuarios pueden elegir seguir. Además, la aplicación permite a las personas crear captions tipo blog donde pueden compartir consejos, recetas e ideas.
There’s a new app for Gen-Zers, and it’s becoming more popular every day.
Lemon8, a new photo and video-sharing app that’s owned by TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, has been installed 650,000 times in the U.S. in just the past week and a half, according to data shared with Axios from analytics firm Apptopia.
The app is currently sitting at the No. 2 spot in the Apple App Store for the top lifestyle apps. Lemon8 launched in the U.S. and U.K. in February 2023 after debuting in Japan in 2020, per Fast Company.
Image credit: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg via Getty Images The Lemon8 application on a smartphone.
According to Apptopia, Lemon8 has been downloaded 17 million times globally since its launch, but Japan remains its largest market making up 36.5% of its lifetime downloads.
However, the rise of Lemon8 follows controversy around its ByteDance parent company and national security concerns with the brand’s ties to China. TikTok, which is also owned by the same parent company, has been under scrutiny in the U.S., with several agencies even banning the app from government devices. (TikTok has 150 million users in the U.S. composed primarily of teens and young adults, per AP News.)
In March, CEO Shou Zi Chew testified to Congress, claiming all U.S. data is stored on data serversacross the U.S. and Canadaowned by software company Oracle.
Lemon8 allows users to share videos and still photos. Its interfacesort of looks like a combination of Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest — with its ability to scroll through videos and photos and a focus on lifestyle content.
According to presentations Lemon8 shared with marketing agencies in January that were obtained by The New York Times, the app’s ideal creator is female, between the ages of 22 and 26, living in New York or Los Angeles, and focused on fashion and beauty.
Like Tiktok, the app features a “For You” column with personalized recommendations and a “Following” section that highlights accounts users may choose to follow. Additionally, the app allows people to create blog-like captions where people have the space to share tips, recipes, and more insights.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew‘s testimony before Congress on Thursday appears to have done little to allay Washington’s concerns about whether the social media platform poses a threat to Americans’ privacy and to national security. In five hours of grueling bipartisan questioning, lawmakers seemed skeptical that the app, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, could be made safe for domestic users.
“We don’t think anything said by Mr. Chew alleviated concerns about sensitive TikTok data eventually reaching the Chinese government,” CFRA analyst Angelo Zino said in a note. “[A]n outright sale or ban is looking increasingly likely in the next 12-18 months.”
TikTok is now at a crossroads: Split up and stay in the U.S., or face a possible ban.
Here’s where the company could go from here and what that means for TikTok users.
What are TikTok’s options?
Prior to the TikTok chief exective’s testimony this week, ByteDance had planned to remain a single company, while segregating data for American users of the app into a separate U.S.-based facility run by Oracle and routing any requests for that info through a data-security board. However, lawmakers weren’t convinced that the project, dubbed “Project Texas,” would protect U.S. users.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which reviews transactions that could affect national security, has been pressuring ByteDance to spin off its U.S. subsidiary or sell it to an American company, CBS News has confirmed. However, China pushed back against this possibility Thursday, with a government spokesperson saying “China will firmly oppose” any forced sale of the app.
How would the U.S. enforce a ban?
The RESTRICT Act, a bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate this month, allows the U.S. Commerce Secretary to ban foreign technology companies, as well as encourages the intelligence service to declassify information on potential risks.
One law and technology expert said any TikTok ban wouldn’t kick in immediately, since the video platform and some users would likely challenge it in court. If a ban survived the lawsuits, it would most likely result in Apple and Google, who run the vast majority of smartphones in the U.S., removing TikTok from their app stores and turning off app updates.
“Everyone who’s installed it would still have it. But my guess is that for everyone who has it on their phone, it would stop working in various ways,” said Kentaro Toyama, a professor at the University of Michigan’s School of Information.
Because apps are constantly being updated, turning off updates would eventually make it unusable by becoming incompatible with the phone’s operating system.
If Apple or Google wanted to take a harder line, it would theoretically be possible, although difficult, for them to push a software update to phones that would stop TikTok from working, noted Caitlin Chin, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
To be sure, users would still be able to get around the bans to view TikTok content and download it from other sources by using virtual private networks that mask the location of a device. But for most users “who are not technically savvy, [a ban] would essentially eliminate TikTok,” Chin said.
One option the U.S. government may be encouraging is for TikTok to spin off from its Beijing parent so it can be acquired by a U.S. company. But the list of suitors for TikTok could be short, with the service likely costing between $40 billion and $100 billion, according to Business Insider, while any deal would likely attract scrutiny from antitrust enforcers.
“Any company interested in buying TikTok needs to be very wealthy and have a high enough risk tolerance, because there’s a good chance this deal is not going through,” Chin said.
She added, “Any acquisition of this size is almost certainly going to raise antitrust concerns. That rules out Meta and YouTube, which is owned by Google. I don’t think it would be easy.”
Industry analysts told Insider that both Microsoft and Oracle were potential buyers. U.S.-based Oracle is currently working with TikTok on its efforts to segregate Americans’ data to its servers. It had previously put together a bid for TikTok in 2020, when the Trump administration tried to force a divestiture.
Can the government ban an app?
During the Trump administration, the federal government moved to ban network hardware made by Huawei and ZTE, two Chinese telecom gear manufacturers, on national security grounds. In 2020, CFIUS also pressured the Chinese owner of Grindr to sell the dating app to a U.S.-based company.
But a move to outright ban a software program would be unprecedented, lawyers and technologists said.
“I can’t even think of a precedent where you have a platform with more than 100 million users out there all of a sudden get banned,” said CFRA’s Zino. “This would absolutely draw the ire of the Chinese government.”
The American Civil Liberties Union, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and other civil liberties groups strongly oppose the bill banning TikTok.
“We’re talking about not just the hundreds of millions of Americans expressing themselves on the platform, but the many more who are getting information from it,” said Ryan Calo, a law and technology professor at the University of Washington. “It would be obviously unconstitutional for the United States to shut down communications with American citizens because they disagree with the content.”
What is the U.S. government so worried about?
The government’s concerns fall into three major groups, Calo said.
Politicians have said that, as a subsidiary of a Chinese company, TikTok could be pressured to hand over sensitive information on Americans to the Chinese government or be used by China’s leadership as a propaganda tool.
For instance, China could purportedly use TikTok to gather sensitive information about Americans’ likes and dislikes for political purposes — as happened with user information on Facebook in the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The app could also potentially be used to install spyware or other malicious software on Americans’ phones, Calo said, or to launch phishing attacks.
There’s no evidence that TikTok is being used maliciously, nor that propaganda is being funneled through the app, experts told CBS MoneyWatch. However, the app has used some questionable practices. TikTok’s operating documents, revealed by The Intercept and The Guardian in 2020, showed that moderators were instructed to suppress certain political discussions, such as mentions of Tiananmen Square or posts that were otherwise embarrassing to Chinese government officials.
The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that trackers made by TikTok’s parent company were found on 30 state government websites. Tracking pixels, also offered by Meta, Google and smaller websites, helps site administrators measure the effectiveness of ads, but they could also relay sensitive information about a person’s online activity.
What’s more, executives at TikTok accessed personal information of two journalists in an attempt to locate a sensitive information leak, the New York Times has reported. (American companies, notably Uber, have been guilty of similar infractions.) TikTok said it fired the employees involved and would cooperate with any government investigation.
Would changing TikTok’s ownership make Americans safer?
Experts say that, without restricting data collection more broadly, changing TikTok’s owner is unlikely to accomplish much.
“Passing a bill specific to TikTok isn’t going to do very much, but the best thing it can do is get people talking on the national level about privacy,” said Anton Dahbura, co-director of the Johns Hopkins University Institute for Assured Autonomy. “Until policies change, there are uncountable ways to obtain user data.”
He added, “We need to look more closely at the marketplace for user data and determine what’s OK and what’s not.”
Civil liberties advocates have seized on the TikTok debate to push Congress for data privacy laws, which it has so far failed to do despite bipartisan concerns about widespread data collection.
“The No. 1 thing Congress can do to support privacy is support stronger regulations across all industries,” Chin said. “Mobile apps in the U.S. are very under-regulated. They build their business on collecting vast amounts of personal information, and instead of charging users they monetize their information and sell advertising based upon it.
“There’s nothing to legally stop either Grindr or any other U.S. company from sharing information with just about anybody,” she said.
Shou Chew, the CEO of TikTok, testified before Congress on Thursday. Lawmakers focused their questioning on data security and content moderation for children, but frequently interrupted Chou throughout his four hours of testimony. CBS News Congressional Correspondent Nikole Killion has the latest on the hearing and plans for lawmakers to introduce legislation.
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
The U.K. plans to ban TikTok on government phones following similar moves in the U.S. and European Union.
Dan Kitwood | Getty Images News | Getty Images
LONDON — The United Kingdom on Thursday announced plans to ban the use of Chinese-owned video app TikTok on government corporate devices.
Cabinet office minister Oliver Dowden said that, following a review by Britain’s cybersecurity experts, it is “clear that there could be a risk around how sensitive government data is accessed and used by certain platforms.”
Dowden added that apps collect huge amounts of data on users, including contacts and location. On government devices, that “data can be sensitive,” he said.
“The security of sensitive government information must come first, so today we are banning this app on government devices. The use of other data-extracting apps will be kept under review,” the minister said in a press statement.
The TikTok ban begins with immediate effect, according to Dowden, who noted that the move was “precautionary.”
He confirmed the ban would not extend to personal devices for government employees. “This is a proportionate move based on a specific risk with government devices.”
Exemptions for the use of TikTok on government devices are being implemented where necessary for work purposes, but “will only be granted by security teams on a case-by-case basis, with ministerial clearance as appropriate, and with security mitigations put in place,” the government said.
The minister also said that government devices will only be able to access third-party apps that are on a pre-approved list.
Britain’s move follows similar rules in the U.S. and European Union. In late February, the White House gave government agencies 30 days to make sure TikTok was not installed on federal devices. The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, also banned employees from installing TikTok on corporate and personal devices.
Lawmakers in Washington have repeatedly expressed concern that American user data from TikTok could be sent to China and get into the hands of the government in Beijing.
TikTok has, on several occasions, highlighted the work they’re doing to protect U.S. user data. The company unveiled “Project Texas” last year to “fully safeguard user data and U.S. national security interests.”
TikTok said it is working with U.S. firm Oracle to store all U.S. data by default on the American firm’s cloud, in a move to assuage Washington’s fears.
Pressure is mounting globally on TikTok. The U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) told ByteDance to sell its shares in TikTok, or the app could face a U.S. ban. Any ban would choke TikTok off from the massive American market.
WASHINGTON — A highly anticipated bipartisan Senate bill to give the president the authority to respond to threats posed by TikTok and companies like it will be unveiled Tuesday afternoon by Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, a committee spokeswoman told CNBC.
The Virginia Democrat will hold a 3 p.m. ET press conference with South Dakota Republican Sen. John Thune, the lead co-sponsor of the legislation.
The precise text of the legislation has yet to be released, but Warner suggested this past weekend that the bill will not be limited simply to reining in TikTok, which is owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance.
“In terms of foreign technology coming into America, we’ve got to have a systemic approach to make sure we can ban or prohibit it when necessary,” Warner said on Fox News Sunday.
“TikTok is one of the potentials,” that could be targeted by the bill, Warner said. “They are taking data from Americans, not keeping it safe.”
“But what worries me more with TikTok is that this could be a propaganda tool. The kind of videos you see would promote ideological issues,” he added.
Warner’s bill comes nearly a week after the House Foreign Affairs Committee advanced a Republican-sponsored bill that aims to do much of the same thing.
The House legislation passed the GOP-controlled committee 24-16 along party lines, with unanimous GOP support and no Democratic votes.
Dubbed the Deterring America’s Technological Adversaries, or DATA, Act, the House bill mandates that the president impose broad sanctions on companies based in or controlled by China that engage in the transfer of the “sensitive personal data” of Americans to entities or individuals based in, or controlled by, China.
And while the DATA Act has advanced beyond its committee of jurisdiction, it was unclear Monday when, or if, it would receive a vote in the full House.
Bills that authorize U.S. President Joe Biden to rein in Chinese companies that collect Americans’ personal data have gained steam in recent months, as talks between TikTok and the Treasury Department’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. have stalled.
CFIUS, which evaluates risks associated with foreign investment deals, is scrutinizing ByteDance’s 2017 purchase of Musical.ly.
TikTok hopes the CFIUS probe will ultimately result in a deal between the company and the government to address data privacy issues while protecting the company’s ability to operate in the United States.
“The swiftest and most thorough way to address national security concerns is for CFIUS to adopt the proposed agreement that we worked with them on for nearly two years,” TikTok spokeswoman Brooke Oberwetter told CNBC last week.
But as the CFIUS probe drags on without resolution, the White House has reportedly begun to focus more energy on the potential of Congress to clear a legal path for Biden to take action against companies that pose a national security threat.
Within the administration, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo has emerged as a point person in this effort.
“There’s a number of members in the U.S. Senate who are thinking hard about what’s the right way to protect American national security,” Raimondo said in a recent interview with Bloomberg News.
“We will work with Congress to figure out the right way to legislate to protect America from these concerns,” she added.
Last Monday, the Biden administration released new implementation rules for a TikTok ban that applies only to federal government-owned devices, which was passed by Congress in December.
TikTok’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, is scheduled to appear as a witness at a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on March 23.
The Senate has unanimously approved legislation that would ban the use of TikTok on government phones and devices as part of the push to combat security concerns related to the Chinese-owned social media company. What do you think?
“God help the staffer who has to explain to Biden what he’s signing.”
Samantha Graham, Textiles Coordinator
“Good. I prefer our congress people’s data to be stolen by an American company.”
James Gomez, Medical Librarian
“Now the only hurdle is teaching senile legislators how to delete an app from their phone.”
