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  • White House says deal to put TikTok under US ownership could be finalized in South Korea

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    By BARBARA ORTUTAY, AP Technology Writer

    The Trump administration has been signaling that it may have finally reached a deal with China to keep TikTok running in the U.S., with the two countries finalizing it as soon as Thursday.

    President Donald Trump is visiting South Korea, where he will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping to try to de-escalate a trade war.

    Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CBS’s “Face the Nation” Sunday that the two leaders will “consummate that transaction on Thursday in Korea.”

    If it happens, the deal would mark the end of months of uncertainty about the fate of the popular video-sharing platform in the United States. After wide bipartisan majorities in Congress passed — and President Joe Biden signed — a law that would ban TikTok in the U.S. if it did not find a new owner in the place of China’s ByteDance, the platform was set to go dark on the law’s January deadline. For a several hours, it did. But on his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order to keep it running while his administration tries to reach an agreement for the sale of the company.

    Three more executive orders followed, as Trump, without a clear legal basis, continued to extend the deadline for a TikTok deal. The second was in April, when White House officials believed they were nearing a deal to spin off TikTok into a new company with U.S. ownership that fell apart after China backed out following Trump’s tariff announcement. The third came in June, then another in September, which Trump said would allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States in a way that meets national security concerns.

    Trump’s order was meant to enable an American-led group of investors to buy the app from China’s ByteDance, though the deal also requires China’s approval.

    However, TikTok deal is “not really a big thing for Xi Jinping,” said Bonnie Glaser, managing director of the German Marshall Fund’s Indo-Pacific program, during a media briefing Tuesday. “(China is) happy to let (Trump) declare that they have finally kept a deal. Whether or not that deal will protect the data of Americans is a big question going forward.”

    “A big question mark for the United States, of course, is whether this is consistent with U.S. law since there was a law passed by Congress,” Glaser said.

    About 43% of U.S. adults under the age of 30 say they regularly get news from TikTok, higher than any other social media app, including YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, according to a Pew Research Center report published in September.

    Americans are also more closely divided on what to do about TikTok than they were two years ago.

    A recent Pew Research Center survey found that about one-third of Americans said they supported a TikTok ban, down from 50% in March 2023. Roughly one-third said they would oppose a ban, and a similar percentage said they weren’t sure.

    Among those who said they supported banning the social media platform, about 8 in 10 cited concerns over users’ data security being at risk as a major factor in their decision, according to the report.

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  • Department of Justice sues TikTok, accusing the company of illegally collecting children’s data

    Department of Justice sues TikTok, accusing the company of illegally collecting children’s data

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    The Justice Department sued TikTok on Friday, accusing the company of violating children’s online privacy law and running afoul of a settlement it had reached with another federal agency. The complaint, filed together with the Federal Trade Commission in a California federal court, comes as the U.S. and the prominent social media company are embroiled in yet another legal battle that will determine if – or how – TikTok will continue to operate in the country. Related video above: About 3 in 5 Americans View TikTok as a Threat to National Security, PEW Research Center study findsThe latest lawsuit focuses on allegations that TikTok, a trend-setting platform popular among young users, and its China-based parent company ByteDance violated a federal law that requires kid-oriented apps and websites to get parental consent before collecting personal information of children under 13.TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment. “This action is necessary to prevent the defendants, who are repeat offenders and operate on a massive scale, from collecting and using young children’s private information without any parental consent or control,” Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, said in a statement.The U.S. decided to file the lawsuit following an investigation by the FTC that looked into whether the companies were complying with a previous settlement involving TikTok’s predecessor, Musical.ly.In 2019, the federal government sued Musical.ly, alleging it violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, by failing to notify parents about its collection and use of personal information for kids under 13.That same year, Musical.ly — acquired by ByteDance in 2017 and merged with TikTok — agreed to pay $5.7 million to resolve those allegations. The two companies were also subject to a court order requiring them to comply with COPPA, which the government says hasn’t happened. In the complaint, the Justice Department and the FTC allege TikTok has knowingly allowed children to create accounts and retained their personal information without notifying their parents. This practice extends to accounts created in “Kids Mode,” a version of TikTok for children under 13, Justice said in a press release explaining the lawsuit. The two agencies allege the information collected included activities on the app and other identifiers used to build user profiles. They also accuse TikTok of sharing the data with other companies – such as Meta’s Facebook and an analytics company called AppsFlyer – to persuade “Kids Mode” users to be on the platform more, a practice TikTok called “re-targeting less active users.” The complaint says TikTok also allowed children to create accounts without having to provide their age, or obtain parental approval, by using credentials from third-party services. It classified these as “age unknown” accounts, which the agencies say have grown into millions.After parents discovered some of their children’s accounts and asked for them to be deleted, federal officials said their requests were not honored. In a press release explaining the lawsuit, Justice said the alleged violations have resulted in millions of children under 13 using the regular TikTok app, allowing them to interact with adults and access adult content. In March, a person with the matter had told the AP the FTC’s investigation was also looking into whether TikTok violated a portion of federal law that prohibits “unfair and deceptive” business practices by denying that individuals in China had access to U.S. user data. Those allegations were not included in the complaint, which is seeking civil penalties and injunctive relief.

    The Justice Department sued TikTok on Friday, accusing the company of violating children’s online privacy law and running afoul of a settlement it had reached with another federal agency.

    The complaint, filed together with the Federal Trade Commission in a California federal court, comes as the U.S. and the prominent social media company are embroiled in yet another legal battle that will determine if – or how – TikTok will continue to operate in the country.

    Related video above: About 3 in 5 Americans View TikTok as a Threat to National Security, PEW Research Center study finds

    The latest lawsuit focuses on allegations that TikTok, a trend-setting platform popular among young users, and its China-based parent company ByteDance violated a federal law that requires kid-oriented apps and websites to get parental consent before collecting personal information of children under 13.

    TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    “This action is necessary to prevent the defendants, who are repeat offenders and operate on a massive scale, from collecting and using young children’s private information without any parental consent or control,” Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, said in a statement.

    The U.S. decided to file the lawsuit following an investigation by the FTC that looked into whether the companies were complying with a previous settlement involving TikTok’s predecessor, Musical.ly.

    In 2019, the federal government sued Musical.ly, alleging it violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, by failing to notify parents about its collection and use of personal information for kids under 13.

    That same year, Musical.ly — acquired by ByteDance in 2017 and merged with TikTok — agreed to pay $5.7 million to resolve those allegations. The two companies were also subject to a court order requiring them to comply with COPPA, which the government says hasn’t happened.

    In the complaint, the Justice Department and the FTC allege TikTok has knowingly allowed children to create accounts and retained their personal information without notifying their parents. This practice extends to accounts created in “Kids Mode,” a version of TikTok for children under 13, Justice said in a press release explaining the lawsuit.

    The two agencies allege the information collected included activities on the app and other identifiers used to build user profiles. They also accuse TikTok of sharing the data with other companies – such as Meta’s Facebook and an analytics company called AppsFlyer – to persuade “Kids Mode” users to be on the platform more, a practice TikTok called “re-targeting less active users.”

    The complaint says TikTok also allowed children to create accounts without having to provide their age, or obtain parental approval, by using credentials from third-party services. It classified these as “age unknown” accounts, which the agencies say have grown into millions.

    After parents discovered some of their children’s accounts and asked for them to be deleted, federal officials said their requests were not honored. In a press release explaining the lawsuit, Justice said the alleged violations have resulted in millions of children under 13 using the regular TikTok app, allowing them to interact with adults and access adult content.

    In March, a person with the matter had told the AP the FTC’s investigation was also looking into whether TikTok violated a portion of federal law that prohibits “unfair and deceptive” business practices by denying that individuals in China had access to U.S. user data.

    Those allegations were not included in the complaint, which is seeking civil penalties and injunctive relief.

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  • TikTok faces a ban in the US, Tesla profits drop and healthcare data leaks | TechCrunch

    TikTok faces a ban in the US, Tesla profits drop and healthcare data leaks | TechCrunch

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    Welcome, folks, to Week in Review (WiR), TechCrunch’s regular newsletter covering this week’s noteworthy happenings in tech.

    TikTok’s fate in the U.S. looks uncertain after President Joe Biden signed a bill that included a deadline for ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, to divest itself of TikTok within nine months or face a ban on distributing it in the U.S. Ivan writes about how the impact of TikTok bans in other countries could signal what’s to come stateside.

    Meanwhile, fallout from the Change Healthcare hack continues. Change, a subsidiary of health insurance giant UnitedHealth, confirmed this week that the ransomware attack targeting it earlier this year resulted in a huge theft of Americans’ private health info, possibly covering “a substantial proportion” of Americans.

    And Tesla profits dropped 55% as the EV company contends with increased pressure from hybrid carmakers. The automaker’s growth plan is centered around mysterious cheaper EVs scheduled to launch next year — as well as perhaps a robotaxi. But a recall on the Cybertruck for faulty accelerator pedals certainly won’t help in the interim.

    Lots else happened. We recap it all in this edition of WiR — but first, a reminder to sign up to receive the WiR newsletter in your inbox every Saturday.

    News

    Amazon grocery plan: Amazon launched a new unlimited grocery delivery subscription in the U.S. The plan, which costs $9.99 per month for Amazon Prime users, comes with free deliveries for grocery orders over $35 across Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods Market and other local grocery retailers.

    California drones grounded: In more Amazon news, the tech giant confirmed that it’s ending Prime Air drone delivery operations in Lockeford, California. The Central California town of 3,500 was the company’s second U.S. drone delivery site after College Station, Texas; Amazon didn’t offer any details around the setback.

    Fisker plans layoffs: Fisker says it’s planning more layoffs less than two months after cutting 15% of its workforce, as the EV startup scrambles to raise cash to stay alive. Fisker expects to seek bankruptcy protection within the next 30 days if it can’t come up with the money.

    Stripe expansion: Among a slew of other announcements at its Sessions conference in San Francisco, Stripe said that it’ll be de-coupling payments from the rest of its financial services stack. Given that Stripe previously required businesses to be payments customers in order to use any of its other products, that’s a big change.

    Analysis

    Rabbit hands on: Brian writes about the R1, the first gizmo from AI startup R1. The $199 price point, touchscreen and funky aesthetic from storied design firm Teenage Engineering make the R1 far more accessible than Humane’s Ai Pin, he concludes.

    Lab-grown diamonds: Pascal, an Andreessen Horowitz-backed startup, claims it can make high-end jewelry accessible by using lab-grown diamonds chemically and physically akin to natural diamonds but that cost one-twentieth of the price.

    AI poetry: An experiment called the Poetry Camera — an actual, physical camera — combines open source technology with playful design and artistic vision. Instead of merely capturing images, the Poetry Camera arranges thought-provoking, AI-generated stanzas based on the visuals it encounters.

    Rippling deep dive: Connie interviewed Parker Conrad, the CEO of workforce management startup Rippling, on the company’s new $200 million funding round, new San Francisco lease (the second biggest to be signed in the city this year) and more.

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    Kyle Wiggers

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  • House votes in favor of bill that could ban TikTok, sending it onward to Senate

    House votes in favor of bill that could ban TikTok, sending it onward to Senate

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    The US House of Representatives passed a bill on Saturday that could either see TikTok banned in the country or force its sale. A revised version of the bill, which previously passed the House in March but later stalled in Senate, was roped in with a foreign aid package this time around, likely meaning it will now be treated as a higher priority item. The bill originally gave TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, six months to sell the app if it’s passed into law or TikTok would be banned from US app stores. Under the revised version, ByteDance would have up to a year to divest.

    The bill passed with a vote of 360-58 in the House, according to AP. It’ll now move on to the Senate, which could vote on it in just a matter of days. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said today that the Senate is working to reach an agreement on when the next vote will be for the foreign aid package that the TikTok bill is attached to, but it is expected to happen this coming Tuesday. President Joe Biden has previously said he would support the bill if Congress passes it.

    The bill paints TikTok as a national security threat due to its ties to China. There are roughly 170 million US users on the app, at least according to TikTok, and ByteDance isn’t expected to let them go without a fight. In a statement posted on X earlier this week, the TikTok Policy account said such a law would “trample the free speech rights” of these users, “devastate 7 million businesses, and shutter a platform that contributes $24 billion to the U.S. economy, annually.” Critics of the bill have also argued that banning TikTok would do little in the way of actually protecting Americans’ data.

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    Cheyenne MacDonald

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  • House passes $95 billion Ukraine, Israel aid package after months of struggle

    House passes $95 billion Ukraine, Israel aid package after months of struggle

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    WASHINGTON — The House is pushing swiftly through a series of votes in a rare Saturday session to approve $95 billion in foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and other U.S. allies, Democrats and Republicans joining together after a grueling monthslong fight over renewed American support for repelling Russia’s invasion.

    With overwhelming support, the House approved the Ukraine portion, a $61 billion aid package, in a strong showing of American backing as lawmakers race to deliver a fresh round of U.S. support to the war-torn ally. Some lawmakers cheered, waiving blue-and-yellow flags of Ukraine.

    The $26 billion package aiding Israel and providing humanitarian relief to citizens of Gaza also easily cleared. Each segment of the aid package faced an up-or-down vote. A national security bill that includes a provision forcing sale of the popular platform TikTok was quickly approved, as was another supporting Indo-Pacific allies.

    The unusual process is allowing unique coalitions to form around the bills, pushing them forward. The whole package will go to the Senate, where passage in the coming days is nearly assured. President Joe Biden has promised to sign it immediately.

    “The eyes of the world are upon us, and history will judge what we do here and now,” said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

    The weekend scene presented a striking display of congressional action after months of dysfunction and stalemate fueled by Republicans, who hold the majority but are deeply split over foreign aid, particularly for Ukraine as it fights Russia’s invasion. Speaker Mike Johnson, putting his job on the line, is relying on Democratic support to ensure the military and humanitarian package is approved, and help flows to the U.S. allies.

    The morning opened with a somber and serious debate and unusual sense of purpose, Republican and Democratic leaders united to urge swift passage that would ensure the United States supports its allies and remains a leader on the world stage. The House’s visitor galleries crowded with onlookers.

    “Sometimes when you are living history, as we are today, you don’t understand the significance of the actions of the votes that we make on this House floor, of the effect that it will have down the road,” said New York Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “This is a historic moment.”

    Passage through the House would clear away the biggest hurdle to Biden’s funding request, first made in October as Ukraine’s military supplies began to run low. The GOP-controlled House, skeptical of U.S. support for Ukraine, struggled for months over what to do, first demanding that any assistance be tied to policy changes at the U.S.-Mexico order, only to immediately reject a bipartisan Senate offer along those very lines.

    Reaching an endgame has been an excruciating lift for Johnson that has tested both his resolve and his support among Republicans, with a small but growing number now openly urging his removal from the speaker’s office. Yet congressional leaders cast the votes as a turning point in history – an urgent sacrifice as U.S. allies are beleaguered by wars and threats from continental Europe to the Middle East to the Indo-Pacific.

    “The only thing that has kept terrorists and tyrants at bay is the perception of a strong America, that we would stand strong,” Johnson said this week. “This is a very important message that we are going to send the world.”

    Opponents, particularly the hard-right Republicans from Johnson’s majority, argued that the U.S. should focus on the home front, addressing domestic border security and the nation’s rising debt load, and they warned against spending more money, which largely flows to American defense manufacturers, to produce weaponry used overseas.

    Still, Congress has seen a stream of world leaders visit in recent months, from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, all but pleading with lawmakers to approve the aid. Globally, the delay left many questioning America’s commitment to its allies.

    At stake has also been one of Biden’s top foreign policy priorities – halting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s advance in Europe. After engaging in quiet talks with Johnson, the president quickly endorsed Johnson’s plan this week, paving the way for Democrats to give their rare support to clear the procedural hurdles needed for a final vote.

    “We have a responsibility, not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans to defend democracy wherever it is at risk,” the House Democratic leader, New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, said during the debate.

    While aid for Ukraine will likely win a majority in both parties, a significant number of progressive Democrats are expected to vote against the bill aiding Israel as they demand an end to the bombardment of Gaza that has killed thousands of civilians.

    At the same time, Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has loomed large over the fight, weighing in from afar via social media statements and direct phone calls with lawmakers as he tilts the GOP to a more isolationist stance with his “America First” brand of politics.

    Ukraine’s defense once enjoyed robust, bipartisan support in Congress, but as the war enters its third year, a bulk of Republicans oppose further aid. Trump ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., offered an amendment to zero out the money, but it was rejected.

    At one point, Trump’s opposition essentially doomed the bipartisan Senate proposal on border security. This past week, Trump also issued a social media post that questioned why European nations were not giving more money to Ukraine, though he spared Johnson from criticism and said Ukraine’s survival was important.

    Still, the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus has derided the legislation as the “America Last” foreign wars package and urged lawmakers to defy Republican leadership and oppose it because the bills do not include border security measures.

    Johnson’s hold on the speaker’s gavel has also grown more tenuous in recent days as three Republicans, led by Greene, supported a “motion to vacate” that can lead to a vote on removing the speaker. Egged on by far-right personalities, she is also being joined by a growing number of lawmakers including Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who is urging Johnson to voluntarily step aside, and Paul Gosar, R-Ariz.

    The speaker’s office has been working furiously to drum up support for the bill, as well as for Johnson, R-La.

    The package includes several Republican priorities that Democrats endorse, or at least are willing to accept. Those include proposals that allow the U.S. to seize frozen Russian central bank assets to rebuild Ukraine; impose sanctions on Iran, Russia, China and criminal organizations that traffic fentanyl; and legislation to require the China-based owner of the popular video app TikTok to sell its stake within a year or face a ban in the United States.

    Still, the all-out push to get the bills through Congress is a reflection not only of politics, but realities on the ground in Ukraine. Top lawmakers on national security committees, who are privy to classified briefings, have grown gravely concerned about the situation in recent weeks. Russia has increasingly used satellite-guided gliding bombs – which allow planes to drop them from a safe distance – to pummel Ukrainian forces beset by a shortage of troops and ammunition.

    Copyright © 2024 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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    AP

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  • Ohio Small Business Owners Fear a TikTok Ban Would Take a Hit to Their Sales

    Ohio Small Business Owners Fear a TikTok Ban Would Take a Hit to Their Sales

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    click to enlarge

    “Discoverability is high on a platform like that”

    Ohio small business owners worry banning TikTok could be bad for business.

    The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill earlier this month that would lead to a nationwide ban of TikTok — if its China-based owner ByteDance doesn’t sell its stake. Lawmakers are worried ByteDance would share user data with the Chinese government or push propaganda and misinformation. 

    President Joe Biden said he would sign the House bill (which is currently in the Senate), even though his reelection campaign has an account on the popular video app. 

    But the Ohio Capital Journal talked to a handful of small business owners around Ohio that rely on TikTok to promote their products and build community. 

    “TikTok is the best social media platform for small businesses without a doubt,” said Kimberly Ochsenbein, who owns Akron Lights Candle Co. 

    More than 70% of her customers come from TikTok and she is concerned her business might not survive if TikTok is banned. 

    “The viral potential and the expanded reach that you get from TikTok, you can’t get that from any other social media platform,” Ochsenbein said, who uses the app to interact with viewers and give them a behind the scenes look at her candles.

    TikTok is appealing because of the quick and original nature of the videos, said Alexa Fox, an associate professor of marketing at the University of Akron who teaches a social media marketing class. 

    “It’s intriguing to people because they’re easy to watch,” Fox said. 

    TikTok can be especially appealing to small businesses because there is so much potential to gain traction quickly, Fox said. 

    “Discoverability is high on a platform like that,” she said.

    Akron Lights Candle Co.

    Ochsenbein launched her business in 2021 as a way to make some extra money as a stay at home mom. Her candles resemble various drinks, desserts, and foods. 

    “I tried to figure out a way to make my candles stand out instead of just a traditional jarred candle that you can buy anywhere,” Ochsenbein said. 

    She joined TikTok in 2021 as a way to edit her videos for her other social media platforms, but then her videos started going viral with millions of views and she watched her sales spike.  

    “I started posting more and more,” she said. “And that’s the good thing about TikTok is you can make a huge community of your business, you can grow a quick community, and it has viral potential that goes beyond anything that I ever thought possible.”

    Coco’s Confectionary Kitchen

    Adrianna Wise launched her bakery business Coco’s Confectionary Kitchen with her mom and sister in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and started using TikTok that same year to promote their Columbus-based business.

    “You actually get to see that you’re having a global reach, which is even better for your brand recognition and your business,” she said. “It’s the elites, there’s nothing like it.”

    She uses her TikTok account to show her followers baking tips and tricks and how she makes her cakes, and in turn, she uses TikTok to learn the latest trends. 

    “A lot of us use TikTok as a search engine,” she said. “Without TikTok being a platform, not only is your business going to experience a deficit in their overall marketing agency, but I think also in the way that they’re able to be innovative and creative.”

    About half of her content on TikTok goes viral and people will often reach out to with orders her after seeing her on TikTok or people will send her messages asking for specific baking advice. 

    “It’s been beneficial for me too because I’ve helped influence a new generation of bakers,” Wise said.

    Banning TikTok could bring small businesses to a standstill, she said.

    “I know that it’s very difficult to have such a humongous change happen to your (marketing ) strategy,” Wise said. 

    Hello Happily Co.

    Sarah Hall opened her boutique Hello Happily Co. in Greenville 2018 and started using TikTok to promote her business a year later. But it wasn’t until the COVID-19 pandemic that her online sales increased as her videos really took and became viral.

    “I mostly use it to help showcase different kinds of styles,” she said. “I just have fun with it.”

    Hall tries to post a video once a day and people from Illinois, Michigan and Kentucky have traveled to the store after seeing her TikToks.

    Sixty percent of their current sales are from online orders and TikTok is their main source of social media to the website, so a TikTok ban could mean a loss of sales and reaching potential customers, she said. 

    “Right now, we really don’t pay for any social media marketing, any ads, anything like that, and everything was organic for us,” Hall said. “It could definitely hurt the business — sales wise and even getting exposure to people that might be looking for something like us but can’t find it as easily.”

    Ohio House Bill 17

    In Ohio, House Bill 17 would prohibit state employees from using apps like TikTok on their state-issued devices. The bill would not apply to state employees personal devices. 

    State Rep. Jean Schmidt, R-Loveland, and Rep. D.J. Swearingen, R-Huron, are co-sponsors on the bill. HB 17 passed in the House over the summer and is the Senate Financial Institutions and Technology Committee. 

    The bill wouldn’t just limit TikTok. It would also ban certain apps like Weibo, Xiaohongshu and Alipay among others. It does take particular aim at TikTok and the messaging app WeChat by prohibiting any service “developed or provided by their respective parent companies ByteDance and Tencent.”

    Originally published by the Ohio Capital Journal. Republished here with permission.

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    Megan Henry, Ohio Capital Journal

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  • Gov. Greg Abbott Is Sued For His TikTok Ban on College Campuses

    Gov. Greg Abbott Is Sued For His TikTok Ban on College Campuses

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    A group of Texas professors filed a lawsuit Thursday against Gov. Greg Abbott (R), alleging that his ban on TikTok at Texas public universities violates the First Amendment and prevents professors from conducting their TikTok-related research.

    “Banning public university faculty from studying and teaching with TikTok is not a sensible or constitutional response to concerns about data-collection and disinformation,” Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, said in a statement. “Texas must pursue its objectives with tools that don’t impose such a heavy burden on First Amendment rights. Privacy legislation would be a good place to start.”

    The lawsuit was filed by the Knight Institute on behalf the Coalition for Independent Technology Research, which is a nonprofit that was founded in 2022 “to advance, defend, and sustain the right to study the impact of technology on society.”

    Texas banned TikTok in December because of “security risks associated with the use of TikTok,” Abbott said in a news release.

    According to the lawsuit, the TikTok ban is “unconstitutional” and “seriously impeding” college faculty from completing any TikTok-related research “that would illuminate or counter the data-collection and disinformation-related practices that the ban is ostensibly meant to address.”

    The ban has forced Jacqueline Vickery, an associate professor in the Department of Media Arts at the University of North Texas, to change her research, which focuses on how “young people use social media for informal learning, activism, and self-expression,” as well as change the way she teaches, according to the lawsuit.

    Abbott’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    At least 35 states have banned TikTok on state devices and networks, according to the Knight Institute. Montana became the first state to ban TikTok on all personal devices operating within the state.

    “Texas’s TikTok ban is an assault on academic freedom, which is the lifeblood of every university and a central concern of the First Amendment,” Ramya Krishnan, a senior staff attorney at the Knight Institute, said in a statement. “The court should make clear that Texas can’t shut down an important avenue of teaching and research at its public universities when there are far less intrusive measures that would secure its aims.”

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  • Why Did Montana Ban TikTok? Here’s When Ban Goes Into Effect | Entrepreneur

    Why Did Montana Ban TikTok? Here’s When Ban Goes Into Effect | Entrepreneur

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    After months of TikTok bans being enacted on college campuses and in state governments, the state of Montana on Wednesday became the first in the nation to ban the app entirely.

    Montana Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed the measure, which is scheduled to begin on Jan. 1, 2024. That gives Montana’s state government just seven months to figure out one key point: how to enforce it.

    A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers has shared concerns about how TikTok’s parent company, Beijing-based ByteDance, uses and stores its user data — and how much of it the Chinese government has access to. TikTok CEO Shou Chew testified to Congress in March, saying that U.S. data is being safeguarded. The company employs about 7,000 people in the U.S.

    But it looks like it did a little to quell lawmakers’ fears.

    “Today, Montana takes the most decisive action of any state to protect Montanans’ private data and sensitive personal information from being harvested by the Chinese Communist Party,” Gianforte said in a statement.

    After the announcement, the American Civil Liberties of Montana called the law unconstitutional, per the AP.

    TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter argued that the law infringes on people’s First Amendment rights.

    RELATED: TikTok CEO Testifies in House Hearing: We Are Building ‘Firewall’ Around U.S. Data

    “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,” Oberwetter said in a statement.

    How Does Montana’s TikTok Ban Work?

    Downloading the TikTok app in the state will be prohibited, and the government will fine an “entity” (the App Store or TikTok itself) $10,000 per day if someone accesses the app or is “offered the ability” to access or download. Although the law says the penalties won’t apply to users, this means Apple and Google would be liable for any violations in their app stores.

    If TikTok is sold to a company not “designated as a foreign adversary” by the U.S. federal government, then the law would become void.

    RELATED: Auburn University in Alabama Banned TikTok on School Wifi and University Devices

    How Can a TikTok Ban Be Enforced?

    Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen noted that the tech used to restrict online sports gambling apps in the state can be applied as a way to enforce the TikTok ban, but cybersecurity experts say “it will be extremely difficult — if not impossible — to adequately enforce the law,” per the AP.

    The new law will face legal challenges in the months ahead, but some experts are calling this a “preview for the rest of the country,” per the New York Times.

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    Entrepreneur Staff

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