Tag: TikTok

Facebook and TikTok are approving ads with ‘blatant’ misinformation about voting in midterms, researchers say | CNN Business

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New York
CNN Business
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Facebook and TikTok failed to block advertisements with “blatant” misinformation about when and how to vote in the US midterms, as well as about the integrity of the voting process, according to a new report from human rights watchdog Global Witness and the Cybersecurity for Democracy Team (C4D) at New York University.

In an experiment, the researchers submitted 20 ads with inaccurate claims to Facebook, TikTok and YouTube. The ads were targeted to battleground states such as Arizona and Georgia. While YouTube was able to detect and reject every test submission and suspend the channel used to post them, the other two platforms fared noticeably worse, according to the report.

TikTok approved 90% of ads that contained blatantly false or misleading information, the researchers found. Facebook, meanwhile, approved a “significant number,” according to the report.

The ads, posted in both English and Spanish, included information falsely stating that voting days would be extended and that social media accounts could double as a means of voter verification. The ads also contained claims designed to discourage voter turnout, such as claims that the election results could be hacked or the outcome was pre-decided.

The researchers withdrew the ads after going through the approval process, if they were approved, so the ads containing misinformation were not shown to users.

“YouTube’s performance in our experiment demonstrates that detecting damaging election disinformation isn’t impossible,” Laura Edelson, co-director of NYU’s C4D team, said in a statement with the report. “But all the platforms we studied should have gotten an ‘A’ on this assignment. We call on Facebook and TikTok to do better: stop bad information about elections before it gets to voters.”

In response to the report, a spokesperson for Facebook-parent Meta said the tests “were based on a very small sample of ads, and are not representative given the number of political ads we review daily across the world.” The spokesperson added: “Our ads review process has several layers of analysis and detection, both before and after an ad goes live.”

A TikTok spokesperson said the platform “is a place for authentic and entertaining content which is why we prohibit and remove election misinformation and paid political advertising from our platform. We value feedback from NGOs, academics, and other experts which helps us continually strengthen our processes and policies.”

Google did not immediately respond to CNN’s requests for comment.

While limited in scope, the experiment could renew concerns about the steps taken by some of the biggest social platforms to combat not just misinformation about candidates and issues but also seemingly clear cut misinformation about the process of voting itself, with just weeks to go before the midterms.

TikTok, whose influence and scrutiny in US politics has grown in recent election cycles, launched an Elections Center in August to “connect people who engage with election content to authoritative information,” including guidance on where and how to vote, and added labels to clearly identify content related to the midterm elections, according to a company blog post.

Last month, TikTok took additional steps to safeguard the veracity of political content ahead of the midterms. The platform began to require “mandatory verification” for political accounts based in the United States and rolled out a blanket ban on all political fundraising.

“As we have set out before, we want to continue to develop policies that foster and promote a positive environment that brings people together, not divide them,” Blake Chandlee, President of Global Business Solutions at TikTok, said in a blog post at the time. “We do that currently by working to keep harmful misinformation off the platform, prohibiting political advertising, and connecting our community with authoritative information about elections.”

Meta said in September that its midterm plan would include removing false claims as to who can vote and how, as well as calls for violence linked to an election. But Meta stopped short of banning claims of rigged or fraudulent elections, and the company told The Washington Post those types of claims will not be removed.

Google also took steps in September to protect against election misinformation, elevating trustworthy information and displaying it more prominently across services including search and YouTube.

The big social media companies typically rely on a mix of artificial intelligence systems and human moderators to vet the vast amount of posts on their platforms. But even with similar approaches and objectives, the study is a reminder that the platforms can differ wildly in their content enforcement actions.

According to the researchers, the only ad they submitted that TikTok rejected contained claims that voters had to have received a Covid-19 vaccination in order to vote. Facebook, on the other hand, accepted that submission.

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October 21, 2022
TikTok to raise age requirement for hosting livestreams and add adult-only streams

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TikTok will increase the minimum age requirement for livestreaming from 16 to 18 beginning on Nov. 23, and it will soon allow users to target adult audiences with stream content. The changes are part of the social media giant’s efforts to improve community safety.

“The foundation of TikTok is built on community trust and safety,” TikTok said on Monday. “To protect our users and creators and support their well-being, we constantly work to evolve the safeguards we put in place.”

Currently, any user over the age of 16 with at least 1,000 followers is able to host a TikTok livestream, or LIVE. Users who are 18 years old or older are also able to send and receive tips, allowing users to earn gratuities for their content.

The new adult audience feature for livestreaming is intended to “protect the younger members of our community as they start and build their online presence,” TikTok said, citing adult comedy routines and sensitive story content that would be better suited for users above the age of 18.

TikTok said it will add updated keyword features to further improve livestream safety.

“LIVE creators can already use our keyword filtering tool to limit comments they feel aren’t appropriate,” the social media company said. “In the coming weeks, we’re rolling out an updated version of this feature that will send a reminder to people and suggest new keywords they may want to consider adding to their filter list.”

TikTok also announced a new multi-guest LIVE experience, which will allow up to five others to join a user’s livestream, and has already been rolled out on the app.

“We have a vibrant and inspiring community on TikTok, and it’s important that our platform remains a safe, supportive, and joyful place for our community,” TikTok said.

TikTok, which originated China, has gained immense popularity since its debut in North America in 2017. As of August, more than two thirds of American teenagers have used TikTok, according to Pew Research data. The app has even been utilized by American politicians in electoral campaigns, prompting TikTok to ban campaign fundraising on the platform.

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October 19, 2022
TikTok reportedly plans to expand into music streaming service

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TikTok reportedly plans to expand into music streaming service – CBS News

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TikTok is reportedly looking to expand into the e-commerce and music world. Those close to negotiations say parent company ByteDance is aiming to integrate a service into the app that will rival Spotify or Apple Music. Business Insider senior media reporter Dan Whateley joins CBS News’ Errol Barnett and Elaine Quijano to tell us more.

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October 14, 2022
Transform Your Social Media Will These Content Marketing Practices

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Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Content marketing has become one of the mainstays of most brands’ digital marketing strategies. Relevant, relatable content draws users in and persuades them to visit a website, download an eBook or share their personal details. Social media channels are among the most popular outlets for content marketing across the U.S. But is your brand maximizing the power of your social media pages?

The rise of social media marketing

Over the last two decades, social media channels have transformed from platforms designed purely for entertainment and personal connections to powerful marketing tools. According to Statista, more than 90% of marketers in United States-based companies with 100 or more employees use social media as part of their content marketing strategy.

While the platforms had been designed to connect people to others, marketers quickly realized they were the perfect places to connect people to brands. At this time, more than 80% of the entire population of the United States has at least one social media networking profile, and social media usage continues to grow. Worldwide, more than four billion people are using social media channels.

Related: 10 Social-Media Marketing Strategies for Companies

As a result, content marketers cannot afford to ignore social media channels. The importance of this outlet is reflected in the marketing spend associated with social media. In 2021, U.S. marketers were expected to spend $17 billion on social media marketing. This marks an increase of ten billion compared to 2014.

This increase is a clear indicator of the growing importance of social media marketing. However, these digital marketing channels are not without challenges. Judging the effectiveness of content marketing on social media pages remains a concern for brands.

What makes social media content marketing effective?

Whether on social media or other channels, high-quality content marketing works by drawing an audience toward a brand. Rather than interrupting potential customers, as an advert would, great pieces of content solve a problem, offer users information they were looking for in a search query, or are otherwise helpful and relevant.

What effective content marketing on social media means in practice can vary from brand to brand. A compelling piece of content helps the brand achieve the goals set out in its content marketing strategy. Goals could include growing the subscriber numbers for a YouTube channel, generating white paper downloads, or increasing website traffic. If a brand’s content marketing helps achieve these targets, it is effective.

Related: 10 Laws of Social Media Marketing

Measuring effectiveness

Clearly defined, smart goals are a prerequisite of effective content marketing, but measuring effectiveness is equally important. For marketers, that means connecting pieces of content with outcomes and starting to isolate the factors that influence these outcomes.

Regarding social media marketing, many brands find that releasing content on specific days of the week or at set times influences their results. The reason is simple — consumers have preferred times for engaging with social media content. Without knowing what these times are, it is impossible to optimize campaigns for effectiveness. Measuring and reviewing the performance of each piece of content is critical.

How to improve the effectiveness of your social media content marketing

Timing content launches correctly is one aspect of improving the effectiveness of content marketing on social media. But there are several other factors that marketers can use to enhance the performance of their content marketing campaigns.

First and foremost, brands need to provide engaging content. Storytelling is one of the most effective ways of connecting with users and potential customers. Authentic stories touch their audience emotionally and build a deeper connection between brands and audiences than a simple list of facts can do. They also have the potential to inspire long-term customer loyalty.

The power of stories has been proven scientifically. By using storytelling to share a brand’s story, marketers are using one of humanity’s oldest traditions. Look closely, and it becomes obvious that the entire network of social media is built on the attraction between people and stories. Utilizing storytelling for content marketing is extremely useful to make a brand’s content marketing more effective.

Second, avoid focusing on your brand. This may sound wrong, but content marketing is not about what brand marketers try to promote. Instead, it is all about providing value for the audience. Marketers can provide value by sharing expertise or insights through their content. Focus on content only this brand can provide, and do not shy away from sharing opinions or viewpoints.

Related: 5 Steps to Creating a Killer Marketing Strategy

Third, it is important to be consistent in any content marketing efforts. When consumers or users choose to follow a brand, they are investing emotionally in that brand. With investment comes an expectation of a return on investment (ROI). Regular, relevant, helpful content that provides information not available anywhere else provides this kind of ROI.

Consistency applies to the regularity with which a brand publishes its content. Marketers must ensure their content creates a consistent image to establish a brand’s voice and values. Most brands have clearly defined brand values. The audiences of your content marketing should be able to recognize those principles through your content marketing on social media.

Fourth, remember that content includes more than words. Images, links, and videos are only three examples of media that can enrich a brand’s social media content marketing strategy and deliver stronger results.

Social media channels lend themselves to content marketing. These channels are excellent places to share brand stories, offer expertise and insights, and create a deeper connection with audiences. Measuring the effectiveness of existing social media content marketing is the first step toward increasing it through storytelling, focusing on the audience, being consistent, and enriching content.

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Jessica Wong

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October 13, 2022
TikTok wants to open warehouses | CNN Business

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CNN
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While seemingly every social media app is copying TikTok, TikTok now appears to be copying Amazon’s playbook.

TikTok appears to be looking to create a new logistics and warehousing network in the United States to support its e-commerce efforts, according to several job openings recently posted to its hiring site and LinkedIn page.

Like other social networks, TikTok has expanded into e-commerce to add revenue opportunities. TikTok currently offers a shopping option called TikTok Shop in select markets, including the UK and Indonesia, which lets creators and merchants sell products through the platform. It has also partnered with Shopify to enable shopping on the platform.

But with the latest job postings, which were first reported by Axios, TikTok seems to want to go even further. Instead of simply serving as a platform to reach customers, TikTok may be looking to provide logistical support to build what it calls “a brand new and better e-commerce experience.”

“By providing warehousing, delivery, and customer service returns, our mission is to help sellers improve their operational capability and efficiency, provide buyers a satisfying shopping experience and ensure fast and sustainable growth of TikTok Shop,” the company said in a job posting.

In one job posting, for example, the company says it’s looking for someone to “build the new fulfillment service from scratch” and be “responsible for the business development of fulfillment service of TikTok e-commerce logistics in US.”

Many of the roles are posted based out of Seattle, which is also home to Amazon’s first corporate headquarters. Amazon’s sprawling logistics and delivery network turned it into a central tool for numerous merchants and ensured it could offer a vast range of products with expedited deliveries.

A TikTok spokesperson declined to elaborate on the latest roles. In a statement to CNN, the spokesperson said the company is “focused on providing a valuable shopping experience in countries where TikTok Shop is currently offered across Southeast Asia and the UK, which includes providing merchants with a range of product features and delivery options.”

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October 13, 2022
The TikTok Butter Board Trend: Here Are The Dangers

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If you search TikTok for the hashtag #butterboard, you’ll get a butter-load of videos with a total … [+] of 236.9 million views and counting. (Photo: Screen capture from TikTok.)

From TikTok

Here’s a TikTok trend that you’d “butter” be careful about. It’s the “Butter board” trend that has folks slathering gobs of butter on cutting boards and dumping sauces, spices or fruits on top of said butter. They are then having people use pieces of bread to scoop up these concoction off the boards and into their mouths. If you search TikTok for the hashtag #butterboard, you’ll get a butter-load of videos with a total of 236.9 million views and counting. Before you deem this to be the best thing since sliced bread, though, you’d “butter” beware of the potential hazards of this spreading trend.

Now, TikTok videos such as the following are calling “butter boards” extensions of or even improvements over traditional charcuterie boards:

But there are several key differences between a “butter board” and a traditional charcuterie board, which is essentially a platter holding a bunch of cheeses, meats, dried fruits, and other things such as jams.

First of all, the whole “butter board” thing is not exactly above board. By smearing the butter into the wooden board, the butter is going into all those crack and crevices in the wood. This is very different from traditional charcuterie boards, where people don’t tend to smear brie, chevre, camembert cheddar, gouda, or manchego cheese into the board’s cracks. Cracks of any sort can be kind of gross. They tend to be dark and dank, providing good conditions for nasty microbes to grow. A study published in the Journal of Food Protection showed how easily bacteria such as Escherichia coli , Listeria innocua, L. monocytogenes, and Salmonella typhimurium can stay and multiply in wooden cutting boards. Think about that the next time you get the urge to lick the charcuterie board at a party.

Add butter at room temperature into the cracks in the wooden board and you’ve basically built a cheap motel for microbes to have their version of sexy time and reproduce. Being a breeding ground for bacteria is yet another reason why using butter that’s been sitting out for a while as toothpaste is not a great idea. Scooping up butter out of the cracks of a wooden board could in turn be scooping up a bunch of board bacteria that won’t be so bored once they get into your gastrointestinal tract. It could be like playing diarrhea roulette.

Butter smeared into a wooden board with cracks under room temperature could be a breeding ground for … [+] bacteria. (Photo: Getty)

getty

A second difference is that eating gobs of butter is not the same as eating some salami, prosciutto, Italian speck, or cheese. While munching on traditional charcuterie board components in moderation may be OK, butter in large amounts can be particularly unhealthy, being high in both calories and saturated fat. That’s why you don’t regularly see sticks of butter on a charcuterie board, eat butter sandwiches, or order butter as a topping on your pizza. So regularly eating a butter board could eventually put you at higher risk for obesity, hypertension, heart disease, cancer, and other chronic medical conditions.

A third difference is the potential for double-dipping, triple-dipping, quadruple dipping, and other types of communal contamination, assuming that you aren’t eating an entire butter board yourself. When a bunch of people are repeatedly smearing bread on a buttered-up surface, each can end up leaving his or her germs on board so to speak. This is very different from your typical charcuterie board situation where people tend to quickly grab the items that they want and not try to drive them into the board.

The “Butter board” trend has melted into other similar offshoots as well. Some folks have been spreading other smearable substances such as cream cheese, goat cheese, Nutella, and the always delightful vegemite on their wooden boards and topping them with all sorts of things.

Again before you get on board with any of these possibilities, think about the risks. If you’d like to enjoy some cream cheese or goat cheese mixed with other thing, eating it off of a wooden board is not all that it’s cracked up to be. Why not use a relatively non-porous surface like a properly glazed ceramic plate instead?

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Bruce Y. Lee, Senior Contributor

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October 10, 2022
Madonna’s latest TikTok video has people talking | CNN

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CNN
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Did Madonna just come out?

That’s the debate after she posted a video on her verified TikTok account.

In it, the legendary singer holds a pair of what appear to be pink panties with writing on the video which states, “If I miss, I’m Gay.”

Madonna then tosses the underwear towards a waste basket, misses and then gestures “Oh well.”

The video comes on the heels of the 64-year-old singer being spotted locking lips with Dominican rapper and content creator Tokischa, 26.

The pair are also pretty affectionate in the music video for “Hung Up on Tokischa,” which is a remix of Madonna’s 2005 single “Hung Up.”

Madonna has long been viewed as an ally of the LGBTQ+ community.

During an interview with The Advocate in 1991, Madonna said “I think everybody has a bisexual nature.”

CNN has reached out to her representatives for comment.

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October 10, 2022
YouTube Is Offering Cash to Lure ‘Shorts’ Creators

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TikTok is every other social media company’s problem these days — including YouTube. (And perhaps except BeReal.)

Anadolu Agency I Getty Images
YouTube and TikTok

On September 20, the Google-owned platform YouTube unveiled “Made on YouTube,” which discussed how it would compensate its new short-form creators, namely by lowering barriers to making money and aiming to give creators a larger share of the profits.

“We’re announcing more ways for creators to become partners, new ways to make money with Shorts, and a reimagining of how the music industry and creators work together,” the company wrote at the time.

The new policies would allow people to start monetizing videos earlier, at 1,000 subscribers and 10 million views over 90 days, the company said. For regular YouTubers, the threshold is 4,000 watched hours over 12 months and 1,000 subscribers.

TikTok came onto the scene in 2016 and soared in popularity during the pandemic, pushing Meta’s Facebook and Instagram to focus on short-form video. Last year, the company said it had more than 1 billion daily active users.

YouTube plans to gain some ground by bringing a host of short-term creators to the platform and see if their videos become more YouTube-like, a.k.a. longer, and thus more profitable for everyone as time goes on, Insider reported.

“A bunch of creators that tried to start on YouTube but didn’t get anywhere with 3- to 10-minute videos went to TikTok. Now those users may try to start on YouTube. If they keep at it, they become a long-form creator,” a former employee told the outlet.

Another employee who leads YouTube channels at a media organization told Insider the Shorts push could also hurt its wallet.

Shorter videos “will never be as lucrative as the long-form stuff,” they said. “If that dominates the YouTube landscape, it’ll be a problem for us.”

There have also been questions about YouTube’s plan to compensate Shorts creators. The “45%” of advertising revenue from videos, outlined in YouTube’s plan, attracted attention. But, it will be distributed based on views, and some unknown portion before that goes to music licensing.

“The revenue share remains the same, no matter if they use music or not,” the company said on its Shorts page.

The program will start taking applications for monetization in “early 2023,” according to YouTube.

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Gabrielle Bienasz

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October 10, 2022
Dumpy, the giant frog that went viral on TikTok, is actually fake — well, kinda | CNN

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CNN
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A video of a massive, banana-guzzling frog, easily the size of its owner’s head, garnered over 20 million views on TikTok. But it was all thanks to movie magic, according to its creator.

The video inspired shock and amazement. Posted to TikTok on Thursday, the clip shows videographer Lucas Peterson touching and feeding a huge amphibian named Dumpy.

But, as the Minnesota-based content creator explained to CNN, Dumpy, a 4-year-old Australian green tree frog, is actually only about the size of his palm. Peterson edited the video in Adobe Premiere to make him appear much larger.

There are also a “whole lot of perspective tricks going on” to help the video appear realistic, Peterson said.

He said he hoped to inspire debate over whether or not the clip was real – this kind of ambiguity increases engagement on his content. “It causes a question and more interaction, debate over whether it’s real or fake,” he said. He previously posted a similarly edited video of the supersized frog.

But still, he was surprised by the massive reach of Thursday’s enlarged Dumpy video. “I didn’t expect people to go that wild over a giant frog,” he said.

Peterson explained that the video was edited in the description of the original TikTok, writing: “His real size is about 4-5 inches he’s enlarged with vfx perspective tricks. I did all my editing in adobe premiere.” However, his disclaimer was buried around halfway into the video description – and as Peterson told CNN, copies of his original video without the caption also began circulating on TikTok, Twitter and Instagram, leading many viewers to believe the clip was real.

But the video’s viral fame has given Peterson an opportunity to share information about his semi-aquatic pets, he said. He maintains a “paludarium,” a kind of enclosed terrarium with aquatic features, that is home to Dumpy and two salamanders.

“This opened the door to help educate people about how great tanks and amphibians are,” he said. “It’s kind of a niche hobby.”

In the future, he plans to release more content starring Dumpy and his other amphibians. “Dumpy is still the same loveable frog you see on the screen, the only thing that’s different is he was enlarged,” he said.

So, while you don’t have to watch out for oversized frogs anytime soon, you might want to watch out for some editing in the next unbelievable viral video you see.

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October 9, 2022
TikTok to ban campaign fundraising, require

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Ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, TikTok announced Wednesday it is banning of campaign fundraising on its platform. It also announced new policies for political accounts, including “mandatory verification.”

In upcoming weeks, the app, which already bans political advertising, will also ban campaign fundraising, Blake Chandlee, president of global business solutions for TikTok, said in a blog post. The ban will include videos asking for donations, and videos from political parties directing people to a donation page on their website.

The China-based video sharing app will also start testing “mandatory verification” for governments, politicians and political party accounts in an attempt to “keep harmful misinformation off the platform.”

Verification will ensure that anyone watching content belonging to a government, politician, or political party account will know that the account is “genuine” and that the source is “authentic,” Chandlee wrote.

“While many political accounts have added the verified badge to their profile already, doing so is currently optional,” Chandlee wrote. “Starting today in the U.S., we’ll be trialing mandatory verification for accounts belonging to governments, politicians, and political parties through the midterm elections.”

The app will also make political accounts ineligible for the “Creator Fund,” and block access to gifting, tipping and e-commerce, the blog post said. The Creator Fund is a monetary fund that users can receive for posting content to the platform.

“These changes, along with our existing ban on political advertising, mean that accounts belonging to governments, politicians, and political parties will largely not be able to give or receive money through TikTok’s monetization features, or spend money promoting their content,” Chandlee wrote.

The announcement comes one month after researchers found TikTok accounts have been used to spread misinformation ahead of elections in Europe, Asia and South America.

Chandlee wrote that these new policies are an effort to make TikTok “a positive environment that brings people together, not divide them.”

“TikTok is first and foremost an entertainment platform, and we’re proud to be a place that brings people together over creative and entertaining content,” he wrote. “By prohibiting campaign fundraising and limiting access to our monetization features and verifying accounts, we’re aiming to strike a balance between enabling people to discuss the issues that are relevant to their lives while also protecting the creative, entertaining platform that our community wants.”

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September 21, 2022
Report Finds Big Social Media Platforms Not Welcoming to LGBTQ+ Users While MollyTommy Provides a Supportive Online Community

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Press Release
–

Jul 18, 2022

ATLANTA, July 18, 2022 (Newswire.com)
–
GLAAD’s 2022 Social Media Safety Index (SMSI) finds traditional social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok is neither a welcoming nor a safe place for the LGBTQ+ community while MollyTommy provides a supportive online community. The report evaluated a dozen LGBTQ+ specific indicators that could be harmful and/or discriminatory to LGBTQ+ people. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok scored under 50 out of a possible 100. TikTok scored the lowest at 43%. Instagram scored the highest at 48%.

According to the report, 84% of LGBTQ+ adults surveyed stated not enough protections are on social media to prevent discrimination, harassment, or disinformation due to the amount of hate and persecution they experience on a regular basis.

“GLAAD’s 2022 SMSI is very disheartening considering social media can offer an informal learning environment for people in the formative stages of their identity and offer quick and constant access to social ties and other resources. This is why MollyTommy was created and is the only social media devoted to the LGBTQ+ community,” says Tammy Kaudy, MollyTommy’s Executive Director.

MollyTommy is a free social media platform where LGBTQ+ communities, their friends, families and businesses can unite with a sense of purpose and use their voices to engage with each other in a safe environment. MollyTommy allows each member to browse feeds, news, events and groups, as well as engage in community-wide conversations, access information and receive support.

MollyTommy was founded over two years ago after recognizing a need to create a safe online place where LGBTQ+ individuals and their allies could share information freely without the fear of harassment and discrimination.

MollyTommy also provides a subscription-based platform which allows businesses to connect globally with the LGBTQ+ community and their allies, over 18 million individuals in the US alone.

In November 2021, Facebook (known now as META and including Instagram,) announced it would no longer allow advertisers to target users based on potentially sensitive topics such as health, sexual orientation, or religious and political beliefs. “LGBT” is just one of the categories no longer available to advertisers.

Although Facebook had good intentions, it was and still is difficult for brands to use social media to connect with the LGBTQ+ community. MollyTommy is the only social media platform specifically serving the LGBTQ+ community in which advertisers can show their support and guarantee to be seen.

Business users can create a verified business profile, submit local coupons, menus, events, news; collect reviews; buy local ads; and show community support. MollyTommy is currently allowing businesses to set up a free account for 90 days. General membership is always free.

MollyTommy encourages local groups to continue their discussions and community support online at MollyTommy and the team is working diligently to make it the most fun, exciting, talked-about, safe, thought-provoking, and change-making social media platform.

To join, visit mollytommy.com

Media Contact
Heather Brown
culturalsponge@gmail.com
(602) 930-1031

Source: MollyTommy

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July 18, 2022
NATO bans TikTok on devices | CNN Business

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CNN
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NATO has officially banned staffers from downloading the social media app TikTok onto their NATO-provided devices, citing security concerns, according to two NATO officials familiar with the matter.

NATO officials sent a note to staff on Friday morning announcing the ban, the officials said. The note made the ban official, but TikTok was not really usable on NATO-issued devices before, anyway, the officials said, because of internal tech restrictions.

“Cyber security is a top priority for NATO. NATO has robust requirements for determining applications for official business use. TikTok is not accessible on NATO devices,” a senior NATO official told CNN.

NATO is the latest governmental body to ban the app over concerns that the Chinese government could have access to TikTok users’ data through its Chinese parent company, Bytedance. The US, UK, Norway, European Parliament and other nations have already banned the app from government-issued devices.

TikTok’s CEO Shou Chew stressed to US lawmakers earlier this month that the company is completely independent from Beijing, and said that he has “seen no evidence that the Chinese government has access to that data; they have never asked us, we have not provided it.”

He added that TikTok is moving its data into the US, to be stored on US soil by the American company Oracle.

“So the risk would be similar to any government going to an American company, asking for data,” he said.

Still, western governments remain skeptical.

TikTok should be “ended one way or another,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Congress earlier this month in a separate hearing, on the same day Chew was testifying. “Clearly, we, the administration and others are seized with the challenge that it poses and are taking action to address it.”

CNN has reached out to TikTok for comment.

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April 12, 2021
Ex-ByteDance employee claims China had ‘supreme access’ to all data | CNN Business

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Hong Kong
CNN
—

China’s Communist Party had “supreme access” to all data held by TikTok’s parent company Bytedance, including on servers in the United States, a former employer who is bringing a wrongful termination lawsuit has alleged.

The allegations in the lawsuit – which Bytedance denies and has vowed to contest – comes at a time of intense scrutiny within the US and other Western nations over what level of control, if any, Beijing is able to exert over TikTok and the social media app’s wildly popular content.

Yintao “Roger” Yu filed a lawsuit of wrongful termination against Bytedance in Superior Court in San Francisco earlier this month. He says he worked at the company from August 2017 to November 2018, as a head of engineering for US operations.

In a new complaint filed on Friday, Yu claimed that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had a special office in the company, sometimes referred to as the “Committee,” which monitored Bytedance and “guided how it advanced core Communist values.”

“The Committee maintained supreme access to all the company data, even data stored in the United States,” the complaint obtained by CNN read.

Yu’s lawsuit alleges that the company made user data accessible to China’s Communist Party via a backdoor channel, no matter where the data was located.

Yu also claimed that he had observed Bytedance being “responsive to the CCP’s requests” to share, elevate or even remove content, describing Bytedance as “useful propaganda tool” for Beijing’s leaders.

A Bytedance spokesperson has denied Yu’s allegations, saying he worked on an app called Flipagram while at the company, which was discontinued due to business reasons.

“We plan to vigorously oppose what we believe are baseless claims and allegations in this complaint,” the spokesperson said to CNN.

“Mr. Yu worked for ByteDance Inc. for less than a year and his employment ended in July 2018,” which Yu disputed in his complaint.

Earlier reporting from Yu’s lawsuit detailed how shortly after he began his job, he realized that Bytedance had for years engaged in what he called a “worldwide scheme” to steal and profit from the content of others.

The scheme involved using software purposely unleashed to “systematically” strip user content from competitors’ websites, chiefly Instagram and Snapchat, and populate its own video services without asking for permission.

The former employee alleged he was “troubled by ByteDance’s efforts to skirt legal and ethical lines.”

Yu is seeking compensatory damages such as lost earnings, injunctive relief and liquidated and punitive damages.

In a statement to CNN, a ByteDance spokesperson said the company is “committed to respecting the intellectual property of other companies, and we acquire data in accordance with industry practices and our global policy.”

The latest allegations come as the hugely popular TikTok app is at risk of being banned by US lawmakers for national security concerns.

The Biden administration has threatened TikTok with a nationwide ban unless its Chinese owners sell their stakes in the company, spelling out an increasingly tense relationship between the two countries. Last month, Montana became the first US state to pass legislation banning TikTok on all personal devices.

At issue is who owns the keys to TikTok’s algorithms and the vast troves of data collected from the 150 million people in the United States who use the app each month.

US officials have widely expressed fears the Chinese government could potentially gain access to TikTok user data through its links to its parent company and that such information could be used to benefit Chinese intelligence or propaganda campaigns.

However, security experts say there is still no public evidence the Chinese government has actually spied on people through TikTok, which doesn’t operate in China.

In March, TikTok’s chief executive Shou Chew testified before Congress, saying that he had “seen no evidence that the Chinese government has access to that [US user] data; they have never asked us, we have not provided it.”

“Our commitment is to move their data into the United States, to be stored on American soil by an American company, overseen by American personnel. So the risk would be similar to any government going to an American company, asking for data,” Chew said at the hearing.

China has responded to the Biden administration’s demand, saying that it would “firmly” oppose a forced sale of TikTok.

The Chinese government considers some advanced technology, including content recommendation algorithms, to be critical to its national interest. In December, Chinese officials proposed tightening the rules that govern the sale of that technology to foreign buyers.

A sale or divestiture of TikTok would involve the export of technology, so it would need obtain a license and approval from the Chinese government, according to a commerce ministry spokeswoman in March.

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April 12, 2021
TikTok ‘stress test’ shows it’s not ‘fully ready’ for looming EU social media rules, commissioner says | CNN Business

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Washington
CNN
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TikTok has “more work” to do to meet tough new European standards that are coming for social media and content moderation, according to a top EU official who performed a “stress test” of the company this week.

The report by EU Commissioner Thierry Breton comes ahead of a looming Aug. 25 deadline for platforms such as TikTok to comply with the Digital Services Act (DSA) — a package of regulations aimed at battling misinformation, potential privacy abuses and illegal content, among other things.

European Commission staff conducted the TikTok test on Monday at the company’s Dublin offices, according to a statement from the commissioner, and Breton outlined the results of the voluntary inspection to CEO Shou Chew on Tuesday.

“TikTok is dedicating significant resources to compliance,” Breton said, pointing to changes TikTok has made to its recommendation algorithms and its transparency procedures as evidence the company appears to be taking its obligations seriously.

But, he added, the test results also showed “more work is needed to be fully ready for the compliance deadline.”

“Now it is time to accelerate to be fully compliant,” Breton said, indicating that officials will be revisiting at the end of the summer whether TikTok has closed the gap.

TikTok didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the test results.

TikTok isn’t the only large tech platform to submit to an EU stress test. Last month, European officials evaluated Twitter’s platform for DSA compliance and also announced plans to stress test Facebook-parent Meta’s services.

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April 12, 2021
The viral new ‘Drake’ and ‘Weeknd’ song is not what it seems | CNN Business

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CNN
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One of the buzziest songs recently circulating on TikTok and climbing the Spotify charts featured the familiar voices of best-selling artists Drake and the Weeknd. But there’s a twist: Drake and the Weeknd appear to have had nothing to do with it.

The viral track, “Heart on my Sleeve,” comes from an anonymous TikTok user named Ghostwriter977, who claims to have used artificial intelligence to generate the voices of Drake and the Weeknd for the track.

“I was a ghostwriter for years and got paid close to nothing just for major labels to profit,” Ghostwriter977 wrote in the video comments. “The future is here.”

“Heart on my Sleeve” racked up more than 11 million views across several videos in just a few days and was streamed on Spotify hundreds of thousands of times. The original TikTok video has seemingly been taken down, and the song has since been removed from streaming services including YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify. (TikTok, YouTube, Apple and Spotify did not respond to a request for comment.)

The exact origin of the song remains unclear, and some have suggested it could be a publicity stunt. But the stunning traction for “Heart on my Sleeve” may only add to the anxiety inside the music industry as it goes on offense against the possible threat posed by a new crop of increasingly powerful AI tools on the market.

Universal Music Group, the music label that represents Drake, The Weeknd and numerous other superstars, sent urgent letters in April to streaming platforms, including Spotify and Apple Music, asking them to block AI platforms from training on the melodies and lyrics of their copywritten songs.

“The training of generative AI using our artists’ music — which represents both a breach of our agreements and a violation of copyright law as well as the availability of infringing content created with generative AI on digital service providers – begs the question as to which side of history all stakeholders in the music ecosystem want to be on: the side of artists, fans and human creative expression, or on the side of deep fakes, fraud and denying artists their due compensation,” the company said in a statement this week to CNN.

The record label said platforms have “a fundamental legal and ethical responsibility to prevent the use of their services in ways that harm artists.”

But attempting to crack down on AI-generated music may pose a unique challenge. The legal landscape for AI work remains unclear, the tools to create it are widely accessible and social media makes it easier than ever to distribute it.

AI-generated music is not new. Taryn Southern’s debut song “Break Free,” which was composed and produced with AI, hit the Top 100 radio charts back in 2018, and VAVA, an AI music artist (i.e. not a human), currently has a single out in Thailand.

But a new crop of AI tools have made it easier than ever to quickly generate convincing images, audio, video and written work. Some services such as Boomy specifically leverage generative AI to make music creation more accessible.

There’s little known about who is behind the Ghostwriter977 account, or which tools the creator used to make the track. The user did not respond to a CNN request for comment.

In the bio section of the user’s TikTok account, a link directs users to a page on Laylo, a website where fans can sign up to get notifications from artists when new songs are dropped or merchandise and tickets become available. The company told CNN the account likely registered to build up its fan base and brought in “tens of thousands” of signups in the past few days.

Laylo CEO Alec Ellin denied that the company was behind the viral track as some have speculated, but Ellin told CNN whoever did make it was “clearly a really savvy creator” and called it “a perfect example of the power of using Laylo to own your audience.”

Michael Inouye, an analyst at ABI Research, said “Heart on my Sleeve” could have been made in several ways depending on the sophistication of the AI and level of musical talent.

“If music artists were involved, they could create the background music and the lyrics, and then the AI model could be trained with content from Drake and The Weekend to replicate their voices and singing styles,” he said. “AI could also have generated most of the song, lyrics and replicated the artists again based on the training data set and any prompts given to direct the AI model.”

He added that part of this fascination and virality of the song comes from “just how good AI has gotten at creating content, which includes replicating famous people.”

Roberto Nickson, who is building an AI platform to help boost productivity and work flow, recently posted a video on Twitter showing how easy it is to record a verse and train an AI model to replace his vocals. He used the artist formerly known as Kanye West as an example.

“The results will blow your mind,” he said. “You’re going to be listening to songs by your favorite artist that are completely indistinguishable and you’re not going to know if it’s them or not.”

Although the entertainment industry has seen these issues coming, regulations are lagging behind the rapid pace of AI development.

Audrey Benoualid, an entertainment lawyer based in Los Angeles, said one could argue “Heart On My Sleeve” does not infringe copyright as it appears to be an “original” composition.

“Ghostwriter also publicized that Drake and The Weeknd were not involved in the making of the song, which could protect them from a ‘passing off’ claim, where profits are generated as consumers are misled into believing the song is actually a Drake-Weeknd collaboration,” she said in an email to CNN.

However, Benoualid added, machine learning and generative AI programs may also be found to infringe copyright in existing works, either by making copies of those works to train the AI or by generating outputs that are substantially similar to those existing works. “Major labels would undoubtedly, and have already begun to, argue that their copyrights (and their artists’ intellectual property rights) are being infringed,” she said.

Michael Nash, an executive VP at Universal Music Group, recently wrote in an op-ed that AI music is “diluting the market, making original creations harder to find, and violating artists’ legal rights to compensation from their work.”

No regulations exist that dictate on what AI can and cannot train. But last month, in response to individuals looking to seek copyright for AI-generated works, the US Copyright Office released new guidance around how to register literary, musical, and artistic works made with AI.

The copyright will be determined on a case-by-case basis, the guidance continued, based on how the AI tool operates and how it was used to create the final piece or work. The US Copyright Office announced it will also be seeking public input on how the law should apply to copywritten works the AI trains on, and how the office should treat those works.

“AI and copyright law and the rights of musicians and labels have crashed into one another (once again), and it will take time for the dust to settle,” Benoualid said. “The landscape is anything but clear at the moment.”

Inouye said if AI generated content becomes associated with famous individuals in a negative way that could be grounds for a lawsuit to not only take content down but to cease and desist their operations and potentially seek damage.

“On the flip side, if the content were to be popular and the creator were to make revenue off of the artists’ image or likeness then again the artists could similarly request the content to be taken down and potentially sue for any monetary gains,” he said.

But for now, concerned parties may be forced to play whack-a-mole. While services like Spotify pulled “Heart on my Sleeve,” versions of it appeared to continue circulating as of Tuesday on other online platforms.

Even a song made with artificial intelligence may find real staying power online.

– CNN’s Vanessa Yurkevich contributed to this report.

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April 12, 2021
TikTok banned from school-owned devices at all Florida state universities | CNN Business

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CNN
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The State University System of Florida Board of Governors has banned the social media app TikTok, along with some other software, applications, and developers, from use on university-owned devices “due to the continued and increasing landscape of cyber threats.”

In a memo sent to state university system presidents on Wednesday, Chancellor Ray Rodrigues said, “This regulation requires institutions to remove technologies published in the State University System (SUS) Prohibited Technologies List from any university-owned device and to block network traffic associated with these technologies.”

The ban is effective immediately, the memo said.

“Data privacy, particularly concerning student data and faculty research, is a critical priority for the State University System of Florida,” the Board of Governors said in a statement to CNN.

“Therefore, at a March 29 meeting of the Florida Board of Governors, the Board unanimously approved an emergency regulation prohibiting the use of TikTok and other foreign actors identified as an immediate national security risk, across our 12 public university campuses,” according to the Board of Governors.

In addition to TikTok, the prohibited technologies include Kaspersky, VKontakte, Tencent QQ, WeChat and any subsidiary or affiliate.

CNN reached out to them for comment.

TikTok spokesperson Hilary McQuaide said “TikTok has taken unprecedented actions to address national security concerns by securing U.S. user data on U.S. soil. The best way to address concerns about national security is with the transparent, U.S.-based protection of U.S. user data and systems, with robust third-party monitoring, vetting, and verification, which we are already implementing.”

McQuaide added “TikTok is enjoyed by more than 150 million Americans including university and college students and teachers to engage in the classroom.”

Bans and regulations of TikTok in particular, and of social media sites in general, have been increasing in the US and Europe as concerns over privacy, national security and child safety mount.

Late last month, the governor of Utah signed a bill which requires teens to get parental approval to use social media. Earlier this week, the United Kingdom’s Information Commissioner’s Office, which regulates data, fined TikTok for a number of breaches of data protection law. Italy is investigating TikTok for “dangerous content.”

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April 12, 2021
First on CNN: New bipartisan bill in Senate could address TikTok security concerns without a ban | CNN Business

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CNN
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Five US senators are set to reintroduce legislation Wednesday that would block companies including TikTok from transferring Americans’ personal data to countries such as China, as part of a proposed broadening of US export controls.

The bipartisan bill led by Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden and Wyoming Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis would, for the first time, subject exports of US data to the same type of licensing requirements that govern the sale of military and advanced technologies. It would apply to thousands of companies that rely on routinely transferring data from the United States to other jurisdictions, including data brokers and social media companies.

The legislation comes amid a flurry of proposals to regulate how TikTok and other companies may handle the sensitive and valuable data of Americans — not just their names, email addresses and phone numbers but also potentially their behavioral data such as location information, search and browsing histories and personal interests.

“Massive pools of Americans’ sensitive information — everything from where we go, to what we buy and what kind of health care services we receive — are for sale to buyers in China, Russia and nearly anyone with a credit card,” Wyden said in a statement. “Our bipartisan bill would turn off the tap of data to unfriendly nations, stop TikTok from sending Americans’ personal information to China, and allow nations with strong privacy protections to strengthen their relationships.”

Lawmakers have scrutinized TikTok, in particular, for its ties to China through its parent company, ByteDance. Much of the existing legislation addressing TikTok at the federal and state level has focused on bans of the app. But Wyden’s bill subjecting US data to export licensing could address the issue without wading into the thorny legal issues surrounding a potential ban, an aide said, and simultaneously avoid giving broad new powers to the executive branch.

Wednesday’s legislation, known as the Protecting Americans’ Data From Foreign Surveillance Act, does not identify TikTok by name. Instead, it directs the Commerce Department to maintain lists of countries that are considered trustworthy and untrustworthy for the purposes of receiving US data.

There would be no restrictions applied to personal information transferred to trustworthy states, and no restrictions on individual internet users’ own transfers of their personal data, but companies seeking to transfer Americans’ personal information to countries outside of the trustworthy list would be required to apply for a license. Transfers to countries on the untrustworthy list would be automatically prohibited unless companies could prove they have a valid reason for a transfer, according to a copy of the bill text reviewed by CNN.

Factors the Commerce Department would need to consider when building its lists include whether a country has enough of its own privacy safeguards — reflected in laws, regulations and norms — to prevent sensitive US data from being transferred further to one of the untrustworthy countries. Another factor includes whether a country has engaged in “hostile foreign intelligence operations, including information operations, against the United States,” language that appears to refer to China, Russia and other foreign adversaries.

The Commerce Department would also be authorized to identify the specific types of information that would be subject to licensing requirements, based on their sensitivity, as well as how much information a company could transfer to a non-approved country before needing a license.

A previous version of the bill was introduced last summer. The newest version, the Wyden aide said, includes fresh language that targets TikTok indirectly by prohibiting data transfers from one company to a parent company that may receive data requests by a hostile foreign government, when the company holds data on more than one million users.

TikTok has faced criticism from US officials who say the company’s links to China pose a national security risk. TikTok has said it has never received a request for US user data from the Chinese government and would never comply with such a request.

TikTok has also said it is working on securing US user data by storing it on servers controlled by Oracle and by establishing special US access protocols to prevent unauthorized use of the information.

Should TikTok abide by its plan, known as Project Texas, Wednesday’s legislation would not affect the company, according to the Wyden aide, but if TikTok or ByteDance did seek to move US user data to China, then those transfers would potentially be subject to the proposed Commerce Department restrictions.

Congress has made several attempts in recent months to address data transfers to foreign adversaries. In February, House lawmakers advanced a bill that would all but require the Biden administration to ban TikTok over national security concerns about the app. The next month, Senate lawmakers introduced a bill that would give the Commerce Department wide latitude to assess all foreign-linked technologies and to take virtually any measures, up to and including imposing a nationwide ban, to restrict their domestic use.

Those bills have provoked a backlash from industry and civil liberties groups, as well as among some fellow lawmakers. Among the concerns are their potential impact on Americans’ First Amendment rights and a potential conflict with laws facilitating the free flow of media to and from foreign rivals. Other concerns include whether the breadth of the legislation could give the US government too much power and whether it could end up harming industries that are not the target of the legislation.

The new bill includes language requiring more input from privacy, civil rights and civil liberties experts, said Justin Sherman, founder and CEO of the research firm Global Cyber Strategies and a senior fellow at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy who has seen the bill.

“You don’t load up Excel sheets in a shipping crate and send them to a foreign port,” Sherman said, but data transfers are a “hugely and often ignored problem in national security.”

“We need to get beyond just looking at a couple mobile apps and platforms, and start looking at all parts of this ecosystem, including how data gets sold and transferred,” Sherman added, “and this bill takes an important look at that issue.”

Other senators co-sponsoring Wednesday’s legislation include Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Tennessee Republican Sen. Bill Hagerty, New Mexico Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich and Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio. A companion bill in the House will also be unveiled Wednesday, sponsored by Ohio Republican Rep. Warren Davidson and California Democratic Rep. Anna Eshoo.

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April 12, 2021
The city without TikTok offers a window to America’s potential future | CNN Business

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Hong Kong
CNN
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Across the United States, more than 150 million people are being faced with the possibility of a new reality: life without TikTok.

The wildly popular short-form video app has been at the center of an ongoing battle, with lawmakers calling for an outright ban, and the company portraying itself as a critical community space, educational platform and just plain fun.

In Hong Kong, there’s no need to imagine that reality: TikTok discontinued its services there in 2020.

Its abrupt departure was met with mixed reactions: disappointment from some users and content creators, but also relief from others who say life is better without the app’s infinite scroll.

At the time of its exit, TikTok had a relatively modest presence in the city and was not ubiquitous like it is in the US today.

But the varied reactions to its departure, and the way users have pivoted to other platforms or even real-life offline communities, offer Americans a glimpse into their potential TikTok-less future.

TikTok announced its exit from Hong Kong in July 2020, a week after China imposed a controversial national security law in the city. The decision came as the app tried to distance itself from China and its Beijing-based parent company ByteDance, in the face of growing pressure in the US under the Trump administration.

But it meant a jarring halt for creators like Shivani Dukhande, who had roughly 45,000 followers at the time the app left Hong Kong.

Dukhande, 25, saw her account take off in early 2020 during the pandemic, with lifestyle content such as cooking and wellness videos flourishing on the platform.

“There were a lot of new creators emerging,” she said. “We used to all collaborate together, we had a chat where we would all speak and share ideas and it created a community.”

Momentum began to build. Companies started reaching out to Dukhande, paying for sponsored content and collaborating on ad campaigns. Brands began partnering with creators on trending “challenges” in a bid to attract young new consumers.

“More people were joining and it was becoming such a fun thing to do,” she said. “Then, it just kind of went away one morning.”

“If it continued, then I probably could have made enough to have quit my 9 to 5,” she said. “If I had the chance to grow, it could have been a potential career path.”

This is one of the main arguments TikTok has made in recent weeks in the US. In March, as the company’s CEO prepared to testify before Congress, TikTok produced a docuseries highlighting American small business owners who rely on the platform for their livelihoods.

The platform is used by nearly five million businesses in the US, TikTok said in March. And it’s set to surpass rivals: London-based research firm Omdia projected in November that TikTok’s advertising revenues will exceed the combined video ad revenues of Meta – home of Facebook and Instagram – and YouTube by 2027.

This is partly because people are spending more time on TikTok. In the second quarter of 2022, TikTok users globally spent an average of 95 minutes per day on the app, according to data analytics firm SensorTower – nearly twice as much time as users spent on Facebook and Instagram.

But in Hong Kong, other platforms have jumped in to fill the gap. Reels, Instagram’s short-form video product, with similar features as TikTok such as an endless scroll, is growing quickly – and Dukhande has gotten on board.

She had to rebuild her audience from scratch, and now has 12,500 Instagram followers, but she feels optimistic about its growth. Still, the loss of TikTok was a “missed opportunity,” she said, and the burgeoning community of creators has largely faded from sight.

“The amount of jobs, the amount of content creation, the amount of marketing opportunities that were there with TikTok – we sort of missed out on that whole chunk of it.”

But for some people, TikTok’s departure was a welcome change.

Poppy Anderson, 16, has been using TikTok since its launch in 2018. And, like many others in her generation, she would spend hours “scrolling and scrolling” – even when feeling unfulfilled.

“It was very easy to kind of find exactly what you like on there, because the [algorithm-run] For You page kept you there,” she said. “And it’s entertaining, but you don’t really get anything from it.”

She described TikTok as often being a toxic environment that breeds narrow thinking, herd mentality, a misguided “cancel culture” and inappropriate online behavior such as critiquing the bodies of girls and women. Even people she knew in real life began acting differently after joining the app, which strained friendships, she said.

Martin Poon, 15, also grew weary of TikTok, but it was hard to quit.

“Everyone was using it, so I feel like there was a sense that you have to use it, you have to be on top of things, you have to know what’s going on. And I think that was stressful to me,” he said.

Misinformation and misogyny ran rampant on TikTok, with accounts like those of Andrew Tate, the self-styled “alpha male” recently detained in Romania on allegations of human trafficking and rape, gaining popularity among boys at Poon’s school.

“It’s just concerning how [these accounts] have so much impact on the youth, and it has so much grip on what we think and how it affects our behavior,” said Poon – though he added that misinformation is a major problem on all social media platforms, not just TikTok.

Experts have long worried about the impact of TikTok on young people’s mental health, with one study claiming the app may surface potentially harmful content related to suicide and eating disorders to teenagers within minutes of them creating an account.

In response to growing pressure, TikTok recently announced a one-hour daily screentime limit for users under 18, though users will be able to turn off this default setting.

Anderson acknowledged some positives about TikTok, like open conversations about mental health. Still, she was glad when the app became inaccessible. Falling asleep became easier without the lure of TikTok. “I didn’t have the self control to get off it on my own,” she said.

For Poon and his friend Ava Chan, also 15, TikTok’s disappearance sparked new beginnings.

When the app left in 2020, they were doing online classes, isolated from friends and bored at home. At the time, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts had yet to arrive in Hong Kong.

“We had to figure out how to use our time other than being on TikTok,” said Chan. “For us, that was exploring our passions more.”

For both, that came in advocating for the neurodiverse community. They launched a club at school that spreads education and awareness about neurodiversity, as well as participating in volunteer activities with neurodiverse people.

Both said it lent them a sense of purpose, and as time went on, they saw other benefits.

Their friends, who would previously spend time filming and watching TikToks together, began having more face-to-face conversations. They noticed peers begin exercising outdoors more, which was made easier as Covid restrictions lifted. Their mental health improved.

Of course, being teenagers, they’re not off social media entirely and use it as a tool to promote their club – but it’s far from the previous hours of scrolling. And while they occasionally wonder what’s happening on TikTok outside Hong Kong, the allure of it is lost when nobody else around them uses it either.

“A lot of people, they’ve just kind of forgotten about it,” said Anderson. “People move to different platforms – or just move on.”

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April 12, 2021
TikTok is testing a new option to create AI-generated avatars for profile pictures | CNN Business

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New York
CNN
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TikTok is testing a new option to let users create AI-generated avatars for their profile pictures, the company confirmed to CNN on Wednesday, in a move with the potential to put recent advances in artificial intelligence technology front and center for millions of users.

The new feature appears to create a stylized, illustrated image of the user based on an uploaded picture, according to a post from social media consultant Matt Navarra, who was first to spot the option.

The feature is still in the early stages of testing and not widely available to TikTok users, according to the company, and there is currently no timeline for when the feature might roll out.

“We’re always thinking about new ways to add value to the community and enrich the TikTok experience, as we continue to build a safe place that entertains, inspires creativity, and drives culture,” a TikTok spokesperson said in a statement provided to CNN. “In a few select regions, we’re experimenting with a new way to create and share profile pictures with the TikTok community.”

AI-generated images have taken over the internet in recent months, but some tools have also raised concerns among privacy experts, digital artists, and users who have noticed the potential to sexualize images, make skin paler and make bodies thinner.

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April 12, 2021
Montana governor bans TikTok | CNN Business

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CNN
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Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signed a bill Wednesday banning TikTok in the state.

Gianforte tweeted that he has banned TikTok in Montana “to protect Montanans’ personal and private data from the Chinese Communist Party,” officially making it the first state to ban the social media application.

The controversial law marks the furthest step yet by a state government to restrict TikTok over perceived security concerns and comes as some federal lawmakers have called for a national ban of TikTok. But it is expected to be challenged in court.

The bill, which will take effect in January, specifically names TikTok as its target, prohibiting the app from operating within state lines. The law also outlines potential fines of $10,000 per day for violators, including app stores found to host the social media application.

Last month, lawmakers in Montana’s House of Representatives voted 54-43 to pass the bill, known as SB419, sending it to Gianforte’s desk.

In a statement to CNN, TikTok said it would push to defend the rights of users in Montana.

“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. 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.”

The law comes as TikTok faces growing criticism for its ties to China. TikTok is owned by China-based ByteDance. Many US officials have expressed fears that the Chinese government could potentially access US data via TikTok for spying purposes, though there is so far no evidence that the Chinese government has ever accessed personal information of US-based TikTok users.

NetChoice, a technology trade group that includes TikTok as a member, called the Montana bill unconstitutional.

“The government may not block our ability to access constitutionally protected speech – whether it is in a newspaper, on a website or via an app. In implementing this law, Montana ignores the U.S. Constitution, due process and free speech by denying access to a website and apps their citizens want to use,” said Carl Szabo, NetChoice’s general counsel.

The ACLU also pushed back on the bill, releasing a statement saying that “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.”

On Wednesday, Gianforte signed an additional bill that prohibits the use of any social media application “tied to foreign adversaries” on government devices, including ByteDance-owned CapCut and Lemon8, and Telegram Messenger, which was founded in Russia.

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April 12, 2021