TikTok

Accidentally released TikTok documents reveal that the company knows the app is addictive to children, and damaging to their mental and social development.

The documents also show developer ByteDance knew that screen-time tools it introduced would be ineffective, and were nothing more than a PR measure …

Apple has been working on iOS 18.1, which will bring the first set of Apple Intelligence tools to supported devices. However, the update also adds some other new features. And with the latest beta, Apple Music users will be able to easily share their favorite songs on TikTok.

Video dominates mobile app revenue, according to a new report. Of the total $3.8B smartphone owners spent on entertainment apps last quarter, three billion of it was spent on streaming and short video apps.

The most dramatic growth in earnings was seen in short video apps, with TikTok coins credited with generating the bulk of this money …

ByteDance’s appeal against a US TikTok ban is underway, and the company has accused the Department of Justice of factual errors in presenting its case – intended to force the sale of the app to an American company.

The DOJ says the app’s feed can be manipulated by the Chinese government for propaganda purposes, but Bytedance said that recommendations are actually generated in the US …

TikTok on Monday announced a major update coming to its platform. Users can now create and send messages for group chats for the first time in the app. In addition, TikTok is bringing stickers to direct messages. Read on as we detail everything that changes with the latest TikTok update.

You’re probably familiar with Shazam, an Apple-owned app that lets you find out the name of a song playing near you. However, TikTok wants to take this experience to the next level by introducing a Shazam-like feature that lets users find songs by singing them.

The TikTok algorithm could be split, claims a report, with a US-only version used for the hugely popular app to try to avoid a ban.

Developer Bytedance has tweeted that the report is not accurate, but its message appears to be more a repetition of its legal stance than a specific denial …

Update: A US court has fast-tracked the appeal, which will be heard in September. TikTok owner Bytedance has just three weeks to file its arguments for the ban to be overturned.

Bytedance, the parent company of TikTok, is suing the US government, arguing that the threatened ban is unconstitutional. The company had previously said it would do so, though it had been unclear whether it would follow through.

The company is fighting a law which forces it to either sell the app to an American company, or be banned from operating in the US …

As TikTok increasingly invests in tools for creators, the social network announced on Friday a new TikTok Studio platform, which aims to help creators manage many aspects of their account in one place, whether on their smartphone or computer.

A TikTok buyout by an American company appears to be the only way for the app to survive in the US, and potentially in Europe too. But potential buyers could find themselves paying a lot of money and not getting the one thing they really want: the algorithm.

Real-estate billionaire Frank McCourt and former Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin are among those who have confirmed they are planning bids for the app …

TikTok is weighing major changes to the type of content it serves up, as evidenced by a new test rolling out today.

Per Aisha Malik at TechCrunch, the test enables some users to upload videos up to a duration of 60 minutes in length. This is a massive increase over the current 3-minute limitation and may carry big implications for TikTok’s future ambitions.

An EU investigation has been opened into growing concerns about teen Instagram addiction, to determine whether parent company Meta is breaking the law by deliberately seeking to make its apps addictive.

The investigation will also look into whether the company’s age-verification procedures are sufficiently robust, and the phenomenon of sending users down potentially harmful ‘rabbit holes’ …

The accessibility of AI is on the rise, and with it, content platforms now have to grapple with how to handle the potential issues AI can introduce.

A new report indicates that TikTok is about to ramp up its efforts in AI transparency. It will do this by automatically labeling all AI-generated content. Or at least, the content it knows about.

Songs from UMG artists are now again available to TikTok creators, after a dispute over royalty payments and AI policies was resolved.

This has seen the return of a lengthy list of artists, including Bad Bunny, Sting, The Weeknd, Alicia Keys, Drake, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar, Rosalía, Harry Styles, Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Adele, U2, Elton John, Brandi Carlile, Coldplay, Bob Dylan, and Post Malone …

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A new report from TechCrunch today claims that TikTok might be bypassing Apple’s App Store in-app purchase system. The report says that TikTok is “presenting some of its users with a link to a website” to purchase coins, instead of using Apple’s in-app purchase flow.

Hugely popular video app TikTok could be banned in Europe as well as the US, according to remarks made by the president of the European Commission.

TikTok is also under two separate EU investigations, and President Biden last week signed a bill which would see the app banned in the US within nine months unless it is sold to an American company …