TikTok’s US ban is looming, and a new ruling by an appeals court has removed one of the last reasons for hope that the ban might not go into effect.
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A law enforcement agency has said that both Instagram and TikTok are increasingly being used to recruit money mules, who are either knowingly or unknowingly helping criminal gangs to launder money.
Those caught face prison sentences of up to 14 years, and are also likely to be banned from holding or opening a bank account …
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Note: This report contains links to reports about teenage suicides
Australia has followed France in imposing a social media ban for kids, and other countries are expected to follow. The French government is now pushing for an EU-wide ban.
Social media platforms are of course pushing back as they face losing a demographic seen as key to their future, and questions are being raised about how the ban will be enforced …
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Update: Australia has now voted to ban social media use by children under the age of 16. In a 9to5Mac reader poll on the issue, the vast majority of you thought the US should do the same – see the end of the piece.
The impact of social media use by kids is perhaps one of the hottest topics in tech. There’s significant evidence that social media apps like Instagram can be harmful to the mental health of children, while others argue that it can also enable social connection.
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TikTok has announced that it is responding to new legislation in the UK and EU by introducing a ban on the use of beauty filters by those aged under 18. The ban will be implemented worldwide …
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One of the biggest apps on the App Store, TikTok, is currently on its way to being banned in the US starting in early 2025. But according to a new report, President-elect Donald Trump intends to stop the ban from happening.
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TikTok already lets users add a song to their Spotify library without leaving the app, and both platforms are now introducing another quite convenient feature: the ability to easily share Spotify songs on TikTok.
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TikTok isn’t the first place I’d think of in relation to the concept of the wisdom of crowds, but it seems I may be underestimating the streaming video app …
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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 …
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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.
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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 …
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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 …
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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.
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The prospect of a TikTok ban in Europe now appears somewhat less likely, after developer Bytedance agreed to permanently withdraw its illegal rewards program …
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The ongoing battle between the US government and TikTok owner Bytedance continues, with the Department of Justice (DOJ) saying that TikTok collected sensitive user data on a variety of controversial topics …
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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.
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TikTok has lost its fight to be excluded from a European antitrust law, and says that it will comply. However, it still faces a potential ban in the EU for breaching child protection legislation, and a separate ruling on its future in the US has yet to be made …
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A TikTok hack allowed attackers to take control of CNN’s account, while other high-profile accounts were also targeted.
The nature of the security breach remains a mystery at present. It was said to have involved direct messaging, but was seemingly not a phishing attack …
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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 …
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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 …
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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.
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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 …
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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.
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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’ …
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