TikTok

The start of a new year is a time many of us use to take stock – of our goals, our habits, the ways in which we spend our time. For me, one significant change has been adopting a more sane approach to social media, and apps in general.

I’m a huge fan of technology, of course, but I also fully acknowledge that tech also has its downsides – and social media in particular has been a very mixed blessing …

Attorney General Brenna Bird from the great state of Iowa is going after TikTok with a new lawsuit. The latest legal battle being fought in the US against the ByteDance-owned video platform isn’t just seeking an all out ban. Instead, the state of Iowa is targeting TikTok over how it allegedly age rates itself inappropriately in the App Store.

A first-of-its-kind law restricting social media use by children has been challenged by an industry group representing TikTok, Meta, X, and Snap.

The NetChoice trade group argues that the law introduced by Utah, and which other states plan to emulate, is unconstitutional …

TikTok on iOS has received a new experience for iPad users today that the platform calls “a complete upgrade.” That includes fresh navigation bars, a new video feed with “enhanced clarity,” and support for both landscape and portrait orientation.

A new bill being put forward in New York state would require kids to get parental permission to use apps with algorithmic feeds. This would include TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and more.

The bill is known as the Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) for Kids Act, and has the backing of the state’s governor and state attorney general …

Update: A third US state is suing TikTok for harming children “by intentionally keeping young users spending unhealthy amounts of time on the short-video sharing platform.”

There have been threats/promises of a federal TikTok ban since 2020, but little progress has been made in the past three years. The latest development is that there are now two completely separate potential laws competing for support …

A number of TikTok deepfakes have been called out by the celebrities whose likenesses have been stolen. These include MrBeast, Tom Hanks, and Gayle King.

The fake video of MrBeast claimed that viewers had been selected to receive an iPhone 15 Pro for just $2, leaving the YouTube star to question whether social media networks are prepared for deepfake scams …

TikTok appears to be joining the likes of X, Meta, and Snap with a new premium tier in the works. Rather than selling status or experimental features, however, TikTok is taking a more YouTube-like approach.

While we’re still waiting to hear whether a federal TikTok ban will be imposed, some 18 state attorneys general are backing Montana’s state-level ban on the short video app. The ban is due to take effect on January 1, 2024.

TikTok is seeking to overturn the ban on the basis that it violates the free speech rights of its video creators, granted by the First Amendment. The app is one of the most popular in the world, used by around a third of the US population …

Although the previous White House incumbent threatened a US TikTok ban and then quietly dropped it, the idea never quite went away. A new report says that fresh meetings have taken place between Bytedance, the Chinese owner of the app, and US government officials.

Things kicked off back in the summer of 2020 when the previous administration said that it was considering the possibility of banning TikTok over unspecified security concerns that data could be used by the Chinese government. Since the app uses very little personal data, the nature of these fears was not explained …

The clock has been ticking on TikTok’s fate in the United States for several years now. No national policy affecting the China-owned video app has been set in stone though. However, New York City is the latest government to ban TikTok on work-issued phones.

TikTok became known as a social network focused on short videos. However, the platform has expanded its capabilities over the years by adding support for photos and Stories. But this time, TikTok’s latest move was completely unexpected. The platform announced on Monday that users can now share text, which diverges from the main purpose of the social network.

Apple is a major proponent of the post-password world. Last year, it built passkey technology into the iPhone with iOS 16. As a result, more and more services are letting users say goodbye to passwords and hello to passkeys.

Soon, TikTok users across the world will be able to make the shift from passwords to passkeys as well.

The music streaming market has a lot of competitors, but Apple Music and Spotify have pretty much become leaders in this segment. However, there’s a new player entering this game, and that’s TikTok. The owners of the popular social network now want to compete with Apple Music and Spotify with their new music streaming platform called TikTok Music.

Facebook Messenger parental controls have long been available for Messenger Kids – the special version of the chat app designed for children below 13 years of age – but not for teens. This has now changed, with parental controls coming to the main Messenger app when used by teens aged 13 to 18.

Separately, TikTok is integrating two existing filtering features after continuing concerns about showing inappropriate content to children – though as always, in a very weak way …

Ever since generative AI like ChatGPT became popular, multiple platforms have been offering AI-based features to their users. Now TikTok has been working on its own AI chatbot named “Tako” that may or may not see the light of day.

Montana became the first US state to officially ban TikTok last week with the bill set to go into effect beginning January 2024. Now TikTok has swung back by filing a federal lawsuit against the state in an attempt to reverse the move.