TikTok is announcing today some new tools to combat bullying on its social network. For instance, it’s now possible to delete multiple comments at once or report them for potentially violating TikTok’s Community Guidelines.
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A research study into use of social media platforms by minors found that upwards of 40% of children under 13 were using them, despite accounts supposedly being limited to teenagers and adults. The research included TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat.
The study also found that a full third of minors had experienced an “online sexual interaction,” which included being asked for, or receiving, nude photos …
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TikTok announced today that it’s combining two of its most popular features for a better immersive view experience with Green Screen Duet.
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TikTok is illegally collecting data from children, according to a legal case made by the former children’s commissioner for England. She says the company is breaching privacy laws.
Anne Longfield has filed a claim on behalf of “millions of children,” and is seeking to force TikTok to delete personal data as well as pay “billions” in compensation …
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The Trump administration was adamant about banning TikTok or forcing a sale to a US company last year, but then multiple deadlines passed without anything happening before the end of 2020. Now after previously pressing pause on the matter, the Biden administration and TikTok say they will take more time to discuss the situation with a new June 11 deadline on further action.
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We’ll soon start seeing a lot more TikTok video captions. The company has announced that it is now offering an accessibility tool to creators that will automatically add text captions after a video has been uploaded or recorded …
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Apple is promoting a new TikTok challenge in Brazil featuring the Apple Watch. With the hashtag #DançarTbConta – which translates to “Dancing also counts [as an exercise]” – Apple takes advantage of the popularity of the app in the country while promoting dance exercise on the Watch.
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Two new TikTok anti-bullying features have been added to the app today, designed to educate those posting unkind comments, and allow users to approve or reject comments made on their videos.
Trolls are a sad fact of life anywhere on the internet that allows comments, with the psychology well understood …
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TikTok continues to add new features for its users as the social network grows. The company today introduced a new Q&A feature, which lets the audience send questions to content creators — similar to what Instagram does with the Question Box in Stories.
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Netflix is the latest company to try its hand at a TikTok clone. The company has debuted a new “Fast Laughs” feature that provides a feed of “comedic clips” from its shows. The idea is to offer users a feed of content they can watch without diving into a full TV show or movie.
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Agreement has been reached on a proposed settlement of no fewer than 21 US federal TikTok privacy lawsuits in what has been described as one of the largest cases of its kind in history.
The lawsuits accused the company of “theft of private and personally identifiable data,” some of it from children as young as six years old. But despite the size of the settlement, you shouldn’t expect much of a payout if you’re one of the 89M US users…
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TikTok is accused of presenting kids with “hidden” forms of advertising as one of a number of formal complaints from the BEUC, an umbrella body for consumer watchdogs across the European Union.
BEUC also accuses the video sharing app of unclear privacy terms, failing to protect kids from inappropriate content, and ripping them off with in-app currency…
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Last summer and fall, the Trump administration was pushing TikTok hard on selling all or part of its business to US companies. But that faded as the deadline was extended twice, then lapsed. Now that Biden has taken office, the efforts to make TikTok sell will remain on pause as his administration looks toward a more “comprehensive approach” to data security.
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TikTok fact checks have been strengthened, the company has announced. The social network already asks third-party organizations to carry out fact checks on widely forwarded videos, removing ones found to be making false claims. It will now take things up a notch.
Where videos fall into a gray area – claims which can neither be verified nor debunked – it will flag them, taking steps to limit visibility…
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TikTok privacy protections for teenage users are being significantly enhanced, as the company belatedly responds to concerns that have been expressed ever since the app took off in the US.
The strongest protections apply to accounts held by those in the 13-15 year old range …
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TikTok announced today a new augmented reality effect that is the first to use the LiDAR scanner of iPhone 12 Pro models. The effect celebrates the New Year with AR golden balloons and confetti that interact with the environment thanks to the new iPhone sensor. The announcement was made through TikTok’s official Twitter account.
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After first going after TikTok, a new executive order signed by outgoing President Trump prohibits transactions in eight Chinese payment apps – but it seems unlikely to take effect …
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TikTok has become the latest social network to add a year-in-review feature. The company is rolling out a new “Year on TikTok” recap that lets you “revisit some of your defining TikTok memories in true TikTok style.” Here’s how it works in the TikTok app on iOS.
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After being available as a private beta, Facebook’s new ‘Collab’ app that lets musicians remotely record video and combine their parts is available to the public. The iOS app is a hybrid between short-form video like TikTok and social collaboration with a focus on music creation and allows users to create their own “Collabs” or join in with others on existing ones.
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Online discussion platform Reddit has confirmed reports that it has bought the lip-syncing video company Dubsmash. The move comes as multiple tech companies seek ways to compete with Chinese video platform TikTok …
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A new report from App Annie today highlights some of the mobile app trends of 2020. TikTok has booted Facebook from its reign as the most-downloaded app while iOS and Android downloads are expected to hit 130 billion with global spending forecasted to hit $112 billion this year.
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The White House has quietly allowed Friday’s TikTok deadline to lapse, without taking any action against the app. A US ban on the app was supposed to take effect on September 28, but was twice extended before … nothing.
Trump made unsubstantiated claims that the highly popular video-sharing app posed a risk to US national security, and said it would be banned in the US unless it were sold to an American company …
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The deadline for the TikTok sale ordered by the Trump administration has slipped again. It was earlier extended until November 27, and has now been further extended until December 4 …
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Apple is now using TikTok, more than six months after creating an official account for the company on the short-form video platform.
It has apparently commissioned promotional videos from existing TikTok influencers …
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