TikTok US Ban: Lawmakers to Move Forward With TikTok Bill, House Speaker Says

US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy said on Sunday lawmakers will move forward with legislation to address national security worries about TikTok, alleging China’s government had access to the short video app’s user data. In the United States, there are growing calls to ban TikTok, owned by China-based company ByteDance, or to pass bipartisan … Read more

TikTok to Get Banned in France for Use on Smartphones of Civil Servants

France will ban the use of Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok on the work phones of civil servants, Civil Service Minister Stanislas Guerini said on his Twitter account. “In order to guarantee the cybersecurity of our administrations and civil servants, the government has decided to ban recreational applications such as TikTok on the professional phones of … Read more

China Denies Asking Firms to Share Overseas Data Amid Multiple TikTok Bans

China insisted Friday it does not ask companies to hand over data gathered overseas, as the Chinese-owned TikTok faces mounting calls for a ban in the United States. Pressure is building on the massively popular video-sharing app — owned by the Chinese firm Bytedance — to obtain new ownership or lose access to the enormous … Read more

Snapchat Removes Few Children Off Its Platform Every Month in Britain: Ofcom

Snapchat is kicking dozens of children in Britain off its platform each month compared with tens of thousands blocked by rival TikTok, according to internal data the companies shared with Britain’s media regulator Ofcom and which Reuters has seen. Social media platforms such as Meta‘s Instagram, ByteDance‘s TikTok, and Snap‘s Snapchat require users to be … Read more

Tencent Said to Be in Talks With Meta to Distribute Quest VR Headsets in China

Tencent Holdings is in talks with Meta Platforms to distribute its Meta Quest line of virtual reality headsets in China, three people familiar with the matter said. The talks between Tencent and Meta started last year and have continued in recent months, according to one of the sources who has direct knowledge of the matter, adding … Read more

Mark Zuckerberg May Have Better Luck With Elon Musk’s ‘Blue Tick’

Three months ago, Elon Musk announced an $11 (roughly Rs. 910) monthly subscription service to give Twitter users a blue verification check mark. On Sunday, Meta Platforms announced largely the same thing: a $15 (roughly Rs. 1,240) subscription service for users to get a blue verified badge, so long as they provide a government-issued ID. Meta Chief … Read more

Twitter Becomes First Social Media Platform to Allow Cannabis Ads in the US

Twitter on Wednesday became the first social media platform to allow cannabis companies to market their brands and products in the United States. The company had earlier only allowed advertising for hemp-derived CBD topical products, while other social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram and TikTok follow a “no cannabis advertising policy” as pot remains illegal … Read more

Instagram Founders Launch Artifact AI-Curated News App, Invites Live for Private Beta

Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger have made a comeback with a new social app that will offer a personalized news feed. Dubbed Artifact, the app will offer an AI-curated personalized news feed based on users’ choices. It will use machine learning to create a personalized news feed. The launch of the app has … Read more