Fifteen Republican state attorneys general sent letters to the CEOs of Apple and Google on Wednesday demanding they increase their age ratings for the TikTok app. State governments have increasingly taken aim at the video-hosting platform for its ties to Beijing and the mature content on it. The letters argue that the app’s “Teen” rating in the Google Play Store and “12+” rating in the Apple App Store are deceptively low. “We’ve known for a long time how TikTok… Source link
Read More »DOJ antitrust regulators should look at Apple, Google’s handling of TikTok, says FCC commissioner
Washington CNN Business — Apple and Google’s continued hosting of TikTok on their app stores, despite US national security concerns about the short-form video app, reflects the tech giants’ “gatekeeper” power and should be made part of any antitrust reviews the app stores may face, a member of the Federal Communications Commission wrote to the Justice Department last week. The previously unreported… Source link
Read More »TikTok is ‘literally like a communications network’ for the Chinese Communist Party
TikTok has become enormously popular with teens and young adults globally, and one U.S. senator is sounding the alarm on the security risks that the Chinese-operated app poses to the general public. “My kids are now in their early 30s and late 20s, so I can’t completely regulate what they’re doing,” Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) recently said on Yahoo Finance Live (video above). “But if I had young kids, I wouldn’t want them on TikTok.” Warner, a former technology and telecommunications executive… Source link
Read More »TikTok users paid over privacy violations — Google, Snap could be next
This week, TikTok users across the country who created videos on the app before September 30, 2021, began receiving payments between $27.84 and $167.04 following a $92 million class-action data privacy settlement with the social media platform. The largest checks went to short- and long-term residents of Illinois, where TikTok was sued for violating the state’s strict biometric data laws by collecting and implementing facial recognition data into its algorithms without user consent. Not… Source link
Read More »Spotify stock slides as TikTok parent ByteDance weighs music expansion
Spotify stock (SPOT) erased gains on Wednesday after a new report from The Wall Street Journal revealed that TikTok parent company ByteDance has begun talks with music labels to expand its music-streaming service, dubbed Resso. According to the report, ByteDance wants to eventually integrate the service with social media juggernaut TikTok — a platform known for discovering new music and making songs go viral — as the company looks to expand the offering into more global markets…. Source link
Read More »Google goes visual, Twitter copies TikTok, OG app drama • TechCrunch
Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy. Global app spending reached $65 billion in the first half of 2022, up only slightly from the $64.4 billion during the same period in 2021, as hypergrowth fueled by the pandemic has diminished. But overall, the app economy is continuing to grow, having produced a record number of downloads and consumer spending across both the iOS and… Source link
Read More »Google unveils its attempts to reinvigorate search for the TikTok generation
The news: Google revealed changes to its standard search interface that will make it easier for consumers to explore content at its Search On event Wednesday. Search is bringing sexy back: The company is launching a number of features, such as tools to drill down into topics and other modifications that will make using search a more visual experience, highlighting maps, snippets, imagery, and even video in new ways. Shortcuts to a few of Google’s useful tools will now be available right on the… Source link
Read More »Top Apple Executive Is Leaving After Making Crude Remarks in TikTok Video
(Bloomberg) — One of Apple Inc.’s most senior executives is leaving after he turned up in a viral video on TikTok making an off-color joke that he fondles “big-breasted women” for a living. Most Read from Bloomberg In the video, published on Sept. 5, Apple’s Tony Blevins was approached by TikTok and Instagram creator Daniel Mac as part of a series where he asks owners of expensive cars their occupations. The executive was stopped by Mac while parking a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, an… Source link
Read More »Why Apple, Google and Microsoft are spending more time on TikTok
A man holding a phone walks past a sign of Chinese company ByteDance’s app TikTok, known locally as Douyin, at the International Artificial Products Expo in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China October 18, 2019. Reuters The explosion of TikTok’s popularity has pushed the app into the biggest technology companies’ focus. While geopolitical issues remain heightened over data-privacy and security, technology firms can’t ignore the platform’s influence on audiences. Google, Apple and Microsoft all… Source link
Read More »TikTok to verify political accounts in US, ban campaign fundraising – Arab News
LONDON: TikTok will begin requiring accounts belonging to US government departments, politicians and political parties to be verified and will ban videos aimed at campaign fundraising, the short-form video app said on Wednesday.The move comes as TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, and other social media platforms are working to clamp down on political misinformation ahead of the US midterm elections in November, after years of being criticized for allowing such content to flourish on… Source link
Read More »