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☆ TikTok Sues U.S. Government Over Law Forcing Sale or Ban
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-07 | by ( Sapna Maheshwari | David Mccabe | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Less than two weeks after President Biden signed a bill that will force TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, to sell the popular social media app or face a ban in the United States, TikTok said it sued the federal government on Tuesday, arguing the law was unconstitutional. TikTok said that the law violated the First Amendment by effectively removing an app that millions of Americans use to share their views and communicate freely. It also argued that a divestiture was “simply not possible,” especially within the law’s 270-day timeline, pointing to difficulties such as Beijing’s refusal to sell a key feature that powers TikTok in the United States. “For the first time in history, Congress has enacted a law that subjects a single, named speech platform to a permanent, nationwide ban, and bars every American from participating in a unique online community with more than one billion people worldwide,” the company said in the 67-page petition it provided, which initiates the lawsuit. “There is no question: The act will force a shutdown of TikTok by Jan. 19, 2025.”TikTok is battling for its survival in the United States, with the fight set to play out primarily in courts over the next few months.

Persons: Biden, TikTok, Jan, ” TikTok Locations: United States, China

The U.S. government’s landmark antitrust trial against Google’s search business is nearing its conclusion. Under the Trump administration, the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission started investigating Amazon, Apple, Google and Meta, the parent company of Instagram and WhatsApp, for monopolistic behavior. The government has since sued all four companies — Google twice — in what it says is an effort to rein in their power and promote more competition. Closing arguments wrap up on Friday in Google’s first antitrust suit on allegations that it has a monopoly in internet search. and 17 states sued Amazon, accusing it of protecting a monopoly by squeezing sellers on its vast marketplace and favoring its own services.

Persons: Trump Organizations: U.S, Justice Department, Federal Trade Commission, Apple, Google, Big Tech, Amazon Locations: Google’s

The judge overseeing a landmark U.S. antitrust challenge to Google tried to poke holes in both sides’ cases during closing arguments Thursday, as he weighs a ruling that could reshape the technology industry. Judge Amit P. Mehta was presiding over the first day of closing arguments in the most consequential tech antitrust case since the U.S. government sued Microsoft in the late 1990s. The Justice Department has sued Google, accusing it of illegally shoring up a monopoly in online search. On Thursday, Judge Mehta questioned the government’s argument that Google’s dominance had hurt the quality of the experience for searching for information online. “Certainly I don’t think the average person would say, ‘Google and Amazon are the same thing,’” Judge Mehta said.

Persons: Judge Amit P, Mehta, Judge Mehta Organizations: Google, Microsoft, The

☆ Tech Industry Braces as Google Antitrust Trial Closes
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-02 | by ( David Mccabe | More About David Mccabe | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The biggest U.S. challenge so far to the vast power of today’s tech giants has reached its climax. v. Google — over whether the tech giant broke federal antitrust laws to maintain its online search dominance. Google insists that consumers use its search engine because it is the best product. Many antitrust experts expect he will land somewhere in the middle, ruling only some of Google’s tactics out of bounds. The trial is the biggest challenge to date to the vast power of today’s tech giants, which have defined an era when billions of people around the world depend on their products for information, social interaction and commerce.

Persons: Amit P, Mehta Organizations: Justice Department, Google, Apple, District of Columbia, Meta Locations: U.S

is a Times reporter based in Bangkok who has been covering Asia for more than 25 years. She focuses on in-depth and investigative stories.

Locations: Bangkok, Asia

Just over a year ago, lawmakers displayed a rare show of bipartisanship when they grilled Shou Chew, TikTok’s chief executive, about the video app’s ties to China. Their harsh questioning suggested that Washington was gearing up to force the company to sever ties with its Chinese owner — or even ban the app. But behind the scenes, a tiny group of lawmakers began plotting a secretive effort that culminated on Tuesday, when the Senate passed a bill that forces TikTok to be sold by its Chinese owner, ByteDance, or risk getting banned. For nearly a year, lawmakers and some of their aides worked to write a version of the bill, concealing their efforts to avoid setting off TikTok’s lobbying might. To bulletproof the bill from expected legal challenges and persuade uncertain lawmakers, the group worked with the Justice Department and White House.

Persons: Shou, Little, TikTok Organizations: Senate, Justice Department, White Locations: China, Washington, United States

☆ Congress Passed a Bill That Could Ban TikTok. Now Comes the Hard Part.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-23 | by ( Sapna Maheshwari | David Mccabe | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A bill that would force a sale of TikTok by its Chinese owner, ByteDance — or ban it outright — was passed by the Senate on Tuesday and is expected to be signed quickly into law by President Biden. Now the process is likely to get even more complicated. Congress passed the measure citing national security concerns because of TikTok’s Chinese ties. The measure is likely to face legal challenges, as well as possible resistance from Beijing, which could block the sale or export of the technology. It’s also unclear who has the resources to buy TikTok, since it will carry a hefty price tag.

Persons: ByteDance, —, Biden, TikTok, It’s Locations: United States, Beijing

☆ TikTok Bill Is Bundled With Aid to Ukraine and Israel
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-17 | by ( David Mccabe | Sapna Maheshwari | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The measure, a modified version of a stand-alone bill that the House passed last month, will be considered alongside a package of foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, according to text of the legislation released by House leadership. The president could extend the deadline by another 90 days if progress toward a sale was being made. House lawmakers are expected to vote Saturday on a package of legislation that includes the TikTok ban and other bills popular with Republicans, a maneuver intended to induce lawmakers to vote for the foreign aid. If the package passes, the measures will be sent as a single bill to the Senate, which could vote soon after. President Biden has said he’ll sign TikTok legislation into law if it reaches his desk.

Persons: Biden Organizations: House, Republicans, Senate Locations: United States, Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan

☆ What a TikTok Ban Would Mean for the U.S. Defense of an Open Internet
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-17 | by ( David Mccabe | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For decades, the United States has fashioned itself the champion of an open internet, arguing that the web should be largely unregulated and that digital data should flow around the globe unhindered by borders. The government has argued against internet censorship abroad and even funded software that lets people in autocratic states get around online content restrictions. Digital rights groups and others around the world have taken notice — and raised the question of how the moves against TikTok contradict the United States’ arguments in favor of an open internet. A Russian opposition blogger, Aleksandr Gorbunov, posted on social media last month that Russia could use the move to shut down services like YouTube. And digital rights advocates globally are expressing fears of a ripple effect, with the United States providing cover for authoritarians who want to censor the internet.

Persons: Aleksandr Gorbunov, authoritarians Organizations: TikTok, United Locations: United States, Israel, Ukraine, States, Russian, Russia

Warner Bros. Discovery said on Monday that two members of its board of directors, Steven Newhouse and Steven Miron, had stepped down after the company learned about an investigation into whether their presence on the board violated antitrust law. Federal law forbids most corporate officers and board members to simultaneously serve on the boards of their competitors. Mr. Newhouse and Mr. Miron are both executives at Advance, a private, family-held business whose holdings include the Condé Nast glossy magazine empire that publishes titles such as Vogue and The New Yorker.

Persons: Discovery, Steven Newhouse, Steven Miron, Newhouse, Miron Organizations: Warner Bros, Advance, Vogue Locations: Yorker

Listen and follow The DailyApple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon MusicLast week, the Justice Department took aim at Apple, accusing the company of violating competition laws with practices intended to keep customers reliant on their iPhones. David McCabe, who covers technology policy for The Times, discusses the latest and most sweeping antimonopoly case against a titan of Silicon Valley.

Persons: David McCabe Organizations: Spotify, Justice Department, Apple, The Times Locations: Valley

☆ TikTok Bill’s Progress Slows in the Senate
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-15 | by ( David Mccabe | Sapna Maheshwari | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

After a bill that would force TikTok’s Chinese parent company to sell the app or face a nationwide ban sailed through the House at breakneck speed this week, its progress has slowed in the Senate. Senators — some of whom have their own versions of bills targeting TikTok — will need to be convinced. And the process of taking the House bill and potentially rewriting it to suit the Senate could be time consuming. The legislation mandates that TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, sell its stake in the app within six months or face a ban. He said that there could be adjustments made to the bill but that there was bipartisan support to wrest the app from Chinese ownership.

Persons: Chuck Schumer, —, TikTok, Richard Blumenthal Organizations: Democratic Locations: New York, Connecticut

☆ Big Appeal, and Big Question Marks, in Possible TikTok Sale
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-14 | by ( Lauren Hirsch | David Mccabe | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

TikTok is one of the most popular and largest social media apps around the globe — with great brand recognition and loyal users. That’s the conundrum facing TikTok as Washington lawmakers push a bill that would force the app’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell it or face having it banned in the United States. The bill passed the House on Wednesday but could face an uphill climb in the Senate. Rumors are already swirling on Wall Street about who could be interested in buying TikTok. The U.S. president, according to the bill passed by the House, would have to affirm that a deal cut the app off from ByteDance.

Persons: Steven Mnuchin, Mr, Mnuchin Organizations: CNBC, U.S Locations: Washington, United States, U.S, ByteDance

☆ Why a Sale of TikTok Would Not Be Easy
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-13 | by ( David Mccabe | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Legislation that could eventually mandate a sale of TikTok is moving forward. The House on Wednesday approved the bill to ban TikTok unless ByteDance sells the app to a buyer the government signs off on. Under the legislation, the president will need to agree that the sale meets those conditions. ByteDance and TikTok have not said how they would handle a sale, if it’s required. But legal experts say that in the case of a sale, ByteDance would likely need to decide between selling all of TikTok globally versus trying to cordon off its U.S. business.

Persons: ByteDance, TikTok, — Organizations: Senate Locations: China

☆ What to Know About the Proposed TikTok Legislation
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-13 | by ( David Mccabe | Sapna Maheshwari | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

House lawmakers are expected to vote starting at around 10 a.m. on Wednesday on legislation meant to force ByteDance, the Chinese internet company, to sell its wildly popular social media app TikTok. If the House passes the bill, it faces an uncertain future in the Senate. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, has not yet committed to bringing it up for a vote. Why have House lawmakers been supporting the bill? Many are worried that the Chinese government could demand the personal data of Americans from ByteDance and that, under Chinese law, ByteDance would have to comply.

Persons: ByteDance, Chuck Schumer Organizations: Lawmakers, Democratic Locations: United States, China, Beijing, New York, ByteDance

☆ Lo que debes saber sobre la ley que busca prohibir TikTok en EE. UU.
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-13 | by ( David Mccabe | Sapna Maheshwari | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

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Organizations: The

The House on Wednesday passed a bill with broad bipartisan support that would force TikTok’s Chinese owner to either sell the hugely popular video app or be banned in the United States. The move escalates a showdown between Beijing and Washington over the control of technologies that could affect national security, free speech and the social media industry. Republican leaders fast-tracked the bill through the House with limited debate, and it passed on a lopsided vote of 352-65, reflecting widespread backing for legislation that would take direct aim at China in an election year. The action came despite TikTok’s efforts to mobilize its 170 million U.S. users against the measure, and amid the Biden administration’s push to persuade lawmakers that Chinese ownership of the platform poses grave national security risks to the United States.

Organizations: Republican, Biden Locations: United States, Beijing, Washington, China

☆ What Happens Next With TikTok?
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-13 | by ( David Mccabe | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

What happens next with TikTok? Next, the bill is heading to a skeptical Senate, after which President Biden would need to sign it into law. What happens next in the legislative process? The bill needs to be approved by the Senate, which could also make changes to the text of the legislation. For example, because the bill’s text explicitly names TikTok and ByteDance, some are worried it could violate a part of the Constitution that bars Congress from targeting specific entities with legislation.

Persons: Biden, Chuck Schumer, hasn’t Organizations: Senate, Democratic Locations: New York

Former President Donald J. Trump offered a rambling and confusing explanation on Monday of why he had reversed himself on whether the United States should ban TikTok over concerns that its Chinese ownership poses a threat to national security. In a CNBC interview, Mr. Trump said that he still considered the social media app a national security threat but that banning it would make young people “go crazy.” He added that any action harming TikTok would benefit Facebook, which he called an “enemy of the people.”“Frankly, there are a lot of people on TikTok that love it,” Mr. Trump said. “There are a lot of young kids on TikTok who will go crazy without it.”“There’s a lot of good and there’s a lot of bad with TikTok,” he added, “but the thing I don’t like is that without TikTok, you can make Facebook bigger, and I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people, along with a lot of the media.”

Persons: Donald J, Trump, “, ”, ” Mr Organizations: CNBC, Facebook Locations: United States

☆ TikTok Prompts Users to Call Congress to Fight Possible Ban
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-07 | by ( Sapna Maheshwari | David Mccabe | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Washington lawmakers introduced a bill this week calling for TikTok to cut ties with its Chinese parent company or face a ban in the United States. One staff member posted a screenshot to X showing that TikTok also sent a push alert to some users. Some users said on X that they were unable to use the app before placing the call. TikTok told The New York Times that users could swipe right to get rid of the message, which may have been confusing because users typically swipe up to see the next video on the app. The company also said that the “X” to close the page wasn’t visible for some users at first but that it later fixed that.

Persons: TikTok Organizations: New York Times Locations: United States

☆ Forced to Change: Tech Giants Bow to Global Onslaught of Rules
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-04 | by ( Adam Satariano | David Mccabe | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

And Apple will give iPhone and iPad users access to rival app stores and payment systems for the first time. The tech giants have been preparing ahead of a Wednesday deadline to comply with a new European Union law intended to increase competition in the digital economy. Those changes are some of the most visible shifts that Microsoft, Apple, Google, Meta and others are making in response to a wave of new regulations and laws around the world. In the United States, some of the tech behemoths have said they will abandon practices that are the subject of federal antitrust investigations. “This is a turning point,” said Margrethe Vestager, the European Commission executive vice president in Brussels, who spent much of the past decade battling with tech giants.

Persons: ”, Margrethe Vestager Organizations: Google, Microsoft, European Union, Markets, Apple, Justice Department, European Commission, “ Locations: United States, Brussels

☆ Biden Acts to Stop Sales of Sensitive Personal Data to China and Russia
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-28 | by ( David Mccabe | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Biden will issue an executive order Wednesday seeking to restrict the sale of sensitive American data to China, Russia and four more countries, a first-of-its-kind attempt to keep personally identifying information from being obtained for blackmail, scams or other harm. The president will ask the Justice Department to write rules restricting the sale of information about Americans’ locations, health and genetics to China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela, as well as any entities linked to those countries. The restrictions would also cover financial information, biometric data and other types of information that could identify individuals and sensitive information related to the government. The White House said this kind of sensitive data could be used for blackmail, “especially for those in the military or national security community,” and against dissidents, journalists and academics. The new restrictions would be the United States’ first-ever broad prohibition on the sale of digital data to individual countries in an era when companies known as data brokers assemble huge amounts of information on people, from favorite hobbies to household income and health conditions, and then typically sell it to marketers that target them with ads.

Persons: Biden, United States ’ Organizations: Department Locations: China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, United States

Supporters of the state laws say they foster free speech, giving the public access to all points of view. One contrarian brief, from liberal professors, urged the justices to uphold the key provision of the Texas law despite the harm they said it would cause. “Social media platforms exercise editorial judgment that is inherently expressive,” Judge Kevin C. Newsom wrote for the panel. To the surprise of many, some prominent liberal professors filed a brief urging the justices to uphold a key provision of the Texas law. In the second case, Miami Herald v. Tornillo, the Supreme Court in 1974 struck down a Florida law that would have allowed politicians a “right to reply” to newspaper articles critical of them.

Persons: Samuel A, Alito Jr, ”, Scott Wilkens, Ron DeSantis, John Tully, Donald J, Trump, Greg Abbott of, —, Ken Paxton, “, Andrew S, Oldham, Kevin C, Newsom, Lawrence Lessig, Tim Wu of, Teachout, Mandel Ngan, Richard L, “ Florida’s, Moody, Paxton, Robins, William H, Rehnquist, Pat L, Tornillo, Warren E, Burger Organizations: Facebook, YouTube, Columbia University, Big Tech, The New York Times, Gov, Republican, Computer & Communications Industry, New York Times, Fox News, U.S ., Appeals, Fifth Circuit, ISIS, Harvard, Tim Wu of Columbia, Zephyr, Fordham, Twitter, Manchester Union, Citizens United, Agence France, University of California, Miami Herald, Florida, Representatives, Constitution Locations: Florida, Texas, Greg Abbott of Texas, Ukraine, Los Angeles, Campbell , Calif

☆ What to Know About the Supreme Court Arguments on Social Media Laws
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-25 | by ( David Mccabe | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Social media companies are bracing for Supreme Court arguments on Monday that could fundamentally alter the way they police their sites. Texas later passed its own law prohibiting platforms from taking down political content. Two tech industry groups, NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association, sued to block the laws from taking effect. They argued that the companies have the right to make decisions about their own platforms under the First Amendment, much as a newspaper gets to decide what runs in its pages. The Supreme Court’s decision in those cases — Moody v. NetChoice and NetChoice v. Paxton — is a big test of the power of social media companies, potentially reshaping millions of social media feeds by giving the government influence over how and what stays online.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, — Moody, Paxton — Organizations: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Capitol, Computer & Communications Industry Association Locations: Florida, Texas

☆ Will Lawmakers Really Act to Protect Children Online? Some Say Yes.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-01 | by ( David Mccabe | Cecilia Kang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the final minutes of a congressional hearing on Wednesday in which tech chief executives were berated for not protecting children online, Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, urged lawmakers to act to safeguard the internet’s youngest users. Lawmakers have long made similar statements about holding tech companies to account — and have little to show for it. Yet for years, that was where it ended: with no new federal regulations for the companies to follow. And already, there are indicators that the topic of online child safety may gain more traction legislatively. The efforts are backed by emotional accounts of children who were victimized online and died by suicide.

Persons: Richard J, Durbin, ” Organizations: Lawmakers, Republicans, Democrats Locations: Illinois

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