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☆ TikTok's time in the US could soon be on the clock, and that's not the app's only problem
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-23 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The big storyTick-tock on TikTokChelsea Jia Feng/BITikTok's time in the US could soon be on the clock. When it's all said and done, a TikTok ban could be in place before the week's end. Business Insider's Peter Kafka explains why the TikTok ban, while more imminent than ever, still has a long way to go . A TikTok ban would benefit one familiar face in social media, though, writes BI's Katie Notopoulos . YouTube Shorts, too, stand to grab more attention after a TikTok ban.

Persons: —, Caitlin Clark's, Chelsea Jia Feng, ByteDance, Joe Biden, it's, Business Insider's Peter Kafka, Michael Beckerman, TikTok, hawking, BI's Lindsay Dodgson, outperforming, Katie Notopoulos, Merrill Lynch, Tyler Le, Andy Sieg's, Merrill, Lindsay Hans, Eric Schimpf, It's, Steve Cohen's, Grzegorz Wajda, Hokyoung Kim, Nordstrom, Tesla, Dan DeFrancesco, Jordan Parker Erb, Hallam Bullock, George Glover Organizations: Business, Service, Nike, Bloomberg Intelligence, YouTube, Big Tech, New York Stock Exchange, NYSE, Chelsea, Getty, Walmart, BI, Costco, Amazon, Motors, Spotify Locations: Americas, TikTok, Merrill, China, American, New York, London

☆ TikTok influencers fear their careers will be destroyed and their work 'deleted forever' as a US ban looms
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-23 | by ( Lindsay Dodgson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Chinese-owned ByteDance will be forced to sell TikTok to a US company or face a nationwide ban. AdvertisementThose who want the app banned argue that TikTok may be forced into giving over user data to the Chinese government. A ban would be "devastating" for her, she said, because years of her work would be "deleted forever." AdvertisementA TikTok spokesperson told BI in March that the legislation has a "predetermined outcome," which is a total ban of TikTok in the US. Editor's note, April 23, 2024: This article has been updated to reflect the House of Representatives vote, which passed a bill to ban TikTok in the US.

Persons: —, TikTok, Leo LonDini, LonDini, Brett Jansen Organizations: Service, Google, Epic Games, Universal Group, Warner Music Group, Spotify, Tesla Locations: China

☆ TikTok vows legal challenge to potential US app ban
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-22 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —TikTok will file a court challenge if Congress passes legislation paving the way to a nationwide ban of the app, a top executive told employees in an internal memo obtained by CNN. He invited employees to an internal town hall scheduled for Wednesday “for additional context.”The memo was earlier reported by The Information. The legislation calls for forcing TikTok’s Chinese parent, ByteDance, to sell the app within 270 days — otherwise it would be illegal for US app stores to offer TikTok for downloads. The legislation also would allow Biden to extend that deadline by another 90 days if he determines there’s been progress toward a sale. Foreshadowing its legal strategy, TikTok has already publicly opposed the bill as an infringement on its users’ First Amendment rights.

Persons: CNN —, TikTok —, Michael Beckerman, Joe Biden, ” Beckerman, Mike Johnson, Biden, ”, Beckerman, didn’t, there’s, TikTok Organizations: CNN, “, Republican, The

☆ Read the full memo TikTok sent to staff as Congress stepped up its ban threat: 'This is the beginning, not the end'
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-22 | by ( Dan Whateley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

"We'll continue to fight, as this legislation is a clear violation of the First Amendment rights of the 170 million Americans on TikTok." This divest-or-ban bill is the culmination of years of political attacks on TikTok. Trump, Biden, Congress, and even the state of Montana have unsuccessfully pushed to divest or ban TikTok from its China-based owner ByteDance. Latest UpdateToday (Saturday, April 20), the bill has passed the House and is expected to pass the Senate by early next week. Are you a TikTok or ByteDance employee with insight to share?

Persons: Michael Beckerman, Beckerman, We'll, TikTok, Trump, ByteDance, Biden, Dan Whateley Organizations: Business, TikTok, Chinese Communist Party, Biden, Congress, Foreign, Republican, Wednesday's Global Locations: Washington, Americas, China, Montana, Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, dwhateley@businessinsider.com

☆ Senators Say TikTok May Have Misled Congress on Handling of U.S. User Data
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Sapna Maheshwari | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Two senators sent a letter to TikTok’s chief executive on Tuesday, accusing the company of making misleading claims to Congress around how it stores and handles American user data, and demanding answers to more than a dozen questions by the end of next week. The letter, from Senators Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, and Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee, focused on how sensitive data about American users may be stored in China and how employees there may have access to it. The lawmakers said recent reports from The New York Times and Forbes raised questions about statements made during congressional testimony in March by Shou Chew, TikTok’s chief executive, and in an October 2021 hearing involving Michael Beckerman, TikTok’s head of public policy for the Americas. TikTok is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. “We are deeply troubled by TikTok’s recurring pattern of providing misleading, inaccurate or false information to Congress and its users in the United States, including in response to us during oversight hearings and letters,” the senators wrote.

Persons: Richard Blumenthal, Marsha Blackburn, Forbes, Shou Chew, Michael Beckerman Organizations: Republican, The New York Times Locations: Connecticut, Tennessee, China, United States

The lobbying comes amid a sustained effort by TikTok to play down fears raised by lawmakers who want to ban the app, which has 150 million monthly active users in the U.S. She defended the work of TikTok's team in Washington and said the company is trying to address lawmakers' privacy and safety concerns. At the furthest end of the extreme is the legislation from Hawley and Buck that simply seeks to ban TikTok outright by directing the president to block transactions with ByteDance. Hawley has not eased his campaign to ban TikTok. But after, "our phones were ringing off the hook," with the majority of callers voicing opposition to a TikTok ban.

☆ TikTok and its parent company spent about $5.4 million on federal lobbying last year as it faced renewed threats of a ban
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Dan Whateley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

TikTok and its parent company ByteDance spent about $5.4 million on federal lobbying in 2022. TikTok and its parent company ByteDance spent about $5.4 million on federal lobbying in 2022, a roughly 4% increase from the previous year, according to year-end disclosures filed by the companies and their hired lobbying firms on Friday. While ByteDance's and TikTok's lobbying spend remained relatively flat between 2021 and 2022, both years represented a significant spike from 2020 when the companies spent around $2.6 million. In late 2020, the Trump administration attempted to ban TikTok's app from US app stores. TikTok's app has faced similar government-device bans at the state level.

☆ Washington moved fast to crack down on TikTok but has made little progress with Big Tech
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

But in fast-tracking the bill, Congress can’t help but draw attention to its notable lack of progress on regulating American tech giants more broadly — despite years of reports, hearings and proposed legislation. Washington finds a different tech villainThe tech industry’s largest players have faced a kitchen sink of allegations in recent years. The central allegation against TikTok is that the company poses a potential national security risk. But earlier this year, it acknowledged that China-based employees can access TikTok user data and declined to commit to cutting off those data flows in general. “We’re disappointed that Congress has moved to ban TikTok on government devices—a political gesture that will do nothing to advance national security interests—rather than encouraging the Administration to conclude its national security review,” said Brooke Oberwetter, a TikTok spokesperson.

☆ TikTok executive refuses Jake Tapper’s multiple requests to acknowledge China’s Uyghur genocide
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( David Goldman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Critics argue China’s national security laws could force TikTok — or its parent, ByteDance — to hand over the personal data of customers in the United States. “I’m just not an expert on what’s happening in China,” Beckerman said. He again refused to acknowledge it, saying only that China is among many bad actors around the world. “Look, I think there are many human rights violations that are happening in China and around the world,” Beckerman said. I’m not here to be the expert on human rights violations around the world.”A TikTok spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.

☆ Indiana Attorney General files lawsuits against TikTok
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

New York CNN Business —Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita on Wednesday announced he has filed two separate lawsuits against TikTok, which accuse the company of making false claims about the safety of user data, and age-appropriate content. “The TikTok app is a malicious and menacing threat unleashed on unsuspecting Indiana consumers by a Chinese company that knows full well the harms it inflicts on users,” Rokita said in a statement. “With this pair of lawsuits, we hope to force TikTok to stop its false, deceptive, and misleading practices, which violate Indiana law.”The lawsuits mark the most serious action taken yet by a state against TikTok, amid increasing attention to and concern about TikTok from state and federal officials in recent months. TikTok does not comment on pending litigation, but said, “the safety, privacy and security of our community is our top priority,” according to a statement from a company spokesperson. And there has been renewed criticism of TikTok this year, stemming from a Buzzfeed News report in June that said some US user data has been repeatedly accessed from China.

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