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Courts blocked a prior bid by the Trump administration to ban the app in part on the grounds that such a move violated free speech protections. Courts struck down former President Donald Trump's bid to block TikTok in 2020 with an executive order that granted the Commerce Department similar authorities as the RESTRICT act. But the bill will likely provide no immediate solutions for those calling for a ban on the app. Some experts said using the new legal tools to ban TikTok could still invite First Amendment challenges. "And there will most likely be a legal challenge if its used to ban TikTok."

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves midday: First Republic, Signet Jewelers, Snap and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

A customer walks past an ATM outside of a First Republic Bank branch in Manhattan Beach, California, on March 13, 2023. First Republic Bank — Shares of First Republic erased earlier losses and were last up about 22%. UiPath — The stock surged 17.5% after the automation software company reported fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share of 15 cents, beating the StreetAccount estimate of 6 cents per share. Adobe — The software maker saw its stock jump nearly 5% after the company reported fiscal first-quarter results that topped Wall Street estimates. The Wall Street firm said the stock has fallen to levels that are attractive.

☆ TikTok mulls splitting from ByteDance if proposal with U.S. fails - Bloomberg News
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

March 14 (Reuters) - Short video app TikTok's management is considering the possibility of separating from parent firm, China's ByteDance, to help address U.S. concerns about national security risks, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. A divestiture, which could result in a sale or initial public offering, is considered a last resort, and to be pursued only if the company's existing proposal with U.S. national security officials does not get approved, Bloomberg reported. TikTok is undergoing a national security review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and it agreed last year to implement a number of measures to address U.S. officials' security concerns. Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika SyamnathOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ TikTok introduces new paywalled 20-minute video feature
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The New Economy Forum is being organized by Bloomberg Media Group, a division of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News. The new feature, called Series, will allow select creators to share longer videos that will be available for purchase behind a paywall. Users have previously only been able to share 15-second, 1-minute, 3-minute or 10-minute videos on TikTok. The new feature will further heat up the competition with platforms like YouTube — which is known for its long-form videos. In August 2021, YouTube introduced YouTube Shorts as a direct alternative to TikTok.

☆ TikTok data collection, influence operations potential draw U.S. NSA concern
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Elizabeth FrantzWASHINGTON, March 7 (Reuters) - U.S. National Security Agency Director Paul Nakasone on Tuesday expressed concern during congressional testimony about Chinese-owned video app TikTok's data collection and potential to facilitate broad influence operations. Asked by Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville about any concerns he has about TikTok's influence on American children, Nakasone told a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, "TikTok concerns me for a number of different reasons." Nakasone ended his comments by asserting that the TikTok platform could enable sweeping influence operations. The NSA, part of the Defense Department, is the agency responsible for U.S. cryptographic and communications intelligence and security. CFIUS and TikTok have been in talks for more than two years aiming to reach a national security agreement.

☆ TikTok to allow creators to sell collections of long-format videos
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 7 (Reuters) - Chinese short-video sharing app TikTok said on Tuesday it will allow some creators to produce collections of longer videos and charge their audience a premium for access, opening up a new channel of monetization for its users. Its new offering "Series" will allow eligible creators to put collections of up to 80 videos, each about 20 minutes long behind a paywall. It is not clear whether TikTok will take a cut from the creators. TikTok, owned by China's ByteDance, hit 1 billion monthly active users in September 2021 and has not reported its user base since. In comparison, Facebook had nearly 3 billion monthly active users as of December 2022.

☆ TikTok's potential ban in U.S. could be boon for Meta and Snap
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Jonathan Raa | Nurphoto | Getty ImagesInvestors in Meta , Snap and other U.S. digital media companies have been looking for signs of a rebound after a tumultuous 2022. Meta climbed 1% on Wednesday, and Snap was unchanged. She said that Meta's Facebook, Snap and Google's YouTube could be "huge beneficiaries" if the ban ultimately takes place. watch now"A U.S. ban on TikTok is a ban on the export of American culture and values to the billion-plus people who use our service worldwide," a TikTok spokesperson said Wednesday. Andrew Boone, an analyst at JMP, said that Meta likely stands to benefit the most should TikTok face a U.S. ban.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee plans to take up legislation Tuesday that would give President Joe Biden the authority to ban TikTok, the Chinese social media app used by more than 100 million Americans. 1153 will effectively leap frog several other proposals to ban TikTok that were previously introduced in the House and Senate, but haven't yet advanced through the committee process. My bill empowers the administration to ban TikTok or any software applications that threaten U.S. national security," McCaul said in a statement Monday. "It would be unfortunate if the House Foreign Affairs Committee were to censor millions of Americans," TikTok spokeswoman Brooke Oberwetter told CNBC in an email Monday. At the time, ByteDance was looking to potentially spin off TikTok to keep the app from being shut down.

☆ Jim Cramer's top 10 things to watch in the stock market Tuesday: February to forget, 100 days of Iger
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Sign up for my Top 10 Morning Thoughts on the market email newsletter for free 2. RBC Capital calls General Electric (GE) a buy ahead of next week's analyst day; ahead of separation of energy and power businesses into GE Vernova. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade.

☆ Democratic senator urges Apple, Google to kick TikTok out of app stores
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Feb 2 (Reuters) - TikTok, owned by China's ByteDance, should be removed from app stores run by Apple Inc (AAPL.O) and Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) Google because the short video social media app poses a risk to national security, Senator Michael Bennet, a Democrat on the intelligence committee, said in a letter dated Thursday. "Given these risks, I urge you to remove TikTok from your respective app stores immediately," he wrote. Prior to Bennet's letter, Republicans have largely led the charge on TikTok and national security concerns, although Democratic Senator Dick Durbin previously urged Americans to stop using the app. For its part, the company says China's government cannot access the personal data of U.S. citizens or manipulate the app's content. TikTok Chief Executive Shou Zi Chew is due to appear before the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee in March.

☆ Musk launches poll on whether he should quit as Twitter CEO
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Replying to a user on Twitter later, Musk said "There is no successor" in reference to a possible change in CEO. Minutes before the poll, Musk apologized and tweeted "Going forward, there will be a vote for major policy changes." loadingFormer Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who recently invested in social media platform Nostr, replied to the Twitter support post with one word: "Why?". Last week, Twitter disbanded its Trust and Safety Council, a volunteer group formed in 2016 to advise the social media platform on site decisions. The policy change follows other chaotic actions at Twitter since Elon Musk, who is also the CEO of Tesla (TSLA.O), bought the social network.

☆ Twitter prohibits users from promoting accounts on Facebook, Mastodon
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] The Twitter logo is seen outside the offices in New York City, U.S., November 9, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermidDec 18 (Reuters) - Twitter on Sunday said that it will remove accounts created solely for the purpose of promoting other social platforms and content that contains links or usernames. The move would impact content from social media platforms like Meta Platforms' (META.O) Facebook and Instagram, along with Mastodon, Truth Social, Tribel, Nostr and Post while allowing cross-content posting, Twitter support said in a tweet. loadingFormer Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who recently invested in social media platform Nostr, replied to the Twitter support post with one word: "Why?". Last week, Twitter disbanded its Trust and Safety Council, a volunteer group formed in 2016 to advise the social media platform on site decisions.

☆ Op-ed: What Elon Musk really gets out of owning Twitter
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Matt Rosoff | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

As the owner of Twitter, Musk now controls a platform that has mounds of data about the connections among its users, their interactions, their interests and so on. Most important, by owning Twitter, Musk expands his reach far beyond his own fanbase. Musk has hinted at this in his statements about Twitter as a bastion of free speech. But so far, Musk seems to equate "free speech" on Twitter with "looser moderation." During his first weekend owning the service, Musk responded to Hillary Clinton by tweeting an unfounded, anti-LGBTQ conspiracy theory about the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband.

☆ ByteDance plans music-streaming expansion to take on Spotify - WSJ
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Oct 12 (Reuters) - China's ByteDance Ltd is in talks with music labels for expanding its music-streaming service globally to compete with industry leaders such as Spotify Technology SA (SPOT.N), the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. The TikTok parent plans to eventually integrate music streaming within its short-video service and scale it to serve as a major platform for distributing music globally, according to the report that cited people with knowledge of the discussions. Shares of Spotify pared gains to trade flat in after-market trading on Wednesday, while Warner Music Group Corp (WMG.O) gained 4%. The company had discussed in recent months launching its Resso music-streaming service, currently available in India, Indonesia and Brazil, in more than a dozen additional markets, but expansion to the United States isn't immediately on the cards, according to the report. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay DwivediOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ TikTok inching toward U.S. security deal to avoid sale - NYT
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterTikTok app logo is seen in this illustration taken, August 22, 2022. TikTok and the Biden administration have drafted a preliminary agreement to resolve national security concerns but are still deciding on a potential agreement, the Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter. ByteDance and TikTok did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterTikTok has long faced scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers, who have questioned the Chinese-owned app's safeguards of user data. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'SilvaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ TikTok to verify political accounts in U.S., ban campaign fundraising
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Sheila Dang | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

TikTok app logo is seen in this illustration taken, August 22, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoSept 21 (Reuters) - TikTok will begin requiring accounts belonging to U.S. 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. Political accounts can submit a request for verification, TikTok said, and the company will also work to confirm the authenticity of profiles it believes belong to politicians or political parties. To help enforce the ban, accounts belonging to politicians and parties will automatically be prevented from accessing advertising features, TikTok said in a blog post. Content that will be banned under the new policy includes videos from politicians soliciting donations or political parties directing users to make a donation on their website.

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