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☆ Premarket stocks: Americans are going all-in on cash. That could spell more trouble
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The goal of a money market fund is to provide investors with a relatively stable investment option that offers higher returns than traditional savings. What’s happening: Since the Fed began to raise interest rates a year ago, the amount of money in money market funds has increased by roughly $400 billion. Goldman Sachs economists wrote in a note on Thursday that Americans could sell as much as $1.1 trillion in stocks this year and put that money into credit and money market assets instead. Money market funds are deeply interconnected with the wider financial system, and often face the same risks as banks. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, a US government agency that insures deposits in banks and savings associations, does not insure cash invested in money market funds.

☆ Short Seller Hindenburg Says Jack Dorsey’s Payments Company Inflates User Numbers
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Peter Rudegeair | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Hindenburg said Jack Dorsey, Block Inc.’s chief and co-founder, has amassed a $5 billion personal fortune by taking advantage of Cash App’s users. Shares of the payments company formerly known as Square fell more than 20% in early trading Thursday after a short seller questioned the company’s user numbers and accused it of predatory tactics. Hindenburg Research said a two-year investigation into Block Inc. found the company “obfuscates” its Cash App service’s true user numbers by reporting misleading metrics “filled with fake and duplicate accounts.” It also accused the company of taking advantage of the demographics it claims to serve—lower-income people and minorities—with “predatory loans and fees.”

U.S.-China relations were dealt another blow as lawmakers at a House hearing pummeled TikTok’s chief executive over the popular app’s ties to China, and as Beijing said it would fight any U.S. attempt to force the company’s sale by its Chinese owners. The hearing Thursday, peppered with withering attacks on TikTok from both Democrats and Republicans, ran more than five hours and underscored growing concern about Beijing’s potential influence over the app. U.S.-China relations are already frayed over trade, Taiwan, technology and geopolitical rivalries.

☆ Shares of Jack Dorsey’s Block Fall on Short-Seller Report
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Peter Rudegeair | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Hindenburg said Jack Dorsey, Block Inc.’s chief and co-founder, has amassed a $5 billion personal fortune by taking advantage of Cash App’s users. Shares of the payments company formerly known as Square fell 13% in early trading Thursday after a short seller questioned the company’s user numbers and accused it of predatory tactics. Hindenburg Research said a two-year investigation into Block Inc. found the company “obfuscates” its Cash App service’s true user numbers by reporting misleading metrics “filled with fake and duplicate accounts.” It also accused the company of taking advantage of the demographics it claims to serve—lower-income people and minorities—with “predatory loans and fees.”

☆ The TikTok hearing was an ugly political theater
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN —Despite lacking evidence for their belief that TikTok is a spying tool for the Chinese Communist Party, US lawmakers from both parties on Thursday carried out an ugly political theater to advance that narrative. But — and I cannot stress this enough — the national security concerns are purely hypothetical. And against that tense (not to mention deeply xenophobic) backdrop, everyone in Washington is bolstering their “tough in China” credentials. “We see this handwringing about TikTok as a big distraction from the conversation that we really need to be having,” Greer said. “It’s a national embarrassment that we have no basic data privacy law in the United States.”Enjoying Nightcap?

☆ TikTok hearing: CEO Shou Chew to testify before Congress for the first time
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

TikTok CEO Shou Chew will face the House Energy and Commerce Committee during his first appearance before Congress, in a hearing that kicks off at 10 a.m. In his prepared remarks, Chew is expected to issue broad promises to protect US user data, to keep teens safe and to remain free from any government influence. As scrutiny from lawmakers’ mounts, however, so does the app’s popularity and reach in the United States. TikTok was the top downloaded app in the United States in 2021 and 2022, according to data from analytics firm Sensor Tower. In the months leading up to his appearance on Capitol Hill, Chew, who rarely gave interviews previously, has gone on a media tour in the United States.

☆ Short-seller Hindenburg targets Jack Dorsey’s Block
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —Shares of Block, the company behind Cash App, plunged by 20% Thursday morning after the release of a searing report from short-seller Hindenburg Research that accused Jack Dorsey’s company of allowing fraudulent accounts that obscure criminals involved in illegal or illicit activities, including the sex trafficking of minors. Hindenburg’s attack on Block comes two months after the short seller’s allegations against Adani Group erased billions of dollars from the Indian conglomerate’s balance sheets. In 2021, members of the “Cash App” gang were charged with distributing fentanyl, the report said. Hindenburg, meanwhile, has made a name for itself by publishing explosive reports about businesses and short-selling the stocks of the companies associated with them. Hindenburg has targeted nearly 30 companies since 2020, and on average their targets lost about 15% on the day the reports were released, according to Bloomberg calculations.

☆ Is TikTok’s time up? CEO’s skewering before Congress raises questions about app’s future in the US
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

“TikTok’s fate in the US is on shakier ground than ever following lawmakers’ grueling questioning of Chew,” Insider Intelligence principal analyst Jasmine Enberg said. The 40-year-old Harvard-educated Chew was never going to get a warm welcome from US lawmakers. Chew, welcome to the most bipartisan committee in Congress,” Republican Rep. That said, Chew needed to provide clear, direct answers to questions posed by lawmakers, particularly those regarding fears of potential Chinese authority over the company. Instead, his murky answers on questions pertaining to the Communist Party of China led to added confusion at times.

☆ TikTok Stars Rally in Washington Against App’s Potential U.S. Ban
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Ryan Tracy | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—TikTok launched a battalion of influencers in the nation’s capital Wednesday to send a message to Congress: Banning the app would be met with widespread popular opposition. “TikTok is not a children’s dancing app,” said Aidan Kohn-Murphy, a college freshman with close to 300,000 TikTok followers and founder of the advocacy group Gen-Z for Change. “It is one of the most powerful tools that young people have to engage each other and to get civically involved.”

☆ TikTok CEO to tell lawmakers its parent company is ‘not an agent of China’
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —TikTok CEO Shou Chew plans to tell US lawmakers that the app’s parent company, ByteDance, does not work for the Chinese government as he seeks to avert a US ban and reassure policymakers TikTok poses no national security threat. “Let me state this unequivocally,” Chew will say, according to a copy of his remarks released by a key House panel. New TikTok data created by US users is already being stored on cloud-based servers operated by the US tech giant Oracle, a change that took effect last month, according to the testimony. USDS already has nearly 1,500 full-time employees and the company plans to hire more. Chew plans to describe the incident as a “misguided attempt to trace the source of a leak of confidential TikTok information.” TikTok informed the Energy and Commerce Committee about the spying “within moments of informing our employees,” Chew will add.

☆ TikTok and its CEO are fighting to save the app in the US
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

In his talk, Chew, the CEO of TikTok, said the social network would not provide US user data to the Chinese government and has never been asked to do so. Chew stressed the steps TikTok has taken to protect US user data. The Harvard event is just one of several media appearances Chew has made in recent weeks amid mounting scrutiny of TikTok and of himself. “It’s life or death for TikTok, from their perspective,” said Justin Sherman, the CEO of Global Cyber Strategies, D.C.-based research and advisory firm, who was among the researchers TikTok invited to be briefed on “Project Texas,” the company’s $1.5 billion initiative to address lawmakers’ security concerns. But for some lawmakers with security concerns, the latest push “may be too little too late.”In his TikTok video on Tuesday, Chew appealed directly to users of the app.

☆ Benefits of US political accord accrue to TikTok
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Jennifer Saba | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW YORK, March 21 (Reuters Breakingviews) - TikTok has one incentive to keep American politicians united. As Chief Executive Shou Zi Chew goes in front of Congress this week, he might remember that benefits can accrue to him if representatives remain cooperative. TikTok will be working to persuade American politicians that citizens’ data is protected, but in reality it will be difficult for the country to ban the app outright. So in some ways, political cohesion is good for TikTok. TikTok may not want to cause trouble in Washington, but it benefits so long as Democrats and Republicans agree.

☆ TikTok says it has 150 million US users amid renewed calls for a ban
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —TikTok now has 150 million monthly active users in the United States, CEO Shou Chew confirmed on Tuesday, in a clear attempt to highlight the platform’s vast and growing reach in the country amid renewed calls for a ban. “That’s almost half the US coming to TikTok to connect, to create, to share, to learn, or just to have some fun,” Chew said in a TikTok video on Tuesday. The figure also includes about five million businesses that use TikTok to reach customers, Chew said. TikTok acknowledged to CNN last week week that federal officials are demanding the app’s Chinese owners sell their stake in the social media platform, or risk facing a US ban of the app. In 2020, when the Trump administration made a similar threat, TikTok said it had 100 million US users.

☆ Lawmakers say TikTok is a national security threat, but evidence remains unclear
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

If there’s a risk, it’s primarily concentrated in the relationship between TikTok’s Chinese parent, ByteDance, and Beijing. TikTok has been erecting technical and organizational barriers that it says will keep US user data safe from unauthorized access. “Regarding privacy, we also did not see the TikTok app exhibiting any behaviors similar to malware.”Are there other security concerns? TikTok later confirmed the incident and ByteDance fired several employees who had improperly accessed the TikTok data of two journalists. “And governments around the world are ignoring their duty to protect citizens’ private information, allowing big tech companies to exploit user information for gain.

CNN —Nearly two-and-a-half years after the Trump administration threatened to ban TikTok in the United States if it didn’t divest from its Chinese owners, the Biden administration is now doing the same. The new directive comes from the multiagency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), following years of negotiations between TikTok and the government body. “If protecting national security is the objective, divestment doesn’t solve the problem,” TikTok spokesperson Maureen Shanahan said in a statement. TikTok is really only a national security risk insofar as the Chinese government may have leverage over TikTok or its parent company. China has national security laws that require companies under its jurisdiction to cooperate with a broad range of security activities.

☆ Biden administration demands TikTok’s Chinese owners spin off their share or face US ban
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —The Biden administration has threatened to ban TikTok from the United States unless the app’s Chinese owners agree to spin off their share of the social media platform, TikTok acknowledged Wednesday evening. “If protecting national security is the objective, divestment doesn’t solve the problem,” TikTok spokesperson Maureen Shanahan said in a statement. But so far, there has been no evidence that the Chinese government has actually accessed TikTok user data, and no government has enacted a broader ban targeting TikTok on personal devices. TikTok has sought to address policymakers’ concerns with voluntary technical and bureaucratic safeguards that it says will help ensure US user data may only be accessed by US employees. Part of that initiative, which the company calls Project Texas, involves storing personal data with the US cloud giant Oracle.

☆ TikTok could be banned in the US unless the app’s Chinese owners sell their stakes. The Biden administration is demanding it, WSJ reports.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The US is threatening TikTok's Chinese owners with a US ban if they don't sell their stakes, according to the WSJ. TikTok has responded saying the forced sale won't address the perceived national security risk. Still, TikTok's leadership is considering splitting from ByteDance to work around the national security concerns, Bloomberg reported. In December, the Senate voted to ban TikTok on government devices, and several states have since introduced full or partial bans of the app. Universities have also made moves to ban TikTok.

☆ TikTok Rolls Out ‘Project Clover’ to Assure Europeans on Data
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Stu Woo | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

TikTok executives briefed British political advisers and other policy makers on the video app’s plan to secure the data of European users. LONDON—TikTok executives launched a charm offensive in Britain aimed at convincing politicians that the data of British users are safe, said people familiar with the matter, as a growing list of other governments restrict use of the app. TikTok executives on Monday briefed British political advisers, think tanks and other policy makers on what it described as “Project Clover,” the popular video app’s plan to secure the data of European users, the people said.

☆ Twitter hit by another outage as Musk complains platform is ‘so brittle’
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Outage tracker site DownDetector showed more than 8,000 Twitter outage reports around noon on Monday. For users who were able to access the platform, “Twitter API” was trending as people tweeted about the issues. We’re working on this now and will share an update when it’s fixed.”In a separate tweet on Monday, Musk said: “This platform is so brittle (sigh). Other users were met with a “Welcome to Twitter!” message as if they had just joined the platform. Three weeks ago, Twitter users encountered various issues with the platform, including the inability to tweet, send direct messages or follow new accounts.

☆ TikTok to set one-hour daily screen time limit by default for users under 18
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —TikTok announced Wednesday that every user under 18 will soon have their accounts default to a one-hour daily screen time limit, in one of the most aggressive moves yet by a social media company to prevent teens from endlessly scrolling. Teenage TikTok users will be able to turn off this new default setting, which will roll out in the coming weeks. The move comes after TikTok and other social media platforms have faced years of scrutiny over their impact on young users, including their potential to lead teens down harmful rabbit holes. TikTokKeenan added that if a teen decides to turn off this new default limit and spends more than 100 minutes on TikTok a day, they will be prompted to set a daily screen time limit for themselves. Parents will be able to filter videos with words or hashtags they don’t want to appear in their teen’s feed, set a custom daily screen time limit for their teen, and set a custom schedule to mute TikTok notifications sent to their teen.

Washington/London CNN —The European Commission has banned TikTok from official devices because of concerns about cybersecurity, a move sharply criticized by the company in its latest run-in with Western governments over how it handles user data. Commission staff have until March 15 to delete the short-form video app, owned by China’s ByteDance, from work devices and any personal devices that use Commission apps and services. Based in Brussels, the European Commission is the executive arm of the European Union, responsible for proposing and enforcing legislation and implementing the EU budget. “This measure aims to protect the Commission against cybersecurity threats and actions which may be exploited for cyberattacks against the corporate environment of the Commission,” the Commission said in a statement Thursday. Previously, TikTok has disclosed to European users that China-based employees may access EU users’ data.

☆ Best Online Stock Trading Platforms of 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: +20 min

Luckily, the past few years has seen a profusion of online stock trading platforms. We spent hours comparing more than a dozen stock trading platforms looking for the most intuitive tools, in-depth research and access to guidance and other educational content. We considered all of this when making our picks for the Best Stock Trading Platforms of 2023. How we pickedTo pick Buy Side from WSJ’s best stock trading platforms, we reviewed offerings from more than a dozen companies. Morgan Stanley is the corporate parent of E*Trade, one of the stock trading platforms considered for this story.

☆ Democratic senator urges Apple and Google to ban TikTok from their app stores
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Washington CNN —A member of the Senate Intelligence Committee is calling on Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their app stores over concerns about national security, in the latest indication of mounting scrutiny on the short-form video app from members of Congress. The laws in question, Bennet wrote, require organizations in the country to “cooperate with state intelligence work” and to allow the government to access company resources. China could potentially try to shape what US users see on the app, Bennet warned, with possible implications for foreign policy and democracy. Apple, Google and TikTok didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Some other US officials have also called on Apple and Google to voluntarily remove TikTok from their app stores.

☆ Artifact: Instagram's founders are back with a new app
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Jennifer Korn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —More than four years after Instagram’s founders left the company, they’re back with a new app. Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger on Tuesday announced the launch of Artifact, an app that promises “a personalized news feed” powered by artificial intelligence. Unlike Instagram, the app is more focused on articles rather than photos. A main feed will display popular articles from large media organizations down to smaller bloggers, and a user’s feed will grow more personalized based on what they click on. Jim Bennett/WireImage/Getty ImagesAfter launching Instagram together in 2010, Systrom and Krieger sold the app to Meta for $1 billion in 2012.

☆ TikTok CEO to testify before Congress in March amid app security questions
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Rose Horowitch | Rose Horowitch Is An Intern With Nbc News Digital Politics. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will appear before Congress in March to field questions about the viral video app's security measures amid mounting efforts to ban it because of privacy concerns. TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, has come under increased scrutiny after media reports showed possible security breaches. Several lawmakers are supporting legislation to ban the app from the U.S. entirely. The ban Biden approved, which was wrapped into the omnibus spending bill, included limited exceptions for law enforcement, national security and security research purposes. Last month Congress banned it on all government devices.

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