US TikTok ban – BOL News Staging

TikTok denies US accusations of ties to Chinese government

August 18, 2020 by Arhama Altaf

Chinese video-sharing app TikTok has denied rumours linking up to the Chinese government calling the US accusations as ‘rumours and misinformation’.

TikTok launched an online information hub as its Chinese parent firm faced a deadline set by President Donald Trump to divest TikTok before the app is banned in the United States.

On a web page titled “The Last Sunny Corner of the Internet,” TikTok maintained it was setting the record straight about the platform.

“TikTok has never provided any US user data to the Chinese government, nor would it do so if asked,” the company said in the post.

“Any insinuation to the contrary is unfounded and blatantly false.”

According to TikTok, US user data is stored here, with a backup in Singapore.

The company, owned by China-based ByteDance, also launched a new Twitter account to address issues in real-time.

Trump has claimed TikTok could be used by China to track the locations of federal employees and conduct corporate espionage.

The US leader early this month also ordered a ban on the messaging app WeChat which is used extensively in China.

Trump once again targets TikTok with new executive order

August 15, 2020 by Arhama Altaf

United States (US) President Donald Trump once again targeted ByteDance with a new executive order ordering it to sell the US operations of its video-sharing app TikTok within 90 days.

Trump, last week, issued restrictions that TikTok and WeChat will end all operations in the US, his move aimed to counter China’s rising global power.

ByteDance bought karaoke video app Musical.y from a Chinese rival about three years ago in a deal valued at nearly a billion dollars. It later incorporated into TikTok, which turned out to be global popularity.

Trump’s order contends there is “credible evidence” leading him to believe that ByteDance’s take-over of Musical.ly ‘threatens to impair the national security of the United States.’

Mark Zuckerberg becomes $5.3 billion richer after launching TikTok rival

August 11, 2020 by Arhama Altaf

Facebook rolled out its own version of social media rival TikTok in the United States and more than 50 other countries on Wednesday, embedding a new short-form video service called Reels as a feature within its popular Instagram app.

The launch of Reels increased Facebook shares by more than 6% making Mark Zuckerberg who owns a 13% stake in the company the new member of the exclusive ‘Centibillionaire Club’ alongside Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Microsoft’s Bill Gates.

Tech giants Facebook, Amazon, Apple, and Google have been among the biggest benefactors of coronavirus lockdowns and restrictions as more people shop, watch entertainment, and socialise online.

According to the details, Zuckerberg’s personal wealth increased about $22b this year, while Bezos’s has grown by more than $75b.

The launch of Reels couldn’t have come at a better time for Facebook as Donald Trump issued an executive order to deal with what the US president called the “threat” of TikTok in the US.

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Google owner Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai, and Apple’s Tim Cook parried a range of accusations that they crippled smaller rivals in their quest for market share.

US senator Bernie Sanders this week unveiled the Make Billionaires Pay Act plan to tax what he called “obscene wealth gains” made by billionaires during the pandemic.

The act aims to tax 60% of the increase in a billionaire’s net worth from the start of the pandemic through to the end of the year.

Facebook launches new TikTok rival, Instagram Reels in US, 50 other countries

August 6, 2020 by Arhama Altaf

Facebook on Wednesday launches its own version of video-sharing app TikTok called Reels as a feature within Instagram in the United States and 50 other countries.

According to the details, Facebook launches Reels officially, a copycat version of TikTok that pairs with Instagram.

The debut comes days after Microsoft said it was in talks to acquire TikTok’s US operations from China’s ByteDance. ByteDance has agreed to divest parts of TikTok, sources have said, under pressure from the White House which has threatened to ban it and other Chinese-owned apps over data security concerns.

Donald Trump says he will ban TikTok in US

August 1, 2020 by Arhama Altaf

United States (US) President Donald Trump said he will ban social media app TikTok from the country as American authorities have raised concerns the service could be a tool for Chinese intelligence.

US officials and lawmakers in recent weeks have voiced fears of the wildly popular video platform being used by Beijing for nefarious purposes, but the company has denied any links to the Chinese government.

According to media reports, Trump would require the US operations of the app be divested from its Chinese parent firm ByteDance, but the president announced a ban.

Speaking to media officials, Trump said: “As far as TikTok is concerned, we’re banning them from the United States.”

Moreover, he added he would take action as soon as Saturday using emergency economic power or an executive order.

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