Less than six years after launching in the US, TikTok is now facing a reckoning. After amassing more than 150 million users in the country, lawmakers are now making moves to roll out a complete ban. The biggest ever Chinese tech success in the US is accused of mishandling user data and holding too much influence over Americans, with Montana becoming the first state to sign a bill into law to make it illegal for TikTok to operate there from January 2024. Fears around national security have been countered with questions about censorship, with the Electronic Frontier Foundation describing the prospect of a ban as a “seed of genuine security concern wrapped in a thick layer of censorship”. The US digital liberties group has called on people to “resist a governmental power to ban a popular means of communication and expression”, while the FBI claims Chinese state ties to parent company ByteDance could allow the app to “manipulate content” in order to spread harmful propaganda. The US is not the first major market to consider a total ban of the social media platform, with India issuing a complete TikTok ban in 2020. Other countries and areas, including the EU, have put partial bans in place. Various federal and state TikTok bans are already in place in the US, banning government workers and military personnel from using the app on official devices. This has done little to stem its growth in the US, with TikTok proving to be the most popular app both in America and globally last year with 672 million total downloads. This has helped bring the total number of TikTok users around the world to above 1.5 billion, with only India’s ban nearly three years ago slightly slowing its growth – but only temporarily. Despite the warnings surrounding TikTok, the app is viewed positively by the majority of young users, which may cause the Biden administration to hesitate on ordering an outright ban given younger demographics typically skew towards voting Democrat. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew defended the app and its intentions when he appeared before Congress earlier this year. The former Facebook intern downplayed ties to the Chinese government while trying to convince members of Congress that the app is safe for US users and poses no threat to national security. After Montana signed a TikTok ban into law on 17 May, 2023, a TikTok spokesperson said that the company would “work to defend the rights of our users” in all regions. Read More TikTok gains 50 million users in US as ban looms Schoolboy almost dies from swallowing magnets for TikTok challenge Woman shares honest review of New York City apartment TikTok mom slammed after making 5-year-old son run in 104 degree heat

After generations of trying to produce the power of a star on Earth, a successful nuclear fusion ignition happened in the middle of a December night and was over in 20-billionths of a second.

Twitter has backtracked to the older, freely accessible version of its TweetDeck platform just days after launching what the company claimed to be a “new, improved version”. “We have just launched a new, improved version of TweetDeck,” Twitter announced last week, adding that in 30 days, only users subscribed to the platform’s premium subscription service Twitter Blue would have access to the tool. However, the social media company restored its old TweetDeck version along with free API access with no announcement of its return from either Elon Musk or Twitter’s new chief Linda Yaccarino. TweetDeck is an app using Twitter’s API which enables users to view multiple feeds in customisable columns. While it was launched as a free-to-use independent app in 2008, it was then acquired by Twitter, and was recently turned into a paid feature. Several third-party apps such as “Harpy” shut down after the social media company began charging for access to its API – the system used to communicate with other services – as part of efforts to generate new revenue sources. “Without free access to the Twitter api, Harpy will stop working on February 9th. This includes access using a (free) custom api key. Thanks for using harpy,” the app’s Twitter account noted. TweetDeck’s new version, which also uses Twitter’s API, experienced a temporary outage last week, after Twitter decided to limit the number of tweets users can view. Twitter users also noted that while the new version of TweetDeck came with added tools like a Tweet composer and video docking, it didn’t have an Activity Tab which is deemed an important feature. Now, following the launch of Meta’s rival app Threads last week, many users have flagged that the old TweetDeck is back along with its legacy API working, which would allow the platform’s third-party apps to work again. However, without any official announcement of Twitter backtracking to the old TweetDeck, it remains unclear for how long the freely accessible “better” version would remain. Developers such as Roberto Doering, creator of the Harpy app, say Twitter is “most likely” to shut down access to their legacy API again. “Please note that this doesn’t mean that Harpy will be maintained again, seeing as Twitter will most likely shut down access to their legacy API (again) soon and third-party apps are still against their [terms of service],” Mr Doering wrote on Harpy’s GitHub page. Read More Threads: What is it, can it rival Twitter and what are the risks? Tweetdeck down: Major Twitter client not working amid chaos on site New Meta app Threads ‘first credible threat’ to Twitter Account tracking Elon Musk’s jet is now on Threads after Twitter suspended it Elon Musk says ‘Zuck is cuck’ as Threads inches closer to 100m users Threads hits 70 million sign-ups on its second day

RALEIGH, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 26, 2023--

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FORT WORTH, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 11, 2023--

Meta Platforms Inc.’s new social media app Threads has garnered 70 million users in just two days after