TikTok

A new executive order directs the Commerce Department to undertake what officials describe as an “evidence-based” analysis of transactions involving apps that are manufactured or supplied or controlled by China. Officials are particularly concerned about apps that collect users’ personal data or have connections to Chinese military or intelligence activities.

Last month, Cronkite News challenged itself to produce 30 TikToks in as many days — an effort to get the newsroom experimenting with the short-form mobile video platform that’s gained more than a billion users since its worldwide launch in 2017, but has yet to catch on widely with local TV stations. By the end of the month-long challenge, the newsroom had trounced its initial goal and produced 65 TikToks. Here’s what was learned.

Facebook overwhelmingly is the most important social media platform for TV stations, say executives for CBS stations, E.W. Scripps, Nexstar, NBCU stations, Fox stations and Meredith. Broadcasters’ relationship with the platform once widely viewed as a “frenemy” continues to evolve, though the opacity of its all-important algorithm still frustrates. Note: This story is available to TVNewsCheck Premium members only. If you would like to upgrade your free TVNewsCheck membership to Premium now, you can visit your Member Home Page, available when you log in at the very top right corner of the site or in the Stay Connected Box that appears in the right column of virtually every page on the site. If you don’t see Member Home, you will need to click Log In or Subscribe.

Chinese parent ByteDance has settled a class-action lawsuit alleging that the video-sharing app failed to get users consent to collect data in violation of a strict Illinois privacy law.

A U.S. plan to force the sale of TikTok’s American operations to a group including Oracle and Walmart has been put on hold indefinitely, people familiar with the situation say, as President Biden undertakes a broad review of his predecessor’s efforts to address potential security risks from Chinese tech companies.

It is unclear how the president-elect will approach the Chinese tech industry.

We streamed, we Zoomed, we ordered groceries and houseplants online, we created virtual villages while navigating laptop shortages to work and learn from home. In many ways, 2020′s pandemic-induced isolation […]

The U.S. government on Monday appealed a federal judge’s order that blocked the Commerce Department from imposing restrictions on Chinese-owned short video-sharing app TikTok that would have effectively barred its use in the United States.

The White House did not extend a Dec. 4 deadline for the Chinese internet company ByteDance to sell TikTok.

Bytedance, the parent company of TikTok, was granted another 7-day extension from the U.S. Treasury on Wednesday afternoon to divest from its American assets. TikTok was given a two-week extension earlier this month to have its divestment plan approved by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, but that was set to expire on Friday.

The federal government on Thursday appealed a judge’s ruling that prevented the Trump administration from imposing a ban on TikTok, the viral video app owned by the Chinese company ByteDance.

The ruling followed an emergency hearing Sunday morning in which lawyers for TikTok argued that the administration’s app-store ban would infringe on First Amendment rights and do irreparable harm to the business.

TikTok on Wednesday announced plans to tighten its advertising policies on weight loss and dieting products such as fasting apps and weight-loss supplements, and increase restrictions on ads that promote a harmful or negative body image.

China has no reason to approve the “dirty” and “unfair” deal that allows Oracle and Walmart to effectively take over TikTok based on “bullying and extortion,” slammed an editorial published Wednesday in China Daily, an official English-language newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party.

ByteDance and Oracle Corp issued conflicting statements on Monday over the terms of an agreement they reached with the White House over the weekend to allow TikTok to continue to operate in the United States, casting doubt on President Donald Trump’s preliminary blessing of the deal.

The saga of TikTok had everything: Ominous threats of surveillance. A forced fire sale. Threats of retaliation. Head-spinning deal terms that morphed by the hour. Dark horse bidders and a looming deadline. Now, as the dust settles on the weeks of drama over the social media app, investors and others are asking what it was all for. The answer? A cloud computing contract for the Silicon Valley business software company OracleT, a merchandising deal for Walmart and a claim of victory for President Trump.

Trump said the proposed deal between Oracle and Walmart will result in a new company likely to be based in Texas. “I have given the deal my blessing,” he said. “If they get it done, that’s great. If they don’t, that’s OK too.”

The Commerce Department said President Trump’s proposed ban of the apps WeChat and TikTok will go into effect Sunday, Sept. 20, to “safeguard the national security of the United States.” The order follows weeks of dealmaking over the video-sharing service TikTok. President Donald Trump has pressured the app’s Chinese owner to sell TikTok’s U.S. operations to a domestic company to satisfy U.S. concerns over TikTok’s data collection and related issues.

The U.S. Commerce Department plans to issue an order today that will bar people in the United States from downloading Chinese-owned messaging app WeChat and video-sharing app TikTok starting on this Sunday, Sept. 20, according to three officials.

Senate Republicans and others criticized the latest plan to allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States, citing national security concerns.

TikTok’s owner ByteDance has chosen Oracle over Microsoft as its preferred suitor to buy the popular video-sharing app, according to a source familiar with the deal.

New Chinese government restrictions could complicate ByteDance plans to sell TikTok to a U.S. company and avoid a ban threatened by Donald Trump. Late on Friday, Beijing issued new restrictions or bans on tech exports, requiring companies to seek government approval — a process that can take up to 30 days. In mid-August, Trump gave the company 90 days to sell or face a shutdown.

The magic behind the app was made in China — and it’s not clear that Microsoft, Walmart or Oracle can recapture it.

Walmart says it’s teaming up with Microsoft in a bid for TikTok. The retail giant confirmed to CNBC that it’s interested in buying the popular short-form video application. Walmart shares are up nearly 5% on the news.

His resignation follows President Donald Trump’s order to ban TikTok unless its parent company, ByteDance, sells its U.S. operations to an American company within 90 days. Mayer said that his decision to leave comes after the “political environment has sharply changed.”

Neither side wanted a big deal. But what began as talks about a small investment ballooned with interventions from President Trump.

General Atlantic and Sequoia Capital — two major investors in Chinese company ByteDance, parent company of TikTok — are “maneuvering” to be part of the potential bid to acquire TikTok’s U.S. operations. The group led by the two investment firms includes Oracle, sources say.

Oracle, an enterprise software giant, is in talks to acquire social media company TikTok’s U.S., Canadian, Australian and New Zealand assets, according to a person familiar with the matter. Oracle is working with a group of U.S. venture capital firms that already have a stake in TikTok, said the person.

TikTok is planning to sue the Trump administration, challenging the president’s executive order banning the service from the United States. The video-sharing app hugely popular with the smartphone generation will file the federal lawsuit as soon as Tuesday, according to a person who was directly involved in the forthcoming suit but was not authorized to speak for the company. It will be filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, where TikTok’s American operations are based, the person said.

TikTok has launched its first TV app on Amazon Fire TV devices. “More on TikTok” features curated video playlists and compilations from the mobile TikTok app, as well as interviews with creators, along with other content that runs over the one-minute limit on the phone app. The app is a view-only channel, so users won’t need to log in, and it won’t enable them to upload videos.

The twin executive orders issued Thursday — one for each app — add to growing U.S.-Chinese conflict over technology and security. They take effect in 45 days and could bar the popular apps from the Apple and Google app stores, effectively removing them from U.S. distribution. China’s foreign ministry expressed opposition but gave no indication whether Beijing might retaliate.

In a statement Sunday, Microsoft said it and Chinese company ByteDance have provided notice of their intent to explore a deal resulting in Microsoft owning and operating the TikTok service in the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The company said it expects those talks to conclude by Sept. 15.