European Union regulators on Monday threatened to fine TikTok over potentially addictive features on a version of its app called TikTok Lite, which was released to work more smoothly on slower wireless networks. The E.U. investigation adds to TikTok’s regulatory challenges as the U.S. Senate prepares to vote on a bill that would order the…
An Incomplete Guide Love, Hate or Fear It, TikTok Has Changed America As lawmakers argue for TikTok to be sold, some of the app’s most popular memes, from skateboarding with a Fleetwood Mac soundtrack to the renegade dance, have been seen tens of millions of times. Introduction by Sapna Maheshwari April 19, 2024 Has there…
The House on Wednesday made another push to force through legislation that would require the sale of TikTok by its Chinese owner or ban the app in the United States, accelerating an effort to disrupt the popular social media app. Speaker Mike Johnson has indicated that he intends to package the measure, a modified version…
For decades, the United States has fashioned itself the champion of an open internet, arguing that the web should be largely unregulated and that digital data should flow around the globe unhindered by borders. The government has argued against internet censorship abroad and even funded software that lets people in autocratic states get around online…
“Have an abortion with me,” a single mother from Brooklyn named Sunni says as she twirls around her kitchen to light jazzy piano, before walking TikTok viewers through the steps she took to end her pregnancy at home. With states expanding restrictions on abortion and the issue likely to be at the forefront of the…
In a TV commercial, Sister Monica Clare, a nun in northern New Jersey, walks through a church that’s bathed in sunlight and sits in a pew, crossing herself. Her message: TikTok is a force for good. “Because of TikTok, I’ve created a community where people can feel safe asking questions about spirituality,” she says in…
For years, the U.S. investors who backed ByteDance, the Chinese internet company that owns TikTok, have wrestled with the complexities of owning a piece of a geopolitically fraught social media app. Now it’s gotten even more complicated. A bill to force ByteDance to sell TikTok is winding its way through the Senate after sailing through…
Amid debate in Washington over whether TikTok should be banned if its Chinese owner doesn’t sell it, one group is watching with particular interest: the many brands — particularly in the beauty, skin care, fashion, and health and wellness industries — that have used the video app to boost their sales. Youthforia, a makeup brand…
Representative Ro Khanna, the California Democrat representing Silicon Valley, laid out his case against a sweeping ban of the social media platform TikTok on Sunday after opposing legislation that overwhelmingly passed the House last week, saying the bill would be ineffective. The legislation passed the House, 352 to 65, on Wednesday, with Mr. Khanna among…
After a bill that would force TikTok’s Chinese parent company to sell the app or face a nationwide ban sailed through the House at breakneck speed this week, its progress has slowed in the Senate. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader who determines what legislation gets a vote, has not decided whether…
