Islamabad:

TikTok has released its Community Guidelines Enforcement Report for the first quarter of 2024, revealing that it took action against 20.2 million videos in Pakistan alone for violating its community guidelines, Ary News reported.

The platform removed 66,997,307 videos worldwide during the January-March period of 2024, representing about 0.9 per cent of all uploaded content.

The majority of these removals were made possible through automated detection technologies, with a significant number of videos later reinstated upon review, as per ARY News.

A substantial portion of these, 129,335,793 videos, were identified and removed through automated detection technologies, while 6,042,287 videos were reinstated upon further review, according to TikTok Q1 2024 Community Guidelines Enforcement Report.

TikTok has taken steps to increase transparency by releasing new data on its content moderation efforts.

For the first time, the platform has disclosed the number of comments removed and filtered by its safety tools, revealing that nearly 976,479,946 comments were removed or filtered during the first quarter of 2024.

Additionally, TikTok has cracked down on spam accounts, implementing measures to prevent the spread of automated spam content and further improving its content moderation practices.

Notably, approximately 93.9 per cent of videos that violated the guidelines were removed within 24 hours of posting, and the proactive removal rate for the quarter stood impressively at 99.8 per cent globally.

In a global effort to safeguard younger users, TikTok also deleted 21,639,414 accounts suspected of belonging to individuals under the age of 13.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Keir Starmer, the Labour Party leader, is currently in poll position to become the UK Prime Minister after the July 4 elections. While PM Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party faces an uphill battle to retain power, the return of Nigel Farage to front-line politics has only added to his woes. Leading the right-wing Reform UK, the pro-Brexit campaigner has been buoyed by a strong presence on TikTok.

The 60-year-old leader has become an unlikely breakout star on the app, with a five-second clip of him lip-synching Eminem’s “Guess Who’s Back?” pulling in over eight million views. 

Nigel Farage, the leader of the Reform UK (formerly the Brexit Party), taunts the British PM Rishi Sunak with Eminem’s “Without Me”. pic.twitter.com/Ym3uX0G2Vu

— The Eminem Bible (@Shadyind) June 15, 2024

Mr Farage’s TikTok account has twice the followers as Labour, the Conservatives, and the Liberal Democrats combined. The Reform UK’s TikTok presence stands out among political parties. With a following of 1,97,000, they far surpass their closest competitor, the Green Party. 

The Tories, Labour, and the Lib Dems did not even have official channels on the app until recently, with parody accounts the first to surface when users searched for the big three. By establishing a presence on TikTok, Mr Farage and Reform UK tapped into a younger demographic, setting themselves apart from other political parties.

The Conservatives top-performing clip, “this will change lives,” features British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promoting his national service policy, It has 4.2 million views. However, Labour’s 11-second response, a clever takedown using Cilla Black’s “Surprise, Surprise,” surpassed it with 5.1 million views.

???? NEW: Rishi Sunak has posted his first TikTok video pic.twitter.com/P0cAg0c8PW

— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) May 26, 2024

Nigel Farage’s success on TikTok comes courtesy of 23-year-old Jack Anderton, a self-described “concerned citizen” and right-wing Zoomer. “Zoomer” refers to a member of Generation Z, specifically someone born between 1997 and 2012.

Mr Anderton, a contractor for Farage, has been instrumental in creating content that resonates with a younger voter, as per Politico. His views align with Farage’s, and he has expressed concerns about immigration and Britain’s future. Mr Anderton represents the growing phenomenon of the “Zoomer Right,” a Gen Z conservative movement gaining traction across Europe. Polling shows a large proportion of 18-24-year-olds plan to vote for Reform UK than 25-29-year-olds.

Reform UK’s emergence on TikTok has surprised even party insiders. Initially, their views were modest, but as the party grew nationwide, their TikTok views “rocketed way ahead of any other platform,” says Matt Stevens, Reform’s press officer. 

This surge in popularity has been a pleasant surprise, given TikTok’s predominantly young demographic. Mr Stevens believes this age group is “crying out for change” after years of Conservative rule, making them a key audience for Reform’s message.

A Bengaluru resident named Neha has found a unique way to find a new apartment: by using a viral TikTok trend. Neha created a video using the music from the song “Man In Finance” by TikTok creator Megan Boni. Boni’s song lists qualities she wants in a partner, but Neha changed the lyrics to reflect what she wanted in an apartment, including features like being furnished, having two rooms, and having a balcony. 

The caption shared along with the video read, “Desperate times call for desperate measures. So here’s my take on the trend.”

Watch the viral video here:

Neha’s creative reinterpretation of the original song lyrics has generated significant buzz on social media. The video has amassed over 140,000 views and garnered a wide range of reactions in the comment section.

“This is tougher than finding “finance, trust fund, 6’5, blue eyes,” commented a user.

“I might as well buy one in Mysore. It’s almost the same time to commute if you have one in Electronic City,” wrote another user.

“Bengaluru is like a galaxy. You have to mention which part of the galaxy you are looking at; prices fluctuate accordingly,” commented a third user.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has joined TikTok, the short video social media platform that is owned by China-based tech giant ByteDance and that he tried to ban as president, ahead of the US elections in November.

Politico, which first reported the news, said he posted a launch video on his account on Saturday night. The video showed Trump greeting fans at an Ultimate Fighting Championship fight in Newark, New Jersey.

The account, President Donald J Trump with the address @realdonaldtrump, had more than 450,000 followers by 0800 GMT.

ByteDance is challenging in courts a US law that came into effect in April requiring it to sell TikTok by next January or face a ban. The White House says it wants to see Chinese-based ownership ended on national security grounds, but not a ban on TikTok.

TikTok has argued that it will not share US user data with the Chinese government and that it has taken substantial measures to protect the privacy of its users.

Trump’s attempt to ban TikTok in 2020 when he was president was blocked by the courts. He said in March that the platform was a national security threat but also that a ban on it would hurt some young people and only strengthen Meta Platforms’ Facebook, which he has strongly criticized.

President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign joined the app in February.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

TikTok is working on a clone of its recommendation algorithm for its 170 million U.S. users that may result in a version that operates independently of its Chinese parent and be more palatable to American lawmakers who want to ban it, according to sources with direct knowledge of the efforts.

The work on splitting the source code ordered by TikTok’s Chinese parent ByteDance late last year predated a bill to force a sale of TikTok’s U.S. operations that began gaining steam in Congress this year. The bill was signed into law in April.

The sources, who were granted anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the short-form video sharing app, said that once the code is split, it could lay the groundwork for a divestiture of the U.S. assets, although there are no current plans to do so.

TikTok declined to comment. The company has previously said it had no plans to sell the U.S. assets and such a move would be impossible.

TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance sued in U.S. federal court in May, seeking to block the law forcing a sale or ban of the app by Jan. 19. A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday set a fast-track schedule to consider the legal challenges to the new law.

MILLIONS OF LINES OF CODE

In the past few months, hundreds of ByteDance and TikTok engineers in both the U.S. and China were ordered to begin separating millions of lines of code, sifting through the company’s algorithm that pairs users with videos to their liking. The engineers’ mission is to create a separate code base that is independent of systems used by ByteDance’s Chinese version of TikTok, Douyin, while eliminating any information linking to Chinese users, two sources with direct knowledge of the project told Reuters.

The previously unreported plan provides a rare look into what a technical separation of TikTok’s U.S. operations could be like, and shows to what lengths TikTok will go to address the bipartisan political risk it faces. U.S. President Biden and other supporters of the law argue TikTok gives Beijing far too much access to reams of data, information that could be used to spy on or influence TikTok’s U.S. users.

Reuters previously reported that a sale of the app with algorithms is highly unlikely. The Chinese government in 2020 added content recommendation algorithms to its export-control list, requiring a divestiture or sale of TikTok’s algorithm to go through its administrative licensing procedures.

The source code for TikTok’s recommendation engine was originally developed by ByteDance engineers in China, and customized for operations in TikTok’s various global markets, including the U.S., according to a legal filing.

ByteDance has attributed TikTok’s popularity to the effectiveness of its recommendation engine, which bases each user’s content feeds on how they interact with the content they watch.

‘OPEN SOURCE’

The complexity of the task that the sources described to Reuters as tedious “dirty work” underscores the difficulty of splitting the underlying code that binds TikTok’s U.S. operations to its Chinese parent. The work is expected to take over a year to complete, these sources said.

TikTok and ByteDance have vowed to battle the U.S. law in court on First Amendment grounds. Nevertheless, engineers continue to operate under orders to disentangle TikTok’s U.S. recommendation engine from ByteDance’s broader network, the sources said.

An earlier plan to silo off U.S. user data, called Project Texas, failed to appease U.S. regulators and lawmakers. Now the company is seeking to escalate its efforts to show its U.S. operations are independent of its Chinese owner.

At one point, TikTok executives considered open sourcing some of TikTok’s algorithm, or making it available to others to access and modify, to demonstrate technological transparency, the sources said.

Executives have communicated plans and provided updates on the code-splitting project during a team all-hands, in internal planning documents and on its internal communications system, called Lark, according to one of the sources who attended the meeting and another source who has viewed the messages.

Reuters could not independently verify internal messages.

Compliance and legal issues involved with determining what parts of the code can be carried over to TikTok are complicating the work, according to one source. Each line of code has to be reviewed to determine if it can go into the separate code base, the sources added.

The goal is to create a new source code repository for a recommendation algorithm serving only TikTok U.S. Once completed, TikTok U.S. will run and maintain its recommendation algorithm independent of TikTok apps in other regions and its Chinese version Douyin. That move would cut it off from the massive engineering development power of its parent company in Beijing, the sources said.

If TikTok completes the work to split the recommendation engine from its Chinese counterpart, TikTok management is aware of the risk that TikTok U.S. may not be able to deliver the same level of performance as the existing TikTok because it is heavily reliant on ByteDance’s engineers in China to update and maintain the code base to maximize user engagement, sources added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance sued in U.S. federal court on Tuesday seeking to block a law signed by President Joe Biden that would force the divestiture of the short video app used by 170 million Americans or ban its use.

The companies filed their lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, arguing that the law violates the U.S. Constitution on a number of grounds including running afoul of First Amendment free speech protections. The law, signed by Biden on April 24, gives ByteDance until Jan. 19 to sell TikTok or face a ban.

“For the first time in history, Congress has enacted a law that subjects a single, named speech platform to a permanent, nationwide ban,” the companies said in the lawsuit.

The White House and U.S. Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The lawsuit said the divestiture “is simply not possible: not commercially, not technologically, not legally. … There is no question: the Act (law) will force a shutdown of TikTok by January 19, 2025, silencing the 170 million Americans who use the platform to communicate in ways that cannot be replicated elsewhere.”

The lawsuit is the latest move by TikTok to keep ahead of efforts to shut it down in the United States as companies such as Snap and Meta look to capitalize on TikTok’s political uncertainty to take away advertising dollars from their rival.

Driven by worries among U.S. lawmakers that China could access data on Americans or spy on them with the app, the measure was passed overwhelmingly in Congress just weeks after being introduced. TikTok has denied that it has or ever would share U.S. user data, accusing American lawmakers in the lawsuit of advancing “speculative” concerns

The law prohibits app stores from offering TikTok and bars internet hosting services from supporting TikTok unless ByteDance divests TikTok by Jan. 19.

The suit said the Chinese government “has made clear that it would not permit a divestment of the recommendation engine that is a key to the success of TikTok in the United States.” The companies asked the D.C. Circuit to block U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland from enforcing the law and says “prospective injunctive relief” is warranted.

TikTok has spent $2 billion to implement measures to protect the data of U.S. users and made additional commitments in a 90-page draft National Security Agreement developed through negotiations with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), according to the lawsuit.

That pact included TikTok agreeing to a “shut-down option” that would give the U.S. government the authority to suspend TikTok in the United States if it violates some obligations, according to the suit.

In August 2022, according to the lawsuit, CFIUS stopped engaging in meaningful discussions about the agreement, and in March 2023 CFIUS “insisted that ByteDance would be required to divest the U.S. TikTok business.” CFIUS is an interagency committee, chaired by the U.S. Treasury Department, that reviews foreign investments in American businesses and real estate that implicate national security concerns.

Biden could extend the Jan. 19 deadline by three months if he determines ByteDance is making progress.

In 2020, then-President Donald Trump was blocked by the courts in his bid to ban TikTok and Chinese-owned WeChat, a unit of Tencent, in the United States. Trump, the Republican candidate challenging the Democrat Biden in the Nov. 5 U.S. election, has since reversed course, saying he does not support a ban but that security concerns need to be addressed.

Many experts have questioned whether any potential buyer possesses the financial resources to buy TikTok and if China and U.S. government agencies would approve a sale.

To move the TikTok source code to the United States “would take years for an entirely new set of engineers to gain sufficient familiarity,” according to the lawsuit.

The four-year battle over TikTok is a significant front in the ongoing conflict over the internet and technology between the United States and China. In April, Apple said China had ordered it to remove Meta Platforms’ WhatsApp and Threads from its App Store in China over Chinese national security concerns.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

Erich Andersen, general counsel for TikTok and Chinese parent company ByteDance, said on Friday he will step down from the role in June, according to a company statement.

Andersen will become special counsel to the company to focus on helping lead TikTok’s effort to overturn legislation signed into law by President Joe Biden on Wednesday that gives ByteDance 270 days to divest short-video app TikTok in the United States or face a ban.

TikTok said this week it plans to file a lawsuit to challenge the legislation, but has declined to say when it plans to do so.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Beijing:

TikTok parent ByteDance has said it has no intention of selling it, after the US Congress passed a law forcing it to sell the hugely popular video platform or get banned in the United States.

ByteDance’s comment came after the tech business-focused news site The Information reported that the Chinese tech giant was looking at potential scenarios for selling TikTok without the coveted recommendation algorithm that powers it.

“Foreign media reports about ByteDance exploring the sale of TikTok are untrue,” the company posted late Thursday on its official account on Toutiao, a social media platform it owns.

“ByteDance does not have any plans to sell TikTok.”

US Congress members and government officials have said TikTok presents a national security threat as long as it is controlled by or connected to ByteDance.

They have alleged it could be used to collect data and spy on Americans, and also serve as a powerful channel for Chinese propaganda.

TikTok has strongly denied the allegations, saying it never has and never will share US user data with Beijing.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew has said the company will take the fight against the new law to the courts.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

TikTok on Wednesday said it will fight a new US law that orders the popular video sharing app to break away from its Chinese owners or face an outright ban in the United States.

Here is what could happen next for one of the world’s most downloaded apps.

What does the law say?

The bill signed by President Joe Biden gives TikTok 270 days (roughly nine months) to find a non-Chinese buyer or face a ban in the United states. The White House can extend the deadline one time only by 90 days.

During that time, the app would continue to operate for its roughly 170 million US users.

What will happen in the courts?

Tiktok says it will fight the law in the US courts, saying that it grossly violates free speech rights.

The company has some reason to feel that it will prevail; in 2020, the company survived a similar order from then President Donald Trump.

TikTok filed a lawsuit challenging the ban, and a federal judge temporarily blocked Trump’s effort, saying the reasons for banning the app were likely overstated and that free speech rights were in jeopardy.

Still, the Trump administration tried to broker a deal in which data server firm Oracle and supermarket giant Walmart would buy a joint stake in TikTok, but those negotiations went nowhere.

The new effort signed by Biden was designed to overcome the same legal headaches and some experts believe the US Supreme Court could be open to allowing national security considerations to outweigh free speech protection, though this is hardly certain.

Trump, who is running for president against Biden, now says he opposes the potential ban as it would benefit rival Meta, the owner of Instagram and Facebook.

Who will buy TikTok?

Finding a buyer for TikTok will be no easy matter given the deep pockets needed to walk home with one of the world’s most popular apps.

Big tech’s usual suspects, such as Meta or YouTube’s Google, will likely be barred from snapping up TikTok over antitrust concerns. They already command too much of the social media market.

Even Microsoft, owner of the more niche LinkedIn and now the world’s biggest company by market capitalization, would face a hard look by competition regulators.

Oracle could be interested in trying again to take part in a deal.

Since its first attempt during the Trump administration, the company controlled by Larry Ellison helped TikTok devise a way to satisfy US national security concerns in a scheme called Project Texas, that essentially carves out US data into a stand alone company, but still owned by ByteDance.

Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin earlier this month said he was assembling a team of investors to propose an offer for the company, but he has little tech experience and his ambition was considered far fetched by observers.

What if no one buys it?

Barring any decision by the courts, the deadline to sell Tiktok would be roughly one year from April 24 if the 90 day extension is used.

Starting around that time, TikTok would no longer be available on the US Apple or Android app stores and, crucially, software updates and bug fixes would no longer take place.

In other words, Tiktok would slowly wither away, with Bytedance unable to update the app, though it could decide to shutter it completely.

What does China say?

In the battle over TikTok’s US future, China has come out swinging in its defense.

Beijing does not want a precedent to be set where a Chinese company is strong-armed into selling one of its most valuable assets, including an algorithm that is the envy of competitors.

Fears are also rife that an alarming precedent is being set and that other Chinese companies will face a similar fate in the future.

The row was discussed in a phone call between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping earlier this month.

Who will benefit?

The clear winners from an eventual ban of TikTok would be Meta and Google, which have launched their own copycats of TikTok: Meta’s Reels and YouTube Shorts.

Both alternatives have been gaining ground in the US market, just as Tiktok appears to be stalling, perhaps affected by the doubts about its future.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)