Tag: TikTok
EU formally investigates TikTok, fines Apple over music streaming
The EU has launched a formal investigation into whether TikTok has broken online content rules, including the safeguarding of children. The EU’s executive arm, the European Commission, said it had opened official proceedings against the Chinese-owned short video platform over a potential breach of the Digital Services Act (DSA). It said the investigation was looking at…
1 in 6 Brits use TikTok to craft witty OOO emails
Out-of-office (OOO) emails used to be seen as a mandatory and mundane task that employees were required to implement ahead of their annual leave. But, thanks to social media sites like TikTok, employees are adopting a much more creative and comedic approach to crafting their OOO emails. Videos of quirky office humour have been going…
TikTok allows under 13s on platform investigation claims, end of an era for Toshiba
TikTok faces questions over safeguards for child users after a Guardian investigation found that moderators were being told to allow under-13s to stay on the platform if they claimed their parents were overseeing their accounts. In one example seen by the Guardian, a user who declared themselves to be 12 in their account bio, under…
TikTok gives special status to celebs, NASA streams cat video from space!
TikTok has given special status to certain high-profile accounts, with moderators in Europe encouraged to be more lenient with content posted by people including Russell Brand, according to internal messages seen by the Guardian. The demand to be less stringent has also been underlined in meetings with moderators, the Guardian has been told. Documents suggest that…
Grand Theft Auto VI and other games that have transformed musical fortunes
The moment gamers have been waiting for has finally arrived, a new trailer gives fans the first look at the hotly anticipated Grand Theft Auto VI, set to release in 2025... The trailer has quickly become the most-viewed video game trailer of all time, and, as a result, the song featured in the trailer, Love is a Long…
1 in 3 social media GDPR fines linked to children
Over the last five years of GDPR, the most popular social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Whatsapp, and X, formerly Twitter) were fined over €2.9B for GDPR breaches, of which €765M was for inadequate protection of children’s data, a study by Surfshark shows. Says Agneska Sablovskaja, Lead Researcher at Surfshark:  “Half of the most popular social…
Google has plunged internet into ‘spiral of decline,’ Threads offers free edit function
Google has plunged the internet into a “spiral of decline”, the co-founder of the company’s artificial intelligence (AI) lab has claimed. Mustafa Suleyman, the British entrepreneur who co-founded DeepMind, said: “The business model that Google had broke the internet.” He said search results had become plagued with “clickbait” to keep people “addicted and absorbed on…
Three quarters of mobile apps harvesting personal data unnecessarily, claims study
Nearly 87% of Android apps and 60% of Apple’s iOS versions seek access to personal mobile data unrelated to their performance Bumble is the UK’s most intrusive popular app, collecting 44% more data than it needs to work and requesting the most permissions to access device features Fellow dating app Tinder and social media favourite…
Female-led AI startups win just 2% of funding deals, TikTok tests monthly subscription
An “urgent issue” of gender imbalance in artificial intelligence investment must be addressed according to a government-backed body which has found that female-founded companies accounted for just 2% of AI startup deals over the past decade. The report by the Alan Turing Institute found that when female-founded companies have secured funding, they raise on average…
Tech Digest daily roundup: Family sues Google Maps after man drives off collapsed bridge
Philip Paxson and his wife Alicia Google is being sued by the family of a man who drove off a collapsed bridge while following Google Maps. The family of Philip Paxson are accusing the tech giant of negligence, claiming they had been informed the bridge had been collapsed for five years…
