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TikTok informs US lawmakers that it does not share data with China’s government.

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On Tuesday, during TikTok’s first appearance before a U.S. congressional hearing, an executive acknowledged that the company does not share information with the Chinese government and has attempted to keep user data secure. Tiktok is receiving a lot of heat, and not only because of these accusations. They have also been accused of showing inappropriate content to minors and not taking enough safety precautions.

Senators criticized TikTok, the Beijing-based internet technology company ByteDance’s social media platform, and competitors YouTube, owned by Google Inc (GOOGL.O), and Snapchat at the hearing for allegedly having algorithms that are harmful to youngsters.

TikTok’s head of public policy for the Americas, Matt Beckerman, was the firm’s first executive to appear before Congress when he testified before a subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee. Republicans, in particular, questioned Beckerman about concerns regarding TikTok’s data protection.

The remarks were made during the hearing by focusing on the company’s advertising revenue, its security practices, and possible competition from other platforms. During her statement, Representative Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) addressed concerns regarding TikTok’s data gathering, including audio and a user’s location, as well as the possibility of China’s government gaining access to TikTok’s data and TikTok’s decision not to disclose this information publicly. Beckerman acknowledged that TikTok might not resist giving data to the Chinese government if material were requested.

“We do not share information with the Chinese government,” replied Beckerman.

Under questioning by Republican Senator Ted Cruz, TikTok’s vice president of public policy said that the company has “no relationship” with Beijing ByteDance Technology, a ByteDance entity in which the Chinese government took a stake and a board seat this year.

TikTok’s founder testified that the firm’s user data is maintained in the United States and backed up in Singapore, while its operational data is stored in California.

“We have a world-renowned security team in the United States that helps with access,” Beckerman assured.

Senator John Thune noted that TikTok is perhaps more focused on algorithmic content than even Facebook (FB.O), with the app becoming notorious for recognizing what users enjoy and putting up those types of films quickly.

TikTok said it would be happy to provide the algorithm moderation standards in order for the Senate committee to have them examined by independent specialists, according to Beckerman.

Senators attacked the three companies on Tuesday, with YouTube’s and Snapchat’s executives appearing before the panel. In a show of cooperation, both party senators, including Democratic panel chair Richard Blumenthal, assailed the three firms for exposing youngsters to bullying and occasionally leading them to information that encouraged hazardous behaviors such as sexualized games or anorexia.

The executives said that their firms have attempted to provide a pleasurable experience and eradicate harmful or unsavory material.

Donald Trump, a former president of the United States, had sought to ban TikTok – a popular platform utilized by millions of Americans to upload short videos – from American app stores, alleging that it gathered information from U.S. users and posed a danger to national security. Tik

TikTok, which is utilized for social media by popular artists including Shawn Mendes, Ariana Grande and Rihanna, won an appeal against the ban in September. TikTok is headquartered in Beijing, but developed by U.S.-based Tik Tok Incorporated. Tik Tok informed committee members that it does not share user data with its Chinese parent company ByteDance. TikTok, as well as fellow video-sharing app musical.ly, had been accused of violating the law by collecting user data from children under 13 years old. Tik Tok executives said that Tik Tok was created with a clear “age gate” preventing anyone younger than 13 from using the app.

What are your thoughts on the issue? I believe that there should be more protections in place for children to prevent them from seeing certain content, and that an application with such a large user base should have more mod’s to guarantee that dangerous material is deleted. An application that shares data with any other person than the user raises questions about cyber security.

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Netflix Is Getting Involved In The Meghan And Harry Saga

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Fans of the British royal family were ecstatic when it was announced in May that Netflix will release an “At Home With” style documentary series focusing on none other than royal rebels Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Duke and Duchess of Sussex (via Page Six). The pair, who now live in California with their two children, struck a lucrative distribution deal with Netflix to share their life story.

According to several sources, the film’s release date has been evolving for weeks; will Netflix be able to air it in time with Prince Harry’s much-anticipated memoir, which is set to be published this fall, or will it not appear on screens until next year? A rep for Netflix stated at the time, “The announcement has not been made yet, and things are still in flux” (Page Six).

However, new information suggests that Netflix is attempting to capitalize on the fuss surrounding the royal family by releasing Meghan/Harry, a documentary series at the same time they release the next season of their blockbuster hit, “The Crown.”

What Netflix is aiming to do

Netflix is working “extremely hard” to release the docuseries about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex by the end of the year, according to an inside source, in order for it to be available on living rooms throughout the world in time for both Prince Harry’s upcoming tell-all book and the network’s own royal drama “The Crown.”

“There’s a lot to organize and a lot of things going on here,” said one source to Page Six. “Netflix wants to make sure they don’t get scooped by Harry’s book, so they’re coming in hard.” The fifth season of “The Crown” is set to premiere on Netflix this November (via BTV). The final season will pick up in the 1980s, focusing on the marital issues faced by Princess Diana and Prince Charles, Harry’s parents.

It’s uncertain whether Netflix will be able to actualize this mythical combination, but we’ll keep you informed!

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Instagram knows you don’t like its changes. They don’t care.

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Instagram has released numerous improvements in recent years in an attempt to transition from a social media platform to an e-commerce behemoth, messaging application, and, most recently, a short-form video discovery platform comparable to TikTok.

Now this public identity crisis is bleeding into its user base.

Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, addressed the situation on Tuesday morning in a bid to prevent further damage. Wearing a bright yellow pullover and facing the camera, he attempted to quieten a mounting rebellion from prominent Instagrammers.

On Sunday, Kim Kardashian West and other high-profile personalities shared a black-and-white image that read: “Make Instagram Instagram Again. (Stop trying to be TikTok I just want to see cute photos of my friends.) Sincerely, everyone.” The viral story, written by a 21-year-old influencer named Tatiana Bruening, has more than 1.9 million likes as of Wednesday morning.

In the video, Mosseri explained that the app was in transition and that some features, such as a full-screen feed, were simply tests. “There’s a lot going on on Instagram right now,” he said. “We’re experimenting with a number of different changes to the app, and so we’re hearing a lot of concerns from all of you.” But the rapid succession of new features and tests has prompted even its most devoted users to ask if Instagram itself understands what it’s doing.

“Instagram has become overcrowded with so many different types of content happening at the same time,” Bruening said. “Everyone has been feeling the same thing at the same time, but a lot of people have been too afraid to say anything.”

Many changes to the app have been made, including but not limited to: eliminating chronological timelines, elevating photo posts, and downplaying algorithmic discovery. A Change.org petition initiated by Bruening aims to restore many of these features, including a chronological timeline, priority for photo postings, and removing the Reels video tool. By Wednesday morning, it had more than 190,000 supporters.

Instagram, which has more than 1 billion monthly active users as of 2021, is still vulnerable to competition from TikTok, which boasts about 400 million monthly active users. While Instagram continues to outpace TikTok in terms of total number of users, short-form video app use has exploded in recent years. In 2020, TikTok became the most-downloaded app in the world, and its young user base began spending more time on it than Instagram and Facebook. The earnings report from Instagram’s parent firm Meta is expected to be published on Wednesday, and it will show if TikTok has harmed its market share.

The Instagram controversy has spilled over into the physical realm. Last Saturday, several dozen content producers gathered outside the firm’s New York headquarters to protest its restrictive community standards and modifications that make locating new users difficult.

How to fix your ‘trash’ Instagram feed — at least temporarily

However, the organization is attempting to move closer to the entertainment world. According to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity, Instagram owner Meta is establishing an advisory board that will include top entertainment executives, managers, and publicists. The plan has been in the works for over a year, but outreach to possible board members began this week. The board will not focus on specific product improvements, but rather on how Meta may collaborate with the entertainment industry more closely. Others, on the other hand, believe Instagram’s intentions may yet be validated because only the platform has the data to see what is and isn’t working.

The fact that Instagram is putting out so much effort to challenge its basic purpose of connecting with friends and relatives, according to some pundits, speaks to how radically social media has evolved. “Making that content harder to access shows the competitive landscape they’re in right now,” said Matt Perault, director of the Center on Technology Policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “It might be totally necessary that they pivot, but that doesn’t mean that they’ll succeed in this new world.”

Instagram will have to pay attention to the proper people and navigate the fallout from either side if it wants to weather the storm. “There’s a war between people who want Instagram to be more like Snapchat and people who want it to be more TikTok,” Woodbury said. “Right now the former group is larger and louder.”

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Inside Khloé Kardashian’s Huge Baby News With Tristan Thompson

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Sources tell TMZ that Khloé Kardashian is expecting a baby via surrogate with her ex-boyfriend Tristan Thompson. According to a spokesperson for Kardashian, the news is true. Us Weekly reported that the confirmation read: “Khloé is incredibly grateful to the extraordinary surrogate for such a beautiful blessing. We’d like to ask for kindness and privacy so that Khloé can focus on her family.” The baby was conceived in November, implying the surrogate should deliver any time between August and September.

 

Kardashian and Thompson already have a daughter named True, but the good news is somewhat tempered by the fact that the pair are no longer together. More so, Thompson stated that he had cheated on Kardashian with fitness trainer Maralee Nichols during the pregnancy – and that he fathered a kid with her (via The U.S. Sun). “Khloé, you don’t deserve this,” he wrote in an Instagram post. “You don’t deserve the heartache and humiliation I have caused you.”

 

Unfortunately, Thompson’s vow of fidelity proved to be as insincere as his relationship with Kardashian. Just months later, the couple called it quits after a model accused him of getting too cozy with her, according to Page Six. He was also photographed attending a soiree at which he entered a notorious “hookup room” with three other females. Many people thought the two had split up following these things, but the latest statement has them wondering where they stand now.

Are two-time parents Khloé and Tristan back together?

In the case of Khloé Kardashian’s pregnancy, history is repeating itself. In early 2022, when she was recording “The Kardashians,” Khloé experienced one of the most difficult periods in her life, discovering Tristan Thompson’s latest indiscretion. After years of marriage, it was revealed that four years ago, he had been cheating on her while she was pregnant with their daughter True, who is now three (via Insider). Not to mention, with her younger sister Kylie’s best friend, Jordan.

 

Although she is concentrating on having a second kid, Kardashian is focusing on becoming a mother for the second time. According to ET Online, a source said, “The two have long said they wanted True to have a sibling, and Khloé even told her family she’d do it without Tristan if she needed to.” Her doctor, according to Us Weekly, informed her that if she tried to conceive naturally again, she was at high danger of having a miscarriage. Which is why Kardashian and Thompson decided to move forward with a surrogate. Page Six has also reported that the pair will be welcoming a baby boy, as “Khloé has always wanted a little brother for True.”

 

Fans want to know if this means Kardashian and Thompson are back together. No, according on the ET source: “The two aren’t together and Khloé will have the baby full time, but Khloé wants Tristan in both the kids’ lives as much as he wants to be.” The two had already been cordial for the family’s sake. The pair not only watched True’s dance recital together on Father’s Day 2022, but they also had lunch with the rest of the extended Kardashian family afterwards, as reported by TMZ.

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