Wednesday, March 29

Tag: TikTok

Most see TikTok as a national security risk — CBS News poll
Science

Most see TikTok as a national security risk — CBS News poll

Most see TikTok's ties to China as a national security risk, and those who do would like to see the video-sharing app banned in the U.S. But younger people — who are the most likely age group to use it — are also the most opposed to a ban, or to the idea that it is a threat.These views come amid larger concerns about social media platforms in general, such as the prospect of foreign countries using social media to manipulate Americans, and about the privacy risk of platforms collecting personal data. In response, there's bipartisan support for the U.S. government placing at least some rules and restrictions on what social media companies can do with their users' personal data. ...
Politics

Justice Department investigating TikTok parent company ByteDance for possible spying on U.S. citizens

U.S. wants TikTok to divest from Chinese owners TikTok says U.S. government wants platform to divest from Chinese parent company 01:57 Washington — The Justice Department is investigating TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, for possible spying on U.S. citizens, including journalists, CBS News has confirmed. News of the probe comes as U.S. lawmakers have ramped up calls for action against the widely popular social media app over...
Does TikTok’s Bold Glamour filter harm users’ mental health?
Science

Does TikTok’s Bold Glamour filter harm users’ mental health?

TikTok's new hyperrealistic Bold Glamour filter is raising concerns among some mental health experts over the potential impact the "beautifying" digital image effects may have on social media users' well-being.  The AI-powered filter, which TikTok added earlier this year, uses artificial intelligence to sculpt users' facial features, smooth out their skin and brighten their eyes. The effect is virtually seamless, making the changes hard to detect. Since its rollout, the Bold Glamour filter hashtag has racked up more than 200 million views on TikTok, the app shows.  Although TikTok users seem eager to digitally enhance their appearance, Keith Feigenson, an associate professor of psychology at Pennsylvania's Albright College, worries that using filters like Bold Glamour could cause e...
Science

Democrats come around on TikTok ban, reflecting willingness to challenge China

Washington — More Democrats in Congress have been vocally supportive of banning Chinese-backed TikTok in the U.S. in recent months, reflecting what experts say is an increased willingness to challenge Beijing and crack down on the massively popular video app.The growing number of Democrats backing a TikTok ban has coincided with rising tensions with China and renewed national security concerns about the vast trove of data TikTok collects on its millions of American users, information that officials warn could be accessed by the ruling Chinese Communist Party. (ByteDance, TikTok's Beijing-based parent company, has said that the company protects user data and does not share information with the Chinese government.)The showdown over a Chinese surveillance balloon that drifted over the...
Science

Bipartisan group of senators unveil bill targeting TikTok, other foreign tech companies

Washington — A bipartisan group of senators unveiled a bill Tuesday that would give the executive branch new powers to take action against tech companies with ties to foreign adversaries and cut them off from the U.S. market, a measure that would allow the Biden administration to eventually ban Chinese-owned TikTok and other tech products in the name of protecting national security.The legislation — titled the Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology (RESTRICT) Act — would apply to technology tied to China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia and Venezuela that "poses an undue or unacceptable risk" to national security. "Today everybody is talking about TikTok. But before there was TiKTok, there was Huawei and ZTE. Before that, t...
Science

TikTok influencers Greta Rolli, Alix Earle and other #GRWM creators are changing social media

It was Greta Rolli's younger sister who first introduced her to TikTok in late 2019. Together, the two would fill their time by recording themselves singing and dancing in their living room as coronavirus pandemic restrictions tightened across the country.  "I didn't have much of a following — it was mostly just random friends on TikTok," Rolli told CBS News. Rolli eventually moved away from posting simple dance videos and instead began offering viewers a closer look at her daily life, from her morning routine to snippets of a weekend trip she took with her fiancé Sebastian to trying on wedding dresses. "I like people to see more intimate parts of my life, like my relationships with my siblings, my relationship with my parents and my relationship...
Science

TikTok CEO to testify before Congress in March

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee in March about the social media platform's consumer privacy and data security practices, its impact on kids and its relationship with the Chinese Communist Party, the committee announced in a news release Monday."Americans deserve to know how these actions impact their privacy and data security, as well as what actions TikTok is taking to keep our kids safe from online and offline harms," the committee said its release. "We've made our concerns clear with TikTok. It is now time to continue the committee's efforts to hold Big Tech accountable by bringing TikTok before the committee to provide complete and honest answers for people."  FILE: Shou Zi Chew, CEO of TikTok Inc., speaks duri...
Science

How Pizzerias Use Technology to Lure Us In

Photo: Dima Sikorsky (Shutterstock)Love it or hate it, technology undeniably shapes the way we purchase and consume our food, from the apps we use to order it to the robots that deliver it to the machines that assemble and cook it. So it’s no surprise that marketing is a huge component of how a certain food ends up on our plates. Fast casual chains have got to keep up with the times by competing for our attention, and QSR Magazine has lent some insight into which tools restaurant chains use to get us thinking about pizza. Surprise, surprise: Most of the strategies are tech-based.TikTok and pizza, a natural pairYou knew TikTok would enter the conversation, right? When it comes to the social media platform, there’s a multi-pronged approach: Not only does the restaurant build brand awareness ...
Gaming

Entire Call Of Duty Community Got Punked Over Nadia ‘Cheating’

Screenshot: Censor / YouTubeI am now convinced that “female Call of Duty streamer” is the hardest job in the world. Nadia Amine is one of the fastest growing Call of Duty: Warzone streamers on Twitch, and there’s been a ton of controversy on social media about her meteoric rise. If you search her name on YouTube or Tiktok, the videos are filled with cheating accusations against her. Seemingly joining in on the train, last week, Call of Duty professional Doug “Censor” Martin, who is the number one ranked Vanguard player in the world right now, tweeted that he was going to start unmasking cheaters in the popular shooter. Immediately, eyes turned toward Amine.. Prior to the most recent events, people primarily accused Amine of competing in easier matches by artificially matching with “bot” pl...
Gaming

‘Your Name’ Director’s New Anime Has A Girl Romancing A Chair

Lewd.Screenshot: CoMix Wave Films / 東宝MOVIEチャンネル / KotakuWhile most anime have a muscle-bound hunk or an aloof loner as a protagonist’s romantic partner, the new film from the director of international box-office hit Your Name goes a slightly different route. Suzume, the film’s leading lady, romances a wooden chair. This isn’t an Onion article, that’s the for-realsies premise of the film.The film is Suzume, or Suzume no Tojimari (Suzume Locking Up the Doors). Produced by anime studio CoMix Wave Films, it follows a 17-year-old girl from Kyushu named Suzume who, after a chance encounter with a mysterious man, must close magical doors across Japan that contain world-ending catastrophes behind their thresholds. Where does the deeply romantic chair-kissing/sitting come in, you ask? Well, you s...