Apple has remained notably absent from the foldable smartphone market, even as competitors such as Samsung and Huawei have spent years refining the form factor. While the Cupertino giant's first foldable products may be approaching, they are still a few years out, and thus their potential impact on Apple's slightly down business forecast remains uncertain.According to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple's foldable iPhone is still in the planning stages despite reports indicating the project has been in development for almost a decade. However, a new super-thin iPhone "Air" model is reportedly set to debut in the second half of this year.The iPhone 17 Air is rumored to be incredibly thin, with the "thinnest part" potentially measuring just 5.5mm. This extreme thinness could result in a tapered design or rounded edges, but it will also require compromises. Notably, the device may lack a physical SIM card tray, relying exclusively on eSIM. While this isn't an issue in markets like the U.S., it could hinder sales in China, where physical SIM cards are standard. Additionally, the thin design may necessitate a smaller battery and fewer cameras.This analysis follows information from The Wall Street Journal, which suggests that Apple plans to revitalize sales with a new iPhone that would cost less than the Pro models (which in itself doesn't make them inexpensive, nor mainstream priced).Speculation around Apple's foldable devices has circulated since at least 2016. Previous reports from Kuo and other analysts indicate that the project has faced repeated internal delays but could materialize as early as 2026 or 2027. Additionally, ultra-large foldable iPads and MacBooks may also be under development. // Related StoriesApple's primary challenge reportedly lies in designing a durable folding hinge and screen. Even manufacturers with years of experience in foldables, like Samsung, continue to face reliability issues, as TechSpot writers can attest.December 2024 iPhone shipments in China reportedly declined by about 10% year-over-year, and global shipments for Q1 2025 are forecasted to drop by approximately 6%.Apple is also expected to launch the iPhone SE 4 in March, which might include Apple Intelligence features. However, there is little proof that the GenAI toolchain, which is exclusive to Apple's newest hardware, is pushing users to upgrade. Reports of inaccurate news summaries certainly won't help.Furthermore, a recent survey indicates that users aren't interested in Apple Intelligence, and other data shows that GenAI isn't increasing sales for other manufacturers either.

Samsung Unpacked 2025, where the Samsung Galaxy S25 is expected to be unveiled, is coming up, which is probably why were seeing Samsung Galaxy deals for the outgoing generation of flagship smartphones. Heres your chance to get the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra at $100 off, which slashes the price of the 256GB model to $1,200 from $1,300, and the 512GB model to $1,320 from $1,420. You can save even more if you trade in your current device. With stocks probably already running low ahead of the launch of the next batch of Samsung Galaxy devices, you better hurry with your purchase if youre interested in this offer.The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is one of the most powerful Android phones ever built, with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy chip and 12GB of RAM enabling extremely smooth performance and supporting various Galaxy AI tools. Two of the devices most useful AI features are Circle to Search by Google, which is a visual search tool for your photos and any images you see online, and Generative Edit, which can remove certain elements from photos and fills in the blanks. The smartphone ships with Android 14 pre-installed along with One UI 6.1, and of course, it also comes with the S Pen stylus that hides into the bottom of the device.The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is protected by a titanium frame, with barely any bezels surrounding its gorgeous 6.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2x screen that features peak brightness of 2,500 nits, resolution of up to 3120 x 1440, and an adaptive refresh rate of up to 120Hz. The smartphone also doesnt hold back when it comes to its cameras, as its equipped with a 200MP main camera, a 12MP wide-angle camera, a 50MP telephoto camera for 5x optical zoom, and a 10MP telephoto camera for 3x optical zoom.RelatedIf youre on the hunt for phone deals, you may want to set your sights on the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. The Samsung Galaxy S25 line will soon be released as the brands new flagship smartphones, but it remains an excellent purchase, especially with the $100 discount from Samsung. The 256GB model is on sale for $1,200 instead of $1,300, while the 512GB model is available for $1,320 instead of $1,420. Additional discounts are available if youre willing to trade in your current phone. You need to hurry though, as were not sure if these prices will still be online by tomorrow act fast if you dont want to miss out!Editors Recommendations

Warner Bros.Table of ContentsTable of ContentsCitizen X (1995)Edge of Darkness (2010)On Chesil Beach (2018)The year is still new, but some problems remain the same. Those pesky 10 pounds are still there despite your recommitment to exercising regularly, and the weather still isnt as all that great. Movies still hold the promise of escape, though, and this weekend, audiences will have the option of seeing Gerard Butler kick some butt in Den of Thieves 2: Pantera or a musical biopic of English pop star Robbie Williams starring a CGI monkey (yes, really) in Better Man.For those wanting to stay in and chill, Max has plenty of movies for you to watch. The three movies on this list arent classics, but they are underrated films that are worth watching. Hey, it beats going to the gym again.Recommended VideosWe also have guides to the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, the best movies on Max,andthe best movies on Disney+.RelatedHBOIs there anything more unsettling than watching a serial killer movie thats based on a real-life serial killer? I always get the creeps when watching them, and one of the most underrated ones in the subgenre, a little-known 1995 HBO movie that is just as chilling as The Silence of the Lambsor Zodiac.In 1982, a body is discovered on a farm in the Soviet Union. This prompts the discovery of seven more bodies buried around the area, which forces the police to confront the unmistakable fact that a serial killer is hunting in their midst. The manhunt is led by Viktor Burakov (Stephen Rea) and Col. Mikhail Fetisov (Donald Sutherland), and they eventually find their man: Andrei Chikatilo (Jeffrey DeMunn).citizenxWhats interesting about Citizen X isnt the revelation of the killer but how government bureaucracy and forensic incompetence led to Chikatilo remaining free even after he is caught and questioned. Because he was a member of the Communist Party, high-ranking officials refused to believe he was a murderer, which led him to claim more victims. Citizen X is masterful in capturing the relentlessness of people like Viktor and Mikhail, who must overcome obstacles from their own peers to get their man and make sure he doesnt kill again.Citizen X is streaming on Max.Edge of Darkness #5 Movie CLIP - Welcome to Hell (2010) HDMel Gibson isnt what he used to be. Once the star of four Lethal Weapon movies and the Oscar-winning Braveheart, hes now directing B-movie action thrillers like the upcoming Flight Risk. One of his last truly good lead roles was in Edge of Darkness, a conspiracy thriller directed by Martin Campbell, who helmed the best James Bond movie of all time, Casino Royale. Edge of Darkness isnt quite as good as that film, but it serves up decent suspense and gives Gibson and co-star Ray Winstone two juicy roles to sink their teeth into.When his daughter Emma is gunned down in front of him, homicide detective Thomas Craven (Gibson) is overcome with grief. After taking a lock of her hair as a farewell memento, he discovers that its radioactive. Digging a little further, he finds out that Emma has been investigating a company, Northmoor, that is producing dirty nuclear bombs. Craven teams up with British gun-for-hire Darius Jedburgh (Winstone) to find who ordered Emmas murder and how they can stop Northmoor from making more lethal weapons.Edge of Darkness is streaming on Max.ON CHESIL BEACH | Official TrailerSaoirse Ronan is one of the best young actors working today, and her four Oscar nominations, all achieved before turning 30, are a testament to the respect she has from her peers. Some of her movies like Ladybird and Little Women get more recognition than others, and one movie that was wrongly ignored was On Chesil Beach, a flawed yet moving adaptation of Ian McEwans 2007 novella.Ronan stars as Florence, a young woman who has just married a man she barely knows, Edward (Billy Howle). She loves him, but she is sexually inexperienced, and since its 1962 in England, she has no one to talk to about her fears and lack of knowledge. On their honeymoon in the titular locale, the two lovers must confront their pre-conceived notions of each other, and find a way to understand one another.Bleeker StreetOn Chesil Beach takes its time, and maybe it takes too much of it, to get to its central conflict and the revelation of a secret from Florences past that prevents her from giving herself completely to her new husband. But the movie eventually finds its way, and the ending is just about perfect. The same can be said for Ronan, who never lets her films pacing issues get in the way of her nuanced performance.On Chesil Beach is streaming on Max.Editors Recommendations

Amazon is often the home of great Apple deals, and that continues to be the case today. Right now, you can buy the latest Apple MacBook Pro with M4 Pro chip for $250 off. That means instead of paying $2,499, you pay $2,249. Thats not quite the lowest price its ever been, but its not far off the MacBook Pro with M4 has only ever dropping to $2,199 at its lowest. For the most part, $2,249 is a sweet deal and one of the better laptop deals around. If youre keen to learn more, read on and well take you through all it has to offer.The latest MacBook Pro tops our look at the best MacBooks for so many fantastic reasons. Its a true powerhouse of a machine while still looking super elegant and stylish. In our MacBook Pro review, we described it as the best gets even better. It offers record-breaking performance, with the M4 Pro chip proving to be exceptionally powerful for all kinds of tasks. It also has a best-in-class keyboard and trackpad, which adds to the experience.Apple is one of the best laptop brands around for anyone happy to use macOS, with it often featuring highly in our look at the best laptops. This model has the M4 Pro with 14-core CPU and 20-core GPU, but it also has 24GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD storage, which is all great to see. A little more storage space would be good, but you can always tag on one of the best external hard drives if you need more.RelatedIts 16-inch Liquid Retina XDR display may not be an OLED one, but it looks beautiful, with 1,600 nits peak brightness, up to 1,000 nits of sustained brightness, and 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio. All that power could have caused havoc for the battery life, but thats not the case here: all-day battery life of up to 24 hours. It even has a 12MP Center Stage webcam, which is a rarity, ably backed up by three studio-quality mics and six speakers with Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos support.The laptop to beat right now, the Apple MacBook Pro with M4 Pro usually sells for $2,499. Amazon is currently selling it for $2,249, so you save $250 off the usual price. Take a look for yourself through the button below.Editors Recommendations

The artist, who rose to prominence in New Yorks downtown scene in the 1980s, creates manic, space-themed scenes with little to say.

health emergency Public health emergency declared amid LAs devastating wildfires Responders, medical equipment, and supplies are ready for deployment, HHS says. Beth Mole Jan 10, 2025 4:14 pm | 14 Firefighters fight the flames from the Palisades Fire burning the Theatre Palisades during a powerful windstorm on January 8, 2025 in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Credit: Getty | Apu Gomes Firefighters fight the flames from the Palisades Fire burning the Theatre Palisades during a powerful windstorm on January 8, 2025 in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Credit: Getty | Apu Gomes Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreThe US health department on Friday declared a public health emergency for California in response to devastating wildfires in the Los Angeles area that have so far killed 10 people and destroyed more than 10,000 structures.As of Friday morning, 153,000 residents are under evacuation orders, and an additional 166,800 are under evacuation warnings, according to local reports.Wildfires pose numerous health risks, including exposure to extreme heat, burns, harmful air pollution, and emotional distress."We will do all we can to assist California officials with responding to the health impacts of the devastating wildfires going on in Los Angeles County," US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. "We are working closely with state and local health authorities, as well as our partners across the federal government, and stand ready to provide public health and medical support."The Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), an agency within HHS, is monitoring hospitals and shelters in the LA area and is prepared to deploy responders, medical equipment, and supplies upon the state's request.The declaration provides health care providers and suppliers more flexibility to meet the emergency health needs of people who are covered under Medicare and Medicaid insurance plans. HHS is also making available data on the number of certain Medicare beneficiaries in the area who are most at-risk of needing support amid the emergency. These beneficiaries include residents who rely on electricity-dependent medical equipment and certain health care services, such as dialysis, oxygen tanks, or home health care. The data will help responders plan and meet the needs of at-risk residents.The HHSDisaster Distress Helpline, managed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), is also available to residents experiencing emotional distress. The toll-free, multilingual, crisis support service connects people with trained counselors and is available 24/7. Residents can call or text the line at 1-800-985-5990.On Wednesday, President Biden approved a Major Disaster declaration for California, making additional federal funds and resources available to those impacted by the fires.Beth MoleSenior Health ReporterBeth MoleSenior Health Reporter Beth is Ars Technicas Senior Health Reporter. Beth has a Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and attended the Science Communication program at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She specializes in covering infectious diseases, public health, and microbes. 14 Comments

Dr. Joel Warsh is a pediatrician based in Studio City.He's also dad to two boys, a 5-year-old and 10-month-old.His family had to evacuate their house early Wednesday morning.This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Dr. Joel Warsh, a pediatrician with Integrative Pediatrics and Medicine in Los Angeles. It has been edited for length and clarity.On Tuesday night, my wife and I put our sons to bed and then went to bed early ourselves, around 8 p.m. We knew we weren't likely to get a lot of sleep. Outside the back of our home, we could see the Palisades fire getting closer and closer.It definitely wasn't the best sleep, but I managed to get some shut-eye. Then, at about 4:30 Wednesday morning, we got an alert that we needed to evacuate. Our bags were already packed when we got the alertWe had already packed essentials like clothing, a few of the boys' favorite toys, and my wife's breast pump, plus our important documents like birth certificates. We grabbed the bags and our sons, who are 10 months and 5 years old, and drove to my in-laws' house in Studio City, near where I practice pediatrics.My older son was excited to have a day with his grandparents. We talked with him a bit about the fires and he could see the smoke, but he didn't really understand what was going on.By Friday the evacuation order for our home was lifted, but the fire still wasn't contained. I briefly returned home and saw that we only had slight wind damage. Inside, however, the air was hazy, like it gets when you're cooking something and burn it.Even at my in-laws' house, the air quality wasn't great, so my family decided to head south toward San Diego for the weekend. We spent about $1,000 renting an Airbnb that could fit the extended family for two nights. Prices were actually cheaper than I thought they'd be, probably because people canceled trips to California.I'm more worried about the emotional impact on kids than the physicalEarlier this week, I sent an email to all my patients. I reminded them to take their kids to the hospital if they have any acute trouble breathing. But if anything, I'm more worried about the mental and emotional impact of these fires on kids than the physical impact. It's best if parents can help kids keep their routine as much as possible. We know from other disasters that when kids feel supported and know their parents are there for them, they fare better.We'll do what we can to help and will remind our son he's safeWith my own son, I'm focusing on the helpers. Next week, we'll donate toys and other items to families who lost everything. Those families have much more acute stress to cope with than we do. How much to share about what's happening with children depends on the family and the individual child. While parents shouldn't hide things from kids, you don't want to tell them too much that it'll cause them stress, either.Remind kids that they and their loved ones are safe. The rest you can figure out along the way, even if it needs to be done day by day. Helping children feel calm and supported rather than worried will help their long-term mental health.

Trump became the first US president to be sentenced with felony convictions. The president-elect, appearing remotely via video for the hush-money case, was given an unconditional discharge, which means he will not have to pay fines, serve prison time, or be under probation.Read the original article on Business Insider

Former DEI lead Maxine Williams tried to cushion the blow of Meta's plan to rollback DEI programs.The company has several employee-resource groups, known as MRGs.After more than a decade as Meta's Chief Diversity Officer, Williams is taking on a new role.Meta Chief Diversity Officer Maxine Williams told staff in a memo on Friday that the company's decision to back off DEI efforts won't impact employee-resource groups, according to an internal post viewed by Business Insider.Employee-resource groups, or ERGs, are worker-led communities that create a sense of belonging at a company. Meta has several of these groups. MRGs are Meta employee resource groups, and BRGs are Black employee resource groups.In a post to an internal forum, Williams tried to cushion the blow of Meta's decision on Friday to rollback its diversity, equity, and inclusion program. Some staff criticized the move, while at least one worker called it"pretty reasonable.""I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge that these changes may be difficult to understand and process since they represent a significant shift in our strategies for achieving the cognitive diversity we value," Williams wrote.She stressed that the changes won't impact Meta's support for MRGs and BRGs."You play a critical role in creating a place for community and connection among us and with the company," she added."I have watched you show support, share resources, and bond through learning, understanding, and appreciating our various backgrounds. Our Global Communities contribute to the richness of our experiences as we learn from each other and leverage our different backgrounds, working together to build products for the world."Williams has been Meta's chief diversity officer for more than a decade. On Friday, she told staff that she's taking on a new role focused onAccessibility and Engagement."But I, and my team, will continue to support you as contribute to our global community at Meta," she wrote.Do you work at Meta? Contact BI reporters from a nonwork email and device at and .

25 minutes agoRebecca JenningsHas TikTok made us better? Or much, much worse?For years, murmurs of a US TikTok ban have left users and creators furious and terrified that a social media app that had become central to their lives could be taken away. Again and again, the ban never actually materialized, and users continued to enjoy what had, since 2018, become one of the most creative, vital, and paradigm-shifting developments in internet culture. But this is no longer a boy who cried wolf situation. On Friday, the Supreme Court signaled that it would uphold the law signed by President Biden last April requiring TikToks Beijing-based parent company ByteDance to divest TikTok from its Chinese ownership or risk facing a ban in the US. Read Article >Apr 25, 2024A.W. OhlheiserImagining an internet without TikTokThe bill to require TikTok to separate from its Chinese parent company or face a nationwide ban made it to President Joe Bidens desk on Wednesday as part of a huge foreign aid package that passed through Congress this week. And Biden, as he previously promised, signed the bill into law. ByteDance now has nine months to sell TikTok, a deadline that Biden can opt to extend once by 90 days. And while TikTok could avoid a ban with a successful sale or court challenge, the new law means Americans might want to start imagining an online world without TikTok. Read Article >Apr 24, 2024Nicole NareaIs the new TikTok ban for real?President Joe Biden has signed a bill to ban TikTok, starting a nine-month countdown until the social media apps Chinese parent company ByteDance will be forced to sell it or have it be removed from US app stores. The proposed ban has generated furor on Capitol Hill and online since it first passed the House as a standalone bill last month.Read Article >Mar 14, 2024Nicole NareaTikTok could avoid a ban with a sale. Finding a buyer wont be easy.The Senate is now considering a bipartisan bill that could force a sale of TikTok, with the House having already passed a similar measure and President Joe Biden throwing his support behind it. If the legislation is signed into law and if it survives likely legal challenges the question then becomes: Who would buy TikTok?The bill would require the apps Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell the social media platform within 165 days of the law going into effect or else the platform will be banned from US app stores.Read Article >Mar 14, 2024Christian PazIts not just Gen Z. Heres what TikToks user base tells us about a potential bans impact.The odds of a ban on TikTok becoming a reality have never been this good.The House of Representatives passed a bill to force a sale of the Chinese-owned app by a massive bipartisan margin on Wednesday and the effort has some bipartisan support in the Senate, as well as the backing of President Joe Biden.Read Article >Mar 14, 2024A.W. OhlheiserBanning TikTok would be both ineffective and harmfulTikTok, like any place on the internet where a ton of people are watching and sharing and competing for attention, is best understood in terms of both/and. TikTok is both a vital platform for community building and plagued by dangerous misinformation. TikTok is both uniquely good at providing a means for non-influencers to reach a huge audience and a platform that has failed, again and again, to fairly and adequately moderate the content posted there. TikTok is both riddled with huge concerns about the privacy of the data it collects on its users and, just like any other major social media platform, intent on collecting that data as part of its business model. Read Article >May 23, 2023Li ZhouMontanas TikTok ban and the legal challenge of it explainedLast week, Montana became the first state in the United States to ban TikTok, amid concerns lawmakers have raised over the Chinese governments potential ability to access the apps data.The move which comes as the federal government and other states have vocalized national security worries about the app goes much further than existing policies to restrict access to the social media platform. The ban has also faced questions regarding enforcement, and has been legally challenged by TikTok on the grounds that it violates users and the companys First Amendment rights.Read Article >May 23, 2023Rebecca Jennings, Sara Morrisonand1 more9 questions about the attempts to ban TikTok, answeredSince its introduction to the US in 2018, TikTok has been fighting for its right to exist. First, the company struggled to convince the public that it wasnt just for preteens making cringey memes; then it had to make the case that it wasnt responsible for the platforms rampant misinformation (or cultural appropriation or pro-anorexia content or potentially deadly trends or general creepiness, etc). But mostly, and especially over the past three years, TikTok has been fighting against increased scrutiny from US lawmakers about its ties to the Chinese government via its China-based parent company, ByteDance.Montana became the first state to ban TikTok outright on May 17, when its governor, Greg Gianforte, signed the bill into law. The legislation doesnt make it illegal to use TikTok. Rather, it fines platforms that distribute it, like Apples and Googles app stores. The Montana law goes into effect at the beginning of 2024, assuming it survives the inevitable court challenges. At least one of those will come from TikTok, which sued the state days after the law was signed.Read Article >Mar 29, 2023Sara MorrisonThe RESTRICT Act is more bad news for TikTokThere might be a new way to deal with TikTok in DC: a bipartisan bill from Sens. Mark Warner (D-VA) and John Thune (R-SD) that isnt a TikTok ban though it could lead to one. It also doesnt just address TikTok or its parent company, the Chinese-based ByteDance, but all technology companies from countries that have been identified as countries of concern.Today everybodys talking about TikTok, Warner said in a press conference announcing the bill. But before there was TikTok there was Huawei and ZTE, and before that there was Russias Kaspersky Lab.Read Article >Mar 23, 20233 winners and 3 losers from Congresss TikTok hearingThe House Energy and Commerce Committees much-hyped hearing on TikTok, featuring CEO Shou Chew, took place Thursday without many fireworks. But over the course of five hours, lawmakers grilled Chew not only about TikToks or his own links to China, but also issues that are common across all social media platforms, like the promotion of harmful content and the immense amount of data they collect about their users.Members of the committee were almost uniformly critical of TikTok, but many though not all eschewed the grandstanding that has become more common at high-profile hearings like this. Instead, they asked Chew things that they actually seemed to want answers to.Read Article >Mar 21, 2023Sara MorrisonIs TikTok too big to ban?Its been a difficult few weeks for TikTok. An agreement with a government interagency group that it was depending on, which would allow the Chinese-owned app to continue to operate in the US, seems to have fallen apart. Without it, President Biden will likely soon have to make a final decision about the app: demand a sell-off, and be ready to ban TikTok if its owner ByteDance wont oblige.TikToks future in the US has perhaps never been in more doubt than it is right now. The status quo an impasse where TikTok operates as normal with the seemingly empty threat of a ban hanging over its head wont be tenable for much longer. But the choices that the US and ByteDance are left with dont seem very tenable, either.Read Article >Feb 15, 2023Sara MorrisonThe new Congress is enlisting kids in its ongoing fight with Big TechIt looks like the big bipartisan push against Big Tech in the new Congress will be about protecting kids. While antitrust and privacy efforts seem to be languishing for now, several child-focused online safety bills are being introduced this session. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has reportedly signaled that passing them is a priority for him. President Joe Biden recently said the same.And they just might pass, if this weeks Senate Judiciary Committee hearing about protecting children online is any indication. Witnesses testified about how children are harmed by online content and the platforms that help push it to a largely friendly audience of senators, some of whom authored prominent child online safety bills in previous sessions. None have become law, but the new Congress seems intent on making it happen.Read Article >Feb 3, 2023Christian PazInside the lonely and surprisingly earnest world of political TikTokI dont remember the first time I saw one of Jeff Jacksons TikTok videos, but I definitely remember the one that turned me into a follower.The new Republican majority in the House of Representatives was in chaos. I was on the West Coast with my non-politically obsessed family and a friend, watching Republicans fail to elect Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House 14 times over the course of four days. We werent just watching a historic fail unfold (the kind of embarrassment Congress hadnt seen in a century). We were also seeing a confounding stalemate preventing the country from having a fully functioning government.Read Article >Feb 2, 2023Sara MorrisonTikToks master plan to win over WashingtonThe act of scrolling through your For You feed on TikTok might come with an additional sense of impending doom these days. After years of hand-wringing over the enormously popular apps ties to China and the potential national security threat they present, it looks like someone is going to do something about it.TikTok is grappling with an increasingly real prospect of being banned in the United States. This wouldnt just be a mostly performative prohibition of installing the app on federal or state government-owned devices. It could also be more impactful than the legally questionable ban that former President Donald Trump tried and failed to enact in 2020.Read Article >Dec 24, 2022Christian PazGood luck explaining a TikTok ban to young peopleAmong the many items tucked away in the $1.7 trillion spending bill Congress is working to pass to fund the government next year is a small victory for enemies of TikTok: Users of government-owned phones and devices will not be allowed to install the video app and must remove it if installed.The move, championed by Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, is mostly symbolic, my colleague Sara Morrison reported, since the app is already banned at a few agencies and departments, and would only apply to employees of the executive branch of government. It doesnt ban the app on phones of employees of other branches, like members of Congress or their staff, she wrote. That means the handful of members of Congress, staffers, and interns who use the app to communicate with constituents or to share a behind-the-scenes look at how the federal legislature works may still be free to do so.Read Article >Dec 20, 2022Sara MorrisonThe US governments TikTok ban is more complicated than it soundsIf youre a TikTok user, your For You page is about to get a little more transparent, the company said in a blog post on Tuesday morning. The announcement came several hours after federal lawmakers revealed the must-pass omnibus spending bill, which includes a provision that bans TikTok from some federally funded phones.The two moves are representative of the difficult year TikTok has had in the US as it tries to reassure the federal government that it has no ties to nor is influenced by the Chinese Communist Party. A growing number of lawmakers are increasingly skeptical of TikTok, believing the China-based company that owns it, ByteDance, is indeed controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. That control could mean that the Chinese government might try to compel TikTok to give it data on US users, or that the Chinese government may force TikTok to push propaganda or misinformation to TikToks relatively young userbase through the For You feed, which effectively serves as the apps homepage.Read Article >Dec 13, 2022Sara MorrisonMaybe Trump was right about TikTokHeres something you rarely hear a Democratic senator say: Donald Trump was right.But thats what Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) is saying now, and its all because of TikTok, the popular video app that Trump tried to ban in the waning months of his presidency. Read Article >Jun 9, 2021Shirin GhaffaryTikToks Trump problem is now TikToks Biden problemIts official: Biden has reversed Trumps executive order banning TikTok in the United States, bringing to a close a period of uncertainty over the immediate fate of the wildly popular social media app. But TikToks problems with the US government are far from over.On Wednesday morning, Biden issued an executive order that revoked Trumps prior executive order banning TikTok over national security concerns. (Trumps order never actually went into effect because US courts struck it down.) Bidens executive order also called for a broader US government review of all apps with ties to a foreign adversary, like China. This means that TikTok and other Chinese-affiliated companies could potentially face more restrictions in the future if theyre found to prove a risk to the United States economy or national security.Read Article >Nov 13, 2020Peter KafkaTikToks US ban has been delayed another two weeks or maybe foreverRemember when the Trump administration thought TikTok was a grave threat to America?No?Read Article >Aug 29, 2020The bigger stakes of the TikTok debateOn August 6, President Trump issued an executive order prohibiting transactions with the video-sharing app TikTok. Since the app is owned by the Beijing-based ByteDance, it could pose national security and privacy risks to users in the US, the order states.But the Trump administrations actions targeting TikTok mark a departure from the traditional American techno-libertarian position on internet governance and free speech online. And it comes at a time when the concept of a global internet is under threat.Read Article >Jul 23, 2020Rebecca JenningsThe case for and against banningTikTokTikTok was never supposed to be political. When it launched in the US in 2018, the video app was marketed as a fun place to discover goofy content and experiment with its sophisticated editing software and vast music library. Yet nearly two years and 165 million nationwide downloads later, TikTok has been a platform for teachers strikes, QAnon conspiracy theories, Black Lives Matter protests, and a teen-led campaign to sabotage a Trump rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The TikTok algorithm is perfectly suited to spread political content faster and to a wider audience than any social media app in history, whether the company wants to admit it or not. Now TikTok is proving itself to be political in a much broader way, one that challenges the very existence of the app. White House officials are talking seriously about attempting to ban it (how the government would choose to do so is less clear) in the wake of rising tensions with China, where TikToks parent company ByteDance is based. Read Article >