The UK government banned TikTok from government mobile phones in March 2023. The ban was made following a review of the app by government cybersecurity experts, who found that it posed a security risk. The app collected user data, including location, contacts, and browsing history. The Chinese government could use this data to track and monitor users or launch cyberattacks. The ban on TikTok from...
The director of GCHQ, Jeremy Fleming, said he would encourage young people to use TikTok, despite a campaign pledge by the prime minister, Liz Truss, to “crack down” on the Chinese video app and companies like it. The spy chief was asked on Tuesday morning if he would be concerned if his children were to use TikTok after he had warned that China was seeking to “impose its values” in other...
TikTok appears to be deepening its foray into e-commerce with plans to operate its own US warehouses, the kind of packing and shipping facilities more associated with Amazon or Walmart than the social media platform best known for addictive short videos. In the past two weeks, TikTok has posted several job listings on LinkedIn looking for candidates to help it develop and grow its “Fulfillment by...
There is, and seemingly always has been, a dance for every letter of the alphabet. From the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance of the Middle Ages (in which residents of the Staffordshire village run around with reindeer antlers) to the traditional Greek Zonaradiko (whereby dancers hold on to one another’s belts), we have always loved a good routine. Yet while you could peer into an 1870s debutante ball or...
It’s not just you: TikTok and Snapchat are harder – or at least weirder to use than other apps. Open up TikTok, and a video will immediately start playing, a random teenager singing along to a pop song or mimicking a meme. How do you make it stop? Where’s the friends you follow? And what do you tap to get to your own profile? Open Snapchat, and the camera is open by default, the text overlaid on...
TikTok is launching on smart TVs in France, Germany and the UK as part of a play to move into people’s living rooms and diversify its audience. The short-form video sharing platform has announced that a version of its app will be available from today on Android TV on models produced by Sony, Hisense, TCL, Skyworth, Sharp, Phillips, Xiaomi, Panasonic and Toshiba. The move, which follows the...
It’s a hot August day in Tampa, Florida. A camera hovers over a few drops of red blood on the side of a car, before panning out to reveal the full extent of the damage. The door has a bullet hole, while the front seats, steering wheel and two drink bottles are plastered in even more blood – this time a yellowy-orange colour, more reminiscent of vomit. “Looks like a 9mm,” says a man in hazmat...
TikTok is launching on smart TVs in France, Germany and the UK as part of a play to move into people’s living rooms and diversify its audience. The short-form video sharing platform has announced that a version of its app will be available from today on Android TV on models produced by Sony, Hisense, TCL, Skyworth, Sharp, Phillips, Xiaomi, Panasonic and Toshiba. The move, which follows the...
When Gwen, a 25-year-old sex worker from Toronto, noticed a TikTok trend where people were personifying popular restaurant chains, she immediately spotted an opportunity. “It was perfect to be made into a porn video,” she recalls. “A lot of other creators had done Goth IHOP or Femboy Hooters content – but I wanted to take on milf Denny’s.” In her TikTok-inspired video, Gwen plays a waitress who...
TikTok has the ability to track every tap of your screen while you browse in its iOS app, including typed passwords and clicked links, according to new research by software engineer Felix Krause. In-app browsing refers to any activity on third-party sites that open in the app, rather than in an external window. On Thursday, Krause released a report examining the JavaScript code social media...