- Overshooting 1.5C risks 'irreversible' climate impact: study
- Time running out in Florida to flee Hurricane Milton
- Demis Hassabis, from chess prodigy to Nobel-winning AI pioneer
- The long walk for water in the parched Colombian Amazon
- Biden-Netanyahu to talk as Hezbollah, Israeli forces clash
- France vows to step up drugs fight after police vehicles torched
- Air France says jet flew over Iraq during Iran attack on Israel
- Activists target Picasso work to protest Israel arms sales
- Let 'Emily in Paris' remain in Paris, Macron says
- Global stocks diverge as Chinese shares tumble
- Time runs out in Florida to flee Hurricane Milton
- Chad issues warning ahead of more devastating floods
- Record-breaking Root helps England dominate Pakistan in first Test
- German govt sees economy shrinking again in 2024
- Ex-UK soldier denies passing secrets to Iran intelligence
- Creator's death no bar to new 'Dragon Ball' products
- Three Kosovo Serbs on trial over 'secession plot' attack
- Van Gogh museum to launch Impressionism show
- French minister ups ante in Eiffel Tower Olympic rings row
- Japan PM calls snap election to 'create a new Japan'
- German police shut pro-Palestinian camp over Thunberg invite
- Chinese stocks tumble on lack of fresh stimulus
- Trio wins chemistry Nobel for protein design, prediction
- SE Asian summit urges end to Myanmar violence but struggles for solutions
- Wimbledon replaces line judges with electronic system
- Record-breaking Root hits hundred as England power to 351-3
- Record-breaking Root hits hundred as England's power to 351-3
- Sabalenka relishes 'much-needed' tennis rivalry with Swiatek
- Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson set for six weeks out
- Taylor Swift got police escort to London gigs after Austria terror plot
- Cook tips Root to break Tendulkar's all-time runs record
- British skull auction sparks Indian demand for return
- Joe Root: England's elegant Test record-breaker
- Braving war: Lebanon's 'badass' airline defies odds
- Klopp to return as head of Red Bull football operations
- Hezbollah strikes Israel, says it foiled Israeli incursions
- Jurgen Klopp to return as head of Red Bull football operations
- Sinner to face Medvedev in Shanghai Masters quarter-finals
- US weighs Google breakup in landmark trial
- Record-breaking Root guides England to 232-2 in reply to Pakistan's 556
- Japan PM dissolves parliament for 'honeymoon' snap election
- Chinese stocks tumble on stimulus upset, Asia tracks Wall St higher
- 7-Eleven owner confirms new takeover offer from Couche-Tard
- Goodbye Tito? Tomb at risk as Serbs argue over Yugoslav legacy
- Restoration experts piece together silent Sherlock Holmes mystery
- Sinner avoids Shanghai deja vu with assured Shelton win
- Pyongyang to 'permanently' shut border with South Korea
- Trumpet star Marsalis says jazz creates 'balance' in divided world
- No children left on Greece's famed but emptying island
- Nepali becomes youngest to climb world's 8,000m peaks
RBGPF | -2.48% | 59.33 | $ | |
CMSC | 0.28% | 24.64 | $ | |
BCC | 0.24% | 142.365 | $ | |
SCS | 2.29% | 13.08 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.11% | 24.8248 | $ | |
BTI | 0.42% | 35.37 | $ | |
NGG | -0.6% | 65.51 | $ | |
RIO | -0.94% | 66.04 | $ | |
GSK | 0.24% | 38.11 | $ | |
JRI | 0.24% | 13.191 | $ | |
RELX | -0.1% | 46.595 | $ | |
BP | -0.69% | 31.81 | $ | |
RYCEF | -1.01% | 6.9 | $ | |
BCE | -0.19% | 33.445 | $ | |
AZN | 0.03% | 76.89 | $ | |
VOD | 0.23% | 9.682 | $ |
TikTok users protest proposals for US ban at Congress
A group of TikTok content creators descended on the US Capitol Wednesday to protest against calls for a ban on the popular Chinese-owned video-sharing app, amid fears that it presents a national security threat.
Lawmakers and government officials have complained that TikTok's parent company ByteDance is able to pass users' data to the government in Beijing and are calling for it to be removed from app stores unless it is sold to a US firm.
Supporters argue that the platform is no more prone to data breaches than any other apps that collect personal information and that lawmakers should be working to firm up privacy laws rather than spoiling their fun.
A group of around a dozen teenagers, teachers and business owners rallied at Congress to discuss their opposition to a potential ban and draw attention to the benefits of TikTok on their lives and livelihoods.
Some in the crowd said they had been flown to Washington by the company, US media reported.
"I kind of built my business on TikTok, so this poses somewhat of a problem for me and my business," aspiring soapmaking entrepreneur @countrylather2020 told her 70,000 followers in a video recorded after she arrived in the capital.
"Are there other platforms out there? Absolutely -- I'm on them. But none of them have the reach that TikTok has."
The app -- which recently revealed it has 150 million US users -- is already outlawed on all federal and some state government devices and is blocked by several public universities, but lawmakers and President Joe Biden are weighing a total ban.
The company's CEO Shou Zi Chew is due to testify in Congress on Thursday, where he is expected to tell the House Energy and Commerce Committee: "ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country."
B.Finley--AMWN