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The U.S. Senate voted on Tuesday to pass a bill that will either ban TikTok from app stores operating in the country or force Chinese company ByteDance to sell the short-form video app. The landmark bill has now passed both chambers of Congress, having already been approved by the House of Representatives. President Biden says he will sign the bill into law on Wednesday. Once that happens, TikTok will be banned in the United States if ByteDance does not divest ownership within nine months, with a possible three-month extension to that deadline if a deal is in progress. China would need to approve any sale, but the Chinese government has already made it clear that it will "firmly oppose" such a move. ByteDance is also expected to launch a legal challenge against the bill by arguing that it will deprive the app's 170 million U.S. users of their First Amendment rights protecting freedom of speech. U.S. lawmakers want TikTok to be sold to a company outside of China over concerns that the Chinese government could force ByteDance to hand over data from users located in the United States. If Beijing made the request, ByteDance would not be able to refuse. There have also been suggestions that Chinese authorities could use TikTok to spread political propaganda. ByteDance has attempted to alleviate these fears by storing data from U.S. users on servers owned by Oracle, but the White House and lawmakers do not believe that is enough. There are a limited number of companies that would be able to afford TikTok, while most tech giants would likely be prevented from acquiring it due to antitrust concerns.Tag: TikTok This article, "TikTok Facing Potential US Ban as Congress Passes Bill Requiring Sale" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

I remember when Instagram first launched back in 2010, and all my mates at school were crowded around my friend's iPhone 4 making our Instagram accounts and brainstorming cool handle ideas. Things have changed so much since then, and I truly miss the 'old' Instagram. That being said, I don’t think I miss it enough to have TikTok step in and try to fill in the gap. A notification on the app stated that TikTok is gearing up to release a photo-sharing app for users to post their pictures, called TikTok Notes, which will also convert “existing and future public TikTok photo posts” into posts on the new platform. Currently, Tiktok users can post photo slideshows against music tracks, so it’s safe to assume these will be translated to Instagram-esque posts on the new platform. According to The Verge, TikTok states that it’s “exploring ways to empower our community to create and share their creativity with photos and text in a dedicated space for those formats”. So, from that, we can assume you’ll also be able to add captions to your Notes posts as well. Could TikTok actually take Instagram on? People have been done with Instagram for a while now. The idea of posting to the general public has been left largely to the influencer types, with most people I know having their Instagram account set to private and reserved for friends and family or using their 'Finstas' exclusively. Finstas, or fake Instagrams, became super popular among young people in 2016 and onwards - a tool for those who wanted to keep using Instagram but have a section carved out to be themselves and post without worrying about having perfect photos. Finstas still did not save Instagram from being labeled a wasteland of a platform. Where Instagram is a lot more controlled in terms of its feed, TikTok has an interesting setup in that publicly posted videos could be thrown across to anyone on the app, no matter if you’re mutually following people or not. So, it would be interesting to see how this translates to a photo-based app. TikTok is an insanely popular app and the fact that the new app will be incorporating already existing photo posts could give it the head start it needs to compete with Instagram. I’m assuming it’ll be a similar case to Instagram Threads, where everyone is already allocated an account and you simply have to activate it. That opens the door to TikTok's estimated one billion monthly active users to log in and try the app out. Of course, not every social media doppelganger is guaranteed success. The downfall of Twitter (sorry, 'X') brought on several other similar apps like Mastodon and Bluesky, and despite how awful things have been on Twitter they’re not really seeing massive numbers that would make them as big as the app they’re replacing. Threads seemed to be a guaranteed hit given the number of already-established Instagram accounts, but it only has 160 monthly million users, compared to X’s 250 million daily active users. I honestly think X would have to be wiped off the web and our phones before people flocked to any of the alternatives. Overall though, TikTok Notes has the social media scene buzzing with anticipation. TikTok's smart move to integrate existing photo content and its massive user base could challenge Instagram's reign. Though, history teaches us that not every alternative is a winner. As TikTok Notes prepares to debut, we can only speculate about its potential to topple Instagram - or forge its own path in the digital realm. View the full article

The way that users get information from the web has evolved over the years. People used to rely on news sites and Google to keep abreast of what was going on in the world, but then Twitter arrived and cemented itself as an alternative (and often inaccurate) source of news. Although it’s facing the threat of being banned in the US, TikTok has become a major source of information for younger users, and AI chatbots have really come into their own as a valuable tool for delivering tailored, instant information. The rise of voice-activated AI assistants like Amazon's Alexa and Google Assistant has also revolutionized the way we access information, allowing users to simply ask for what they want to know, rather than having to search for it manually. However, with this evolution comes the responsibility of discerning reliable sources from misinformation, a skill that is becoming increasingly important in the AI age. Recent surveys by Applause and Forrester indicate a significant shift in consumer behavior, with users increasingly favoring AI chatbots over traditional search engines for both research and basic queries. Similar findings Applause's 2024 Generative AI Survey reveals that 91% of respondents use chatbots for research, and 81% prefer them over search engines for basic queries. However, as is perhaps to be expected, concerns about data privacy, bias, and performance persist. Applause found ChatGPT is the most popular chatbot, used by 91% of users, ahead of Google Gemini (63%) and Microsoft Copilot (55%). Despite worries about providing private information to chatbots, with 89% of respondents expressing concern, the practical applications of Gen AI are now widely acknowledged. However, only 19% of users believe that chatbots understand their prompts every time, indicating room for improvement. Forrester's State of Consumer Usage of Generative AI 2024 echoes these findings, noting that GenAI has made AI more visible in consumers' daily lives. While companies race to incorporate AI, consumer adoption is still in its infancy due to concerns about its ethical implications. The report also highlights the demographic differences in GenAI adoption, with younger, male, and more highly educated consumers more likely to have used the technology. The report states that almost half of Millennial and Gen Z adults in the US, UK and France have used GenAI, compared with only 12% of Baby Boomers. Forrester also found 34% of US consumers used GenAI, compared to 27% in the UK and 25% in France. Work still needed Despite widespread concerns, the benefit of GenAI is widely recognized. Among online adults who had heard of GenAI, 50% agreed that it would make it easier to find information online. However, 45% agreed that GenAI posed a serious threat to society, indicating a split in consumer attitudes towards the technology. The surveys reveal that the golden era of search engines might be coming to an end, as consumers increasingly turn towards AI chatbots for their information needs. However, as Chris Sheehan, SVP Strategic Accounts and AI at Applause sums up, “Chatbots are getting better at dealing with toxicity, bias and inaccuracy – however, concerns still remain. Not surprisingly, switching between chatbots to accomplish different tasks is common, while multimodal capabilities are now table stakes. To gain further adoption, chatbots need to continue to train models on quality data in specific domains and thoroughly test across a diverse user base to drive down toxicity and inaccuracy.” More from TechRadar Pro These are the best AI chatbots for businesses around todayGoogle's non-profit arm launches AI accelerator to fund the next big thingNew search engines fueled by Generative AI will compete with Google View the full article