tiktok - The African Mirror

Dec

2022

U.S. lawmakers unveil bipartisan bid to ban China’s TikTok

REPUBLICAN Senator Marco Rubio announced bipartisan legislation to ban China's popular social media app TikTok, ratcheting up pressure on owner ByteDance Ltd amid U.S. fears the app could be used to spy on Americans and censor content. The legislation would block all transactions from any social media company in or under the influence of China and Russia, Rubio's office said in a news release, adding that a companion bill in the U.S. House of Representatives was sponsored by Republican congressman Mike Gallagher and Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi. "It is troubling that rather than encouraging the administration to conclude its national security…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Dance off: Why are Black TikTok creators going on strike?

SCIENCE, TECH AND INNOVATION

SHARON KIMATHI BLACK dance creators are boycotting TikTok on the grounds that their viral routines are being co-opted by white social media influencers without credit or compensation. How did the strike start and what steps could the Chinese video app take to meet the demands of those protesting? How did we get here? TikTok is a social media app that hosts short musical clips ranging from three to 60 seconds where people lip-sync, perform skits, take on challenges and perform dance routines. Top-performing creatives use the app to gain followers and become ‘influencers’ which can lead to lucrative opportunities in…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Egyptian TikTok influencer to appeal 10-year trafficking sentence

NEWS

MENNA A FAROUK EGYPTIAN TikTok influencer Haneen Hossam will appeal a 10-year prison sentence handed down by a Cairo court that found her guilty of human trafficking, her lawyer has said. In the latest twist in a nearly year-long saga, the court also fined the 20-year-old Cairo University student 200,000 Egyptian pounds ($13,000) on Sunday for encouraging women to share footage on the video-sharing app in exchange for money. "We will demand restoration of the case proceedings because there are contradictions between the verdict and the merits on which the court's decision is based," said lawyer Hani Sameh. "We hope…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Bangladesh arrests sex trafficking suspects who lured women on TikTok

WORLD

NAIMUL KARIM POLICE in Bangladesh have arrested seven suspected members of a sex trafficking gang that used video-sharing app TikTok to contact and lure young women and girls before selling them for sex in neighbouring India, an official said on Friday. A video of a Bangladeshi woman being tortured and sexually assaulted went viral on social media last week, prompting the investigation by police, who said the traffickers had enticed the women with promises of well-paid jobs across the border. "These girls are mostly from lower-income groups. They are told they'll become stars in India. They are also promised jobs…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

Italy tells TikTok to block users after death of young girl

WORLD

CRISPIAN BALMER THE Italian data privacy watchdog has ordered video app TikTok to block the accounts of any users in Italy whose age it could not verify following the death of a 10-year-old girl who had been using the Chinese-owned app. In a statement, the regulator said that although TikTok had committed to ban registration for children aged under 13, it was nonetheless easy to circumvent this rule. As a result, it said TikTok had to block unverified user accounts until at least Feb. 15 awaiting further information. A spokeswoman for TikTok in Italy said the company was analysing the…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

Egyptian women jailed over TikTok posts to face trafficking charges

NEWS

MENNA A FAROUK TWO young Egyptian women whose jail sentences for posting on TikTok were overturned earlier this week will have to stay in prison for another two weeks and face human trafficking charges, a lawyer has revealed. Haneen Hossam and Mawada Eladham, who each have more than a million TikTok followers, have spent nine months in jail after being convicted of encouraging women to share footage on the video-sharing app in exchange for money. On Tuesday a court upheld an appeal, overturning the conviction of Hossam, 20, and cancelling 22-year-old Mawada Eladham's jail sentence, though she still faces a…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

Kickboxer throws down challenge to Pakistan’s TikTok ban

WORLD

UMAR FAROOQ A mixed martial arts specialist is challenging a Pakistani ban on TikTok, the video sharing app on which he was pinning his hopes of gaining a mass audience and helping people get fit. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) last week blocked access to TikTok, which is owned by China-based ByteDance, citing unspecified public complaints about "immoral and indecent content". Muhammad Ashfaq Jutt, 34, told Reuters he joined TikTok a year ago because it was becoming a popular platform and was cheaper than traditional advertising. "All kinds of people, from street sweepers to day labourers, have come to be…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

TikTok apologises for censoring LGBT+ content

LGBT+

UMBERTO BACCHI TIK TOK has apologised for suppressing LGBT+ content in the past, with a director telling British lawmakers on Tuesday that the company now removed LGBT+ images only when required to do so by law enforcement agencies. The video streaming app came under fire last year over reports it censored depictions of homosexuality, such as two men kissing or holding hands, and artificially prevented posts from LGBT+ users from going viral in some countries. "I'm really sorry, we really got that wrong," TikTok's director of public policy in Europe the Middle East and Africa, Theo Bertram, told a British…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

U.S. LGBT+ TikTok users fear losing ‘safe space’ as Trump bans downloads

LGBT+

RACHEL SAVAGE U.S. LGBT+ TikTok users said they feared losing a popular community platform and valued "safe space" after the Trump administration announced it would stop Americans from downloading the Chinese-owned video-sharing app. The order, which takes effect on Sunday, only bans new downloads of the app, but TikTok said another restriction due to kick in on Nov. 12 would amount to an effective ban affecting existing users. TikTok, which has 100 million U.S. users, is widely used by young LGBT+ people to share niche jokes, find a date, and swap advice and stories about traumatic experiences such as being…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

China would rather see TikTok U.S. close than a forced sale – sources

WORLD

KEITH ZHAI, YINGZHI YANG and JULIE ZHU BEIJING opposes a forced sale of TikTok's U.S. operations by its Chinese owner ByteDance, and would prefer to see the short video app shut down in the United States, three people with direct knowledge of the matter said on Friday. ByteDance has been in talks to sell TikTok's U.S. business to potential buyers including Microsoft and Oracle since U.S. President Donald Trump threatened last month to ban the service if it was not sold. Trump has given ByteDance a deadline of mid September to finalise a deal. However, Chinese officials believe a forced…