LOS ANGELES: Video sharing app TikTok has made an eleventh-hour deal to avoid a landmark US trial accusing it, along with Meta and YouTube, of addicting young people to social media, lawyers said on Tuesday.&nbsp;The deal was made as jury selection was to begin in a Los Angeles court that could establish a legal precedent on whether social media companies deliberately designed their platforms to addict children.&nbsp;The case being heard in the California state court is being called a &quot;bellwether&quot; proceeding because its outcome could set the tone for a tidal wave of similar litigation across the United States.&nbsp;The remaining defendants in the suit are Alphabet and Meta, the tech titans behind YouTube and Instagram.&nbsp;Meta co-founder and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg is slated to be called as a witness during the trial.&nbsp;&quot;The parties are pleased to have reached an amicable resolution of this dispute,&quot; the Social Media Victims Law Center said, noting that the terms of the settlement with TikTok are confidential.&nbsp;The case focuses on allegations that a 19-year-old woman identified by the initials K.G.M. suffered severe mental harm because she was addicted to social media.&nbsp;After joining YouTube at age six, Instagram at 11, Snapchat at 13, and TikTok at 14, the Californian claims to have developed an addiction to the sites that contributed to her depression, anxiety, body image issues and that stoked suicidal thoughts.&nbsp;Social media firms are accused in hundreds of lawsuits of addicting young users to content that has led to depression, eating disorders, psychiatric hospitalization and even suicide.&nbsp;Lawyers for the plaintiffs are explicitly borrowing strategies used in the 1990s and 2000s against the tobacco industry, which faced a similar onslaught of lawsuits arguing that companies sold a harmful product.&nbsp;The trial before Judge Carolyn Kuhl is expected to start next week after a jury is selected.&nbsp;Significant victory&quot;This is the first time that a social media company has ever had to face a jury for harming kids,&quot; Social Media Victims Law Center founder Matthew Bergman, whose team is involved in more than 1,000 such cases, told AFP.&nbsp;The center is a legal organization dedicated to holding social media companies accountable for harms allegedly caused to young people online.&nbsp;&quot;The fact that now K.G.M. and her family get to stand in a courtroom equal to the largest, most powerful and wealthy companies in the world is, in and of itself, a very significant victory,&quot; Bergman said.&nbsp;Internet titans have argued that they are shielded by Section 230 of the US Communications Decency Act, which frees them of responsibility for what social media users post.&nbsp;However, this case argues those firms are culpable for business models designed to hold people&#39;s attention and to promote content that winds up harming their mental health.&nbsp;&quot;The allegations in these complaints are simply not true,&quot; said Jose Castaneda, a YouTube spokesperson.&nbsp;&quot;Providing young people with a safer, healthier experience has always been core to our work,&quot; he added.&nbsp;Meta has also rejected the allegations.&nbsp;TikTok&#39;s settlement joins Snapchat, which last week confirmed that it made a deal to avoid the trial brought by K.G.M. The terms were not disclosed.&nbsp;The companies face two other similar trials in the same court scheduled for later this year.&nbsp;Lawsuits, including some brought by school districts, accusing social media platforms of practices endangering young users are also making their way through federal court in Northern California and state courts across the country.

Artificial Intelligence

ByteDance settled a landmark social media addiction lawsuit before jury selection, reaching a confidential agreement, while Meta and Google, YouTube’s parent company, remain defendants, the plaintiffs’ legal team confirmed.

TikTok settles in landmark social media addiction case

JAKARTA: Indonesia&#39;s government has suspended the operating licence of video-sharing app TikTok because the platform refused to share data about recent anti-government protests, the ministry of communication and digital affairs said on Friday.&nbsp;Indonesia has the second biggest audience on TikTok, owned by China&#39;s Bytedance, with more than 100 million users.&nbsp;The ministry said it had &quot;temporarily suspended&quot; the app&#39;s operating licence for failing to provide adequate data on its live feature&#39;s activities during anti-government protests in August.&nbsp;&quot;This step is a form of the government&#39;s firmness after TikTok only provided partial data,&quot; Alexander Sabar, director general of digital space supervision, said in the statement.&nbsp;The government asked TikTok for traffic and other data related to &quot;the alleged monetization&quot; of live activities from accounts suspected of online gambling.&nbsp;The ministry said TikTok was given until September 23 to submit data but failed to do so.&nbsp;TikTok said it respects the laws of the markets it operates in.&nbsp;A spokesperson said in a statement that TikTok was working closely with the ministry &quot; while remaining committed to safeguarding user privacy and ensuring that our platform provides a safe and responsible experience for the community in Indonesia&quot;.&nbsp;The platform&#39;s live feature was still available on Friday evening.&nbsp;TikTok has faced a series of challenges in operating in Indonesia.&nbsp;The video-sharing app temporarily suspended its live feature in August because of violent protests after the death of a man hit by a police vehicle.&nbsp;On Monday, Indonesia&#39;s antitrust agency fined TikTok $900,000 for failing to notify regulators in time about its acquisition of e-commerce platform Tokopedia.&nbsp;Its e-commerce feature was also suspended by the government in 2023 after it moved to help small businesses.&nbsp;It then bought a 75 percent stake in Tokopedia, Indonesia&#39;s largest ecommerce platform, bringing together their shopping arms.

Indonesia suspended TikTok’s licence for refusing protest-related data. TikTok faces ongoing regulatory challenges, including fines, ecommerce restrictions, and scrutiny despite its 100 million users.

Indonesia suspends TikTok licence over failure to share data

WASHINGTON: Tech giant Oracle will receive a copy of the algorithm powering TikTok to operate for US users, according to a senior official in President Donald Trump&#39;s administration on Monday.&nbsp;Determining next steps for the algorithm, currently owned by the Beijing-based ByteDance, has been one of the most closely watched issues during negotiations over TikTok&#39;s future.&nbsp;The Trump administration official, who insisted on anonymity to discuss the emerging deal, said they believe the plan will satisfy national security concerns if TikTok divests from its Chinese parent, ByteDance. President Joe Biden signed bipartisan legislation before leaving office, requiring the Chinese company to sell its assets to an American company or face a ban.&nbsp;American officials have previously warned the algorithm that fuels what users see on the app is vulnerable to manipulation by Chinese authorities, who can use it to shape content on the platform in a way that&rsquo;s difficult to detect.&nbsp;&ldquo;It wouldn&rsquo;t be in compliance if the algorithm is Chinese. There can&rsquo;t be any shared algorithm with ByteDance,&rdquo; said a spokesperson for the House Select Committee on China. Oracle would receive a copy of the algorithm and oversee the app&#39;s security operations.&nbsp;The algorithm would be &ldquo;fully inspected and retrained,&rdquo; the senior White House official said Monday. In a call with reporters, the official later emphasised that the content recommendation formula would be retrained only on US data in order to make sure the system is &ldquo;behaving appropriately.&rdquo; It is currently unclear if retraining the U.S. copy of the algorithm on local data would essentially create a separate TikTok experience just for domestic users.&nbsp;&ldquo;What the president will sign later this week is an executive order, essentially declaring that the terms of this deal meets America&rsquo;s national security needs,&rdquo; the White House official said. He notes that China is expected to sign and approve a framework deal for TikTok&#39;s divestment by the end of the week, upon which Trump will issue a 120 day reprieve, giving both nations time to get necessary agreements finalised.&nbsp;Full details on investors have not been released. However, the official confirmed that the US operations will be a new joint venture with a board of directors that will have a majority of American members. Oracle and Silver Lake, a private equity firm, are the only confirmed consortium participants so far.&nbsp;The White House official also said that under the preliminary deal, which still requires Chinese officials to sign off on a framework agreement, the United States will not take equity stake in the new venture or have representation on the controlling committee.&nbsp;Trump, a Republican, has extended the deadline several times as he worked to reach a deal to keep TikTok available. He spoke to Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday.

Gadgets

Oracle will get a copy of TikTok’s algorithm to run for US users under a Trump deal, retraining it on American data.

Oracle to manage TikTok algorithm for US users under Trump administration

Reuters

WASHINGTON:&nbsp;A US-China agreement sets out new governance for TikTok&rsquo;s US operations, giving Chinese owner ByteDance one of seven board seats while Americans hold the majority. The deal, aimed at avoiding a US ban on TikTok, requires TikTok&rsquo;s US assets to be majority-owned by American investors and data to be stored domestically. The algorithm will be retrained and controlled independently from ByteDance, with oversight by US authorities. A senior White House official said China&rsquo;s ByteDance will have one of seven board seats for TikTok&rsquo;s US operations under a new agreement, while six seats will be held by Americans. Trump extends pause on ban&nbsp;President Donald Trump is working to prevent a ban on TikTok in the US, which was mandated by a 2024 law requiring the company to sell its US assets by January 2025. Enforcement of the law has been delayed until mid-December as talks continue to separate TikTok&rsquo;s US business from its global platform, secure American investors, and meet the full divestiture criteria outlined in the law. This week&rsquo;s progress marks a significant development in lengthy negotiations between the US and China, who have sought to ease a broader trade war affecting global markets. Trump said after a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping that they made headway on the TikTok deal and planned to meet in person within six weeks. However, Beijing&rsquo;s statements have not clarified the extent of the progress. The White House official said Trump intends to extend the enforcement pause for an additional 120 days, making April the new deadline for finalising the deal. TikTok did not immediately respond to requests for comment. American concernsSome US lawmakers remain wary. Representative Frank Pallone, a Democrat, said: &ldquo;The devil will be in the details. We cannot allow China continued access to massive amounts of Americans&rsquo; personal data... and we cannot allow Trump to hand TikTok over to his tech bro buddies and turn it into a MAGA mouthpiece.&rdquo; It is unclear if the current deal satisfies the full divestiture requirements stipulated by Congress in 2024. Under the agreement, data for American users will be stored on US cloud infrastructure managed by Oracle, a US software firm. The TikTok algorithm &ldquo;will be secured, retrained and operated in the United States outside of ByteDance&rsquo;s control.&rdquo; The algorithm will be rebuilt from scratch using only US data under US supervision. US officials have been concerned that the algorithm could be used by China to influence the content Americans see on TikTok. Reports suggest the algorithm&rsquo;s licence may remain with ByteDance, but its operation will be under strict US control. US users will still be able to access content from around the world on TikTok. TikTok&rsquo;s US assets will be majority-owned by American investors and overseen by a board staffed with national security and cybersecurity experts. ByteDance&rsquo;s shareholders include Susquehanna International Group, General Atlantic, and KKR. ByteDance itself would hold less than 20% ownership in the joint venture overseeing TikTok&rsquo;s US operations.

A 3D-printed miniature model of US President Donald Trump and TikTok logo are seen in this illustration. (Reuters)

Americas

China

The deal requires TikTok’s US assets to be majority-owned by American investors and data to be stored domestically. 

Articles tagged with "ByteDance"

TikTok settles in landmark social media addiction case

Indonesia suspends TikTok licence over failure to share data

Oracle to manage TikTok algorithm for US users under Trump administration

ByteDance to hold one board seat in proposed TikTok US ownership deal