Service suspended in France and Spain amid safety and addiction concerns among children, in first use of new digital laws A TikTok service offering rewards such as gift vouchers for watching videos has been suspended by the company shortly after the EU threatened to block it amid fears of addiction among children. On Monday the digital commissioner, Thierry Breton, said the Chinese-owned video-sharing platform had “failed to prove” the feature on TikTok Lite, which launched recently in France and Spain, complied with obligations under sweeping new Digital Service Act (DSA) laws ..read more

Joe Biden signs into law bill requiring Chinese owner to sell app’s US operations Senate passes bill banning TikTok if owner does not sell it Joe Biden has signed into law a bill that requires TikTok’s Chinese owner to sell the social media app’s US operations or face a ban, after the Senate passed the legislation. The law, part of a foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, sets the clock ticking on a potential ban for a platform that is hugely popular in the US ..read more

The TikTok investor is also linked to funding challenges to progressive politicians and against Obama’s Iran nuclear deal Top Republican donor and TikTok investor Jeff Yass is connected to over $16m in funding to anti-Muslim and pro-Israel groups that have advocated for a US war with Iran and other militaristic policies in the Middle East, according to an investigation by the Guardian and Responsible Statecraft. Media reports on Yass, the billionaire co-founder of Susquehanna International Group, a trading and technology firm, have focused on his outsized role in the Republican party, to which ..read more

Harry Daniels’s TikToks of him singing awkwardly at stars alternate between trolling and displays of love for celebrities – but how does he do it? Billie Eilish has run from him. Doja Cat stopped her security detail to allow for a sidewalk serenade of Paint the Town Red. Charli XCX let him sing a few bars from I Got It before telling him “You need to work on it,” turning on her heel, and strutting back to her car. Harry Daniels stakes out celebrities such as Dua Lipa, Katy Perry, Ellie Goulding – and, uh, Joe Biden – and serenades them while filming their responses for TikTok. Most of these in ..read more

Bill gives app owner, ByteDance, a year to divest, and while Biden is expected to sign it, the company plans to fight it The Senate voted Tuesday to pass a bill that will either ban TikTok or force a sale of the short-form video app, giving its China-based parent company ByteDance up to one year to divest its crown jewel before facing deletion from US app stores. The vote was a landslide, with 79 senators voting in favor and 18 against. The bill passed in the House on Saturday by a margin of 360 to 58, as part of a foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. It will now make its way to ..read more

Senate plans vote on Ukraine and Israel aid bill that would also force TikTok sale in the US US Senate prepares to give final approval to $95bn aid bills Trump lauds House speaker as ‘good person’ after Ukraine bill passage Speaking of Donald Trump, what’s he up to today? The answer is sitting in a New York City courtroom where he is on trial for allegedly falsifying business records to cover up hush-money payments before his 2016 election victory. On the witness stand now is David Pecker, a former ally and longtime publisher of the National Enquirer ..read more

In this week’s newsletter: While Apple removed the platform from App Stores without a squeak of public protest, its battle with the EU rages on. Plus, how a ban in the US could change TikTok everywhere • Don’t get TechScape delivered to your inbox? Sign up for the full article here Another day, another set of troubles for Apple’s App Store. This time, the company had bowed to orders from the Chinese state to remove WhatsApp and Threads, two of the last Meta apps still available in the country. From our story: Apple confirmed it had withdrawn the two apps – both owned by Meta, also the owner of ..read more

More than a decade after acai bowls reached peak popularity in Australia, the Amazonian berry is back, with a dedicated TikTok fanbase – and a soft-serve makeover Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email In Old Guildford, a suburb in Sydney’s west, there’s a small cafe open until midnight called Caffeine Hit. It’s a fair walk from the main strip, in a mainly residential area, with a bottle shop next door and an Arabic church across the road. It doesn’t have a flashy dining room, a fancy menu or a famous chef, but there’s often an evening queue outside. Everyone is there to get one thing ..read more

App feature could be suspended unless child safety concerns addressed, in first use of sweeping new digital powers The EU has said it will ban a new service launched by TikTok in Europe that it believes could be “as addictive as cigarettes” unless the company offers “compelling” fresh evidence that children are safeguarded. If the ban goes ahead, it would be the first time the EU has used sweeping new powers to impose sanctions on social media companies since its landmark Digital Service Act (DSA) came into force last August ..read more

Bill – with updated language that extends deadline to a year for ByteDance to divest of TikTok – to go before Senate next week The House of Representatives voted 360 to 58 on the updated divest-or-ban bill that could lead to the first time ever that the US government has passed a law to shut down an entire social media platform. The Senate is expected to vote on the bill next week and Joe Biden has said he will sign the legislation ..read more