TikTok has an internal matchmaking service for employees to introduce their colleagues to friends and family members, it has been revealed. The channel, called Meet Cute, sits on the workplace tool used by thousands of TikTok employees around the world for document hosting, video conferencing. It also helps people find a potential romantic partner from among their colleagues. On the platform, which was first reported by Forbes, employees can advertise their family, friends or acquaintances to colleagues, with a feed of posts that show information that typical dating apps would…
Tag: TikTok
TikTok removes 284 accounts linked to Chinese disinformation group
TikTok has removed 284 accounts associated with a Chinese disinformation campaign after Guardian Australia raised questions about several accounts uncovered by the company’s rival Meta. On Wednesday, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram reported it had shut down close to 9,000 Facebook and Instagram accounts, groups and pages associated with a Chinese political spam network that had targeted users in Australia and other parts of the world. During its investigation Meta uncovered the influence operation on more than 50 online platforms and forums including YouTube, TikTok, Reddit, Pinterest, Medium,…
‘Into brain and the heart’: how China is using apps to woo Taiwan’s teenagers
Ariel Lo spends a couple of hours most weeks sharing anime art and memes on Chinese apps, often chatting with friends in China in a Mandarin slightly different from the one she uses at home in Taiwan. “People use English on Instagram, and for Chinese apps they use Chinese phrases. If I am talking to friends in China, I would use them,” Lo said as she picked up a bubble tea at a street market in central Taichung city. The 18-year-old Earth sciences student, who creates art in her spare…
TikTok chief operating officer V Pappas steps down after five years
TikTok’s chief operating officer, V Pappas, is stepping down after five years with the short-video company. In an email to staff on Thursday, Pappas said they would be taking on an advisory role for the company during the transition. “Given all the successes reached at TikTok, I finally feel the time is right to move on and refocus on my entrepreneurial passions,” said Pappas. The news was first reported by the Information. Shou Chew, the chief executive of TikTok, announced on Thursday in a memo to employees that Zenia Mucha,…
‘Lunch of suffering’: plain ‘white people food’ goes viral in China
Under a photo of processed cheese, ham and crackers packed neatly in plastic, a Weibo user writes that to eat this for lunch is to “learn what it feels like to be dead”. The post is part of a trend among Chinese social media users who are recreating “báirén fàn” or “white people food” to better understand – or poke fun at – western packed lunches made up of plain ingredients such as raw vegetables and sliced meats. The social media platforms Weibo and Xiaohongshu have been inundated with photos…
Communist party accessed TikTok data of Hong Kong protesters, former executive alleges
A former executive at TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, has alleged that the Chinese Communist party accessed user data from the social video app belonging to Hong Kong protesters and civil rights activists. Yintao Yu, a former head of engineering at ByteDance’s US operation, claimed in a legal filing that a committee of Communist party members accessed TikTok data that included the users’ network information, Sim card identifications and IP addresses in a bid to identify the individuals and their locations. The claims, in a wrongful dismissal lawsuit brought by Yu…
How war in Taiwan could mean the wheels come off the UK economy
As the world struggles with the economic fallout from the Ukraine war, fears are mounting about a conflict that would be even more consequential: a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. Last week, Taiwan’s foreign minister said he was preparing for the possibility of a conflict with China in 2027, and a leaked memo from a four-star US general said his “gut” told him the US – which is committed to defending Taiwan – would be at war with China in 2025. The UK foreign secretary warned last week that such a…
Australian government resists blanket WeChat ban despite restrictions by multiple departments
The Australian government is resisting issuing a ban on WeChat on government devices despite many government departments instituting their own bans after the TikTok edict earlier this month. TikTok was banned from government devices in early April over data collection and security concerns connected to the Chinese government. The move followed a review by the home affairs department which examined a range of social media platforms, but TikTok was the only app singled out for an immediate ban. At the time TikTok was banned, dozens of federal departments had already…
From Facebook intern to the crosshairs of Congress: TikTok chief’s stellar rise
Shou Zi Chew has said the most gruelling experience of his life was a five-day survival course in the jungles of Borneo when he was serving as a conscript in Singapore’s armed forces. The TikTok chief executive, whose trans-global academic and business career has rapidly propelled him to the top job at one of the world’s biggest tech companies, will need to display some of that mettle as he battles to ensure the corporate survival of the controversial but immensely popular social video app. The 40-year-old Singaporean, who faces questioning…
TikTok to be banned from UK parliamentary devices
Parliament is to ban the Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok from “all parliamentary devices and the wider parliamentary network”, citing the need for cybersecurity. The move goes further than the ban last week of the app on government mobile phones and devices, covering the whole parliamentary network. That means that MPs and parliamentary staff who continue to have TikTok installed on personal devices will find the service blocked if they try to access it over parliamentary wifi. A parliament spokesperson said on Thursday: “Following the government’s decision to ban TikTok from…