Lawsuit alleges TikTok’s algorithm exposed teenagers to videos promoting suicide, self-harm and eating disorders Seven French families have filed a lawsuit against TikTok, accusing the platform of exposing their adolescent children to harmful content that led to two of them taking their own lives at 15, their lawyer said. The lawsuit alleges TikTok’s algorithm exposed the seven teenagers to videos promoting suicide, self-harm and eating disorders, lawyer Laure Boutron-Marmion told broadcaster Franceinfo on Monday. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org Continue reading...

Posts lauding anything from running in the rain to tiredness and a comfy bed are springing up on Instagram and TikTok “What a privilege it is to run in the rain. What a privilege it is to have a house I need to clean.” Social media is usually criticised for being a toxic space, but an emerging trend is pushing back against negativity with gratitude. Posts entitled “What a privilege” feature everything from images of cosy beds (What a privilege it is to be exhausted after a long day) to videos of travelling (What a privilege it is to carry a heavy bag) to kitchen hobs (What a privilege it is to think about what to make for dinner everyday) have sprung up on Instagram and TikTok. Continue reading...

Campaigners say 21% of people at workshops did not disclose on their applications relationships with firms being discussed More than one in five attenders at EU events on regulating big tech companies did not disclose links to the industry when applying to take part, according to transparency campaigners who say hidden networks are distorting public debate. Researchers at three NGOs analysed nearly 4,000 registrations at European Commission workshops organised earlier this year to test companies’ compliance with the Digital Markets Act (DMA), a law to curb anti-competitive behaviour. Continue reading...

Advertising executive, 58, shares old-school tricks of the marketing trade, enjoyed by millions of viewers Rory Sutherland is reaching for an analogy to describe his newfound status as one of the UK’s most viral TikTokers. “It’s a bit like Lord Byron, I woke up and found myself famous.” Continue reading...

ByteDance dismissed person in August it says ‘maliciously interfered’ with training of artificial intelligence models The owner of TikTok has sacked an intern for allegedly sabotaging an internal artificial intelligence project. ByteDance said it had dismissed the person in August after they “maliciously interfered” with the training of artificial intelligence (AI) models used in a research project. Continue reading...

False information spurred these migrants to come to the US. Now they receive even more misleading information about navigating their new home This article is co-published with Documented, a multilingual news site about immigrants in New York, and the Markup, a non-profit, investigative newsroom that challenges technology to serve the public good. One video told viewers that new migrants easily get work permits and good jobs in the United States. Another warned viewers, once they are in the US, not to change their postal address or transfer their asylum case if they move to another state. Another instructed them to reapply for asylum if they do not receive an acknowledgment letter within a few months. Continue reading...

Agency accuses Meta, Google, TikTok and other companies of sharing troves of user information with third-parties Social media and online video companies are collecting huge troves of your personal information on and off their websites or apps and sharing it with a wide range of third-party entities, a new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) staff report on nine tech companies confirms. The FTC report published on Thursday looked at the data-gathering practices of Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube, Discord, Reddit, Amazon, Snap, TikTok and Twitter/X between January 2019 and 31 December 2020. The majority of the companies’ business models incentivized tracking how people engaged with their platforms, collecting their personal data and using it to determine what content and ads users see on their feeds, the report states. Continue reading...

TikTok to assert the law targeting it is a breach of the first amendment protecting freedom of speech TikTok will take its case against a threatened US ban to a federal court on Monday where it will argue that a law targeting the video platform is “unconstitutional”. In April Joe Biden formally introduced a law that gives TikTok’s Chinese parent, ByteDance, until 19 January to sell its stake in the platform to an approved buyer, due to concerns that the app poses a national security threat. Continue reading...

Customers are coming to Preston’s Spud Bros from as far away as Australia thanks to a revival of the humble jacket potato on social media The humble baked potato is enjoying a renaissance, with TikTok algorithms bringing the stuffed spud to new audiences and transforming this once-tired classic into the lunch of the moment. Young potato sellers are breathing new life into the traditional British meal, with modern twists on favourite toppings. Continue reading...

From crummy pubs to a ‘cheeky Tesco run’, some of the most mundane aspects of British life are going viral Think of British cultural exports in the 21st century and you might reach for the familiar examples: James Bond, Downton Abbey, Adele. But in the algorithm-driven universe of TikTok where a trend known as “Britishcore” is one of the most in demand movements of the moment, it’s the mundane aspects of life in the UK which are going viral. Continue reading...