TikTok, the video social media app that’s wildly popular with young people, is banned from work phones by the federal government, as well as numerous state governments and corporations. The worry is that the app collects data about users that the Chinese government can access. When TikTok’s CEO testified before Congress on Thursday, his attempts to reassure skeptical members of both parties didn’t appear to affect the growing chorus of calls for an outright ban on the app in the U.S.
But what is the actual threat, and is it unique to TikTok? If the Chinese government can get hold of this information, what could it do with it? And is a ban even possible, given that 150 million Americans use the app?
Iowa State University cybersecurity researcher Doug Jacobson tackles these questions, and points to another worrying aspect of the app: the algorithm it uses to serve content to users.
This week we also liked articles about toxic teen friendships, obscure 17th-century Italian masterpieces and Trump’s call for protests.
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Is a wildly popular social media app a threat to the U.S.?
AP Photo/Michael Dwyer
Doug Jacobson, Iowa State University
Banning TikTok: What data privacy risk does the app pose, and what could the Chinese government do with data it collects? And is it even possible to ban an app?
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Villa Aurora in Rome, which houses works by Caravaggio and Guercino, is up for sale.
Vincenzo Pinto/AFP via Getty Images
Monika Schmitter, UMass Amherst
What will happen to this villa and its unique collection of 16th- and 17th-century ceiling paintings?
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A celebrity’s engagement ring can cost millions of dollars.
Noam Galai/Getty Images Entertainment
Naomi Cahn, University of Virginia; Julia D. Mahoney, University of Virginia
Just like the rest of us, celebrities take different approaches to deciding who gets the engagement ring when they get engaged but never tie the knot.
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Kevin C. Taylor, University of Memphis
Mindfulness is everywhere in pop culture today, but that doesn’t mean people agree on what it means.
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Ronald Suny, University of Michigan
The setting was grand, so too was the plan. But behind the peace plan put forward by China and welcomed by Russia, is the question, what do both nations seek?
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Miguel Jimenez, Colorado State University
Machine learning may not seem to have much connection with wildlife, but it’s starting to play a central role in bird conservation.
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