Author: Christopher Hutton

A House panel approved a bipartisan bill meant force a divestment of TikTok by its China-based parent company, making it the furthest advanced effort yet to crack down on the social media platform over its massive influence over young people and possible ties to the Chinese Communist Party. The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted…

TikTok sent pop-up alerts to users asking them to sway representatives against legislation set to be advanced Thursday to restrict China’s influence over the social media platform, prompting a harsh rebuke from the bill’s author. TikTok prompted users to input their ZIP codes and provided them with contact information for lawmakers, telling them to “stop…

White House staff members will brief dozens of social media influencers on President Joe Biden’s remarks hours before his State of the Union address in an effort to help him spread his message. More than 70 online creators and influencers will meet with the Biden administration to be informed on his message and to help…

A federal grand jury charged a former Google engineer with stealing artificial intelligence-related trade secrets with the intent of providing them to China. The San Francisco-based jury indicted Linwei Ding, aka Leon Ding, on Wednesday on four charges of theft of trade secrets. The indictment, which was returned on Tuesday and unsealed Wednesday, stated that…

A Microsoft engineer has come forward to Congress and regulators, alleging that the company’s artificial intelligence chatbot was creating violent, sexual images around innocuous topics. Shane Jones, an AI engineer at Microsoft, sent a letter to Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Lina Khan and Microsoft’s board of directors on Wednesday saying that the software giant’s image…

The author of fast-tracked legislation regulating China’s influence over TikTok said the legislation is not a ban on the popular app, pushing back against criticism from the company and some legislators. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mike Gallagher (R-WI) emphasized during a press event on Wednesday that the Protecting Americans from Foreign…

President Joe Biden‘s 2023 State of the Union call for Congress to pass legislation to protect youth safety online preceded a massive legislating effort, one that has not yet yielded results but that parental advocates are hopeful will see success this year. The year since Biden’s request for new safeguards has featured major lobbying efforts,…

One of the leading congressional critics of China has introduced legislation that would give the president additional power to crack down on TikTok and other apps owned by foreign adversaries. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mike Gallagher (R-WI) introduced the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications on Tuesday. The bill…

The European Union’s nearly $2 billion fine against Apple is the latest legal action taken by the bloc against the Big Tech company. The EU announced on Monday that it was fining Apple 1.8 billion euros, or $1.95 billion, for the company using iOS’s dominant role to prevent other music streaming services from succeeding. For…

Pro-Trump conservatives are making a push to win over black votes to support the former president with images generated by artificial intelligence. Conservatives have published dozens of false images designed to deceive the public, also known as “deepfakes,” featuring black voters wearing pro-Trump paraphernalia and standing around him, according to the BBC. None of the…