Latest News “Stay informed with breaking news, world news, US news, politics, business, technology, and more at latest news.

Category: tiktok

Auto Added by WPeMatico

  • Toymaker suddenly drops lawsuit against “Sylvanian Drama” TikToker

    A toy company has voluntarily dismissed its lawsuit against a popular TikTok and Instagram account called “Sylvanian Drama.”

    Epoch Company Ltd., is the US maker of adorable fuzzy dolls called Calico Critters. Those dolls are known as “Sylvanian Families” in other markets, and more recently, they became a viral sensation after an Ireland-based content creator, Thea Von Engelbrechten, started making funny videos in which the dolls acted out dark, cringey adult storylines.

    Claiming that the “Sylvanian Drama” videos infringed on Epoch’s intellectual property rights, including using an Epoch marketing image as her account’s profile picture while profiting off partnerships with major brands featured in her videos, the toymaker sued Von Engelbrechten, prompting her to immediately stop posting videos last year. Although some fans predicted the account might never come back, experts told Ars that Epoch may come to regret the lawsuit, perhaps alienating a potential market for their toys by going after a widely beloved content creator.

    Read full article

    Comments

  • Trump, who promised to save TikTok, threatens to shut down TikTok

    Donald Trump vowed to save TikTok before taking office, claiming only he could make a deal to keep the app operational in the US despite national security concerns.

    But then, he put Vice President JD Vance in charge of the deal, and after months of negotiations, the US still doesn’t seem to have found terms for a sale that the Chinese government is willing to approve. Now, Trump Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has confirmed that if China won’t approve the latest version of the deal—which could result in a buggy version of TikTok made just for the US—the administration is willing to shut down TikTok. And soon.

    On Thursday, Lutnick told CNBC that TikTok would stop operating in the US if China and TikTok owner ByteDance won’t sell the app to buyers that Trump lined up, along with control over TikTok’s algorithm.

    Read full article

    Comments

  • Toy company may regret coming for “Sylvanian Drama” TikToker, experts say

    A popular account on TikTok and Instagram stopped posting suddenly at the end of last year, hit by a lawsuit after garnering millions of views on funny videos using adorable Calico Critter dolls made for preschoolers to act out dark, cringe-y adult storylines.

    While millions of followers mourn the so-called “Sylvanian Drama” account’s demise, experts told Ars that the creator may have a decent chance at beating the lawsuit.

    The “Sylvanian Drama” account derived its name from “Sylvanian Families,” a brand name used by Epoch Company Ltd., the maker of Calico Critters, for its iconic fuzzy animal dolls in some markets outside the US. Despite these videos referencing murder, drugs, and hookups, seemingly the toy company had no problem, until the account, managed by Ireland-based Thea Von Engelbrechten, started accepting big brand partnerships and making sponsored content featuring the dolls.

    Read full article

    Comments

  • ‘Papa Jake’ Larson, D-day veteran and TikTok star, dies aged 102

    Larson, who survived Normandy landings, gained 1.2 million followers on social media platform by sharing second world war stories

    D-day veteran ″Papa Jake″ Larson, who survived German gunfire on Normandy’s beaches in 1944 and then garnered 1.2 million followers on TikTok late in life by sharing stories to commemorate the second world war and his fallen comrades, has died aged 102.

    An animated speaker who charmed strangers young and old with his quick smile and generous hugs, the self-described country boy from Minnesota was “cracking jokes til the end,’’ his granddaughter wrote in announcing his death.

    Continue reading…

  • US may get its own glitchy version of TikTok if Trump’s deal works out

    Could Donald Trump possibly follow through on his campaign promise to save TikTok by finally making a deal that keeps the app operating in the US without compromising America’s national security?

    Outlook not so good.

    Despite The Information reporting that a new version of TikTok is being prepped to launch in the US market this September, even Trump can’t be sure the deal is imminent.

    Read full article

    Comments

  • TikTok is being flooded with racist AI videos generated by Google’s Veo 3

    The release of Google’s Veo 3 video generator in May represented a disconcerting leap in AI video quality. While many of the viral AI videos we’ve seen are harmless fun, the model’s pixel-perfect output can also be used for nefarious purposes. On TikTok, which may or may not be banned in the coming months, users have noticed a surplus of racist AI videos, courtesy of Google’s Veo 3.

    According to a report from MediaMatters, numerous TikTok accounts have started posting AI-generated videos that use racist and antisemitic tropes in recent weeks. Most of the AI vitriol is aimed at Black people, depicting them as “the usual suspects” in crimes, absent parents, and monkeys with an affinity for watermelon. The content also targets immigrants and Jewish people. The videos top out at eight seconds and bear the “Veo” watermark, confirming they came from Google’s leading AI model.

    The compilation video below has examples pulled from TikTok since the release of Veo 3, but be warned, it contains racist and antisemitic content. Some of the videos are shocking, which is likely the point—nothing drives engagement on social media like anger and drama. MediaMatters reports that the original posts have numerous comments echoing the stereotypes used in the video.

    Read full article

    Comments

  • Meta, TikTok can’t toss wrongful death suit from mom of “subway surfing” teen

    Section 230 has so far failed to shield Meta and TikTok owner ByteDance from a lawsuit raised by a mother who alleged that her son’s wrongful death followed a flood of “subway surfing” videos platforms intentionally targeted to teens in New York.

    In a decision Monday, New York State Supreme Court Judge Paul Goetz largely denied social media companies’ motions to dismiss claims they argued should be barred under Section 230 and the First Amendment. Goetz said that the mother, Norma Nazario, had adequately alleged that subway surfing content “was purposefully fed” to her son Zackery “because of his age” and “not because of any user inputs that indicated he was interested in seeing such content.”

    Unlike other Section 230 cases in which platforms’ algorithms were determined to be content-neutral, Goetz wrote that in this case, “it is plausible that the social media defendants’ role exceeded that of neutral assistance in promoting content and constituted active identification of users who would be most impacted by the content.”

    Read full article

    Comments

  • Trump suggests he needs China to sign off on TikTok sale, delays deal again

    The White House confirmed that Donald Trump has extended the deadline for a TikTok sale for a third time, Reuters reported Wednesday.

    Now, China-based ByteDance has 90 days to divest its US assets or potentially be forced to shut down US operations. Trump’s announcement came one day before the June 19 deadline he established through his last extension. That extension was necessary after Vice President JD Vance failed to make a “high-level” deal expected in April, which Politico branded a “make or break moment” where Vance could have secured a big win.

    Yesterday, Trump told reporters on Air Force One that China was holding up the sale, suggesting that China may have an upper hand in TikTok negotiations, and perhaps TikTok is losing its sheen as a US bargaining chip in Trump’s bigger trade war.

    Read full article

    Comments

  • Dollar Tree, Lululemon, layoffs, and jobs numbers: What to watch in the stock market this week

    Dollar Tree, Lululemon, layoffs, and jobs numbers: What to watch in the stock market this week

    It’s a new month, and investors are heading into it amid fresh inflation data and rising pessimism that’s dominating headlines. With the Fed’s next meeting now just weeks away, all eyes will be on Friday’s jobs report, which could shape expectations for rate cuts this summer.

    Read more…

  • Real TikTokers are pretending to be Veo 3 AI creations for fun, attention

    Since Google released its Veo 3 AI model last week, social media users have been having fun with its ability to quickly generate highly realistic eight-second clips complete with sound and lip-synced dialogue. TikTok’s algorithm has been serving me plenty of Veo-generated videos featuring impossible challenges, fake news reports, and even surreal short narrative films, to name just a few popular archetypes.

    However, among all the AI-generated video experiments spreading around, I’ve also noticed a surprising counter-trend on my TikTok feed. Amid all the videos of Veo-generated avatars pretending to be real people, there are now also a bunch of videos of real people pretending to be Veo-generated avatars.

    “This has to be real. There’s no way it’s AI.”

    I stumbled on this trend when the TikTok algorithm fed me this video topped with the extra-large caption “Google VEO 3 THIS IS 100% AI.” As I watched and listened to the purported AI-generated band that appeared to be playing in the crowded corner of someone’s living room, I read the caption containing the supposed prompt that had generated the clip: “a band of brothers with beards playing rock music in 6/8 with an accordion.”

    Read full article

    Comments