TikTok - page 2

Another judge seemingly shoots down Trump’s TikTok ban

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U.S. investigations of TikTok gather steam.
TikTok's not going away just yet.
Photo: Kon Karampelas/Unsplash CC

A second judge in the United States has granted a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration’s attempted ban on TikTok.

Washington-based US District Judge Carl Nichols made the decision late Monday. This followed US judge Wendy Beetlestone in Pennsylvania making a similar ruling in late September. Trump’s ban would have stopped Apple and Google from offering TikTok downloads in their respective app stores.

TikTok pulls in more than $130.5 million in user spending in September

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TikTok 1
TikTok has had something of an unpredictable year so far.
Photo: TikTok

TikTok pulled in more than $130.5 million in worldwide user spending in September, making it the top-grossing non-gaming app in the App Store — despite the various existential threats it faces.

In a new report by app analytics firm Sensor Tower, the company notes that user spending on TikTok in September was 7.9 times greater than this time last year. That $130m sum covers both iOS and Google Play revenue.

Despite attacks, TikTok enjoys another month as world’s top social media app

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U.S. investigations of TikTok gather steam.
TikTok was the top social media app in August.
Photo: Kon Karampelas/Unsplash CC

TikTok may be facing a possible extinction-level event in the U.S., but that’s not stopping its worldwide success as the popular video-sharing app just racked up yet another month as the world’s most downloaded social media app.

According to analytics firm Sensor Tower, TikTok enjoyed 63.4 million installs worldwide in August 2020. That’s up 1.7 percent from August the previous year. TikTok was the no. 1 social media app in the App Store, Google Play store, and — unsurprisingly — both combined.

Judge temporarily blocks Trump administration ban on TikTok

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U.S. investigations of TikTok gather steam.
TikTok's not going anywhere... yet.
Photo: Kon Karampelas/Unsplash CC

The TikTok story has taken another twist as a Washington judge has blocked the Trump administration’s ban on the popular short-form video app. The ban on the Chinese app would have kicked in at 11:59pm on Sunday. TikTok now has a stay of execution until at least November.

US district judge Carl Nichols granted a preliminary injunction to TikTok owners ByteDance. Nichols declined to block additional commerce department restrictions on the app “at this time.”

Trump will let TikTok keep ticking in US

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U.S. investigations of TikTok gather steam.
There are still questions about ownership, though.
Photo: Kon Karampelas/Unsplash CC

President Trump has given his blessing for TikTok to remain in the U.S. after approving a deal involving Walmart and Oracle taking a financial stake in the company.

However, CNBC reports that Trump’s claims that TikTok’s North American operations have “nothing to do with China” are incorrect. In fact, a new report claims that Beijing-based ByteDance retains an 80% stake in the company.

TikTok faces App Store ban in US starting this Sunday

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U.S. investigations of TikTok gather steam.
Unless the Oracle deal is signed-off by President Trump, that is.
Photo: Kon Karampelas/Unsplash CC

Unless a last-minute deal is agreed, President Trump is going to ban ultra-popular Chinese apps TikTok and WeChat from the U.S. starting Sunday, the Department of Commerce announced Friday.

TikTok is consistently the most downloaded non-gaming app in the world. In the U.S., it currently has around 100 million monthly users. WeChat, while nowhere near as big in the U.S., is China’s most important app and widely used by many Chinese-Americans to communicate with friends and family back home.

Oracle reportedly wins bid for TikTok’s U.S. operations

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U.S. investigations of TikTok gather steam.
Oracle will be TikTok's "trusted tech partner."
Photo: Kon Karampelas/Unsplash CC

Oracle looks set to acquire the United States operations of TikTok, according to people familiar with the matter, speaking with the Wall Street Journal.

According to the report, the deal will not be an outright sale. Instead, Oracle will be announced as TikTok’s “trusted tech partner” in the U.S. — hopefully doing enough to satisfy security concerns on the part of the White House. Financial terms have not been revealed.

TikTok continues to rule the App Store despite tough times

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U.S. investigations of TikTok gather steam.
TikTok enjoyed a great month in August. From a downloads perspective, at least.
Photo: Kon Karampelas/Unsplash CC

Despite the challenges it continues to face, TikTok was the most downloaded non-gaming app worldwide on iOS and Google Play in August, a new report by app analytics platform Sensor Tower claims.

In total, TikTok was downloaded upward of 63.3 million times during the month. That is a slight increase of 1.6% from the same month last year. Indonesia and Brazil were the most popular growing markets for the app during the month.

TikTok CEO bails after 3 months in the job

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U.S. investigations of TikTok gather steam.
TikTok has had something of a turbulent year.
Photo: Kon Karampelas/Unsplash CC

TikTok is all about short-form videos, but who knew it was about short-form chief executives as well? That’s one possible takeaway from the news that TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer has resigned after just three months at the helm.

Mayer cites the massive disruption resulting from President Trump’s attack on the platform, and the possibility of a sale to Microsoft or Oracle.

Here’s how Trump could take down TikTok in US

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U.S. investigations of TikTok gather steam.
Scope of POTUS's TikTok ban could be massive.
Photo: Kon Karampelas/Unsplash CC

The plan for implementing President Donald Trump’s executive order targeting TikTok reportedly would take a two-pronged approach that could cripple the wildly popular app in the United States.

The executive order could ban TikTok from Apple’s and Google’s app stores, effectively stopping the video-sharing app’s wildfire growth. (The app has “reportedly been downloaded over 175 million times in the United States and over one billion times globally,” according to Trump’s executive order.) The move also could financially strangle the Chinese-owned app by forbidding U.S. companies from buying advertising on it.

These details emerged in a White House document outlining the plan that was seen by Reuters.

Despite challenges, TikTok remains world’s No. 1 non-gaming app

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TikTok continues to dominate the App Store in 2020.
TikTok continues to dominate the App Store in 2021.
Photo: Kon Karampelas/Unsplash CC

Despite the controversy surrounding it, 15-second video creation and sharing app TikTok remained the world’s most downloaded non-gaming app in July, according to a new report by Sensor Tower.

TikTok ranked as the No. 1 app on both iOS and the Google Play app stores, with more than 65.3 million installs in the month. This represents a 21.4% increase from July last year. In the first quarter of 2020, TikTok registered the best three months of any app ever when it comes to downloads.

Trump’s TikTok standoff could wind up hurting Apple

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U.S. investigations of TikTok gather steam.
Apple relies on both the U.S. and China.
Photo: Kon Karampelas/Unsplash CC

President Donald Trump’s dispute with TikTok and other Chinese tech companies could wind up hurting Apple.

Trump threatened to ban TikTok from the United States if Beijing tech company ByteDance does not sell the app by Sept. 15. (Microsoft is in talks to acquire TikTok. Apple on Tuesday shot down a rumor that it was interested in buying the social media company.)

According to multiple reports, China could respond to the United States’ “bullying” over TikTok by hitting back in its own way. The language in the reports, some of which come from government-backed Chinese newspapers, is vague. However, others suggest Apple could be an obvious target of China’s wrath.

TikTok reigns as world’s most downloaded non-gaming iOS app in June

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TikTok continues to dominate the App Store in 2020.
TikTok continues to dominate the App Store in 2021.
Photo: Kon Karampelas/Unsplash CC

TikTok enjoyed another month at the top of the App Store charts in June, becoming the most downloaded non-gaming iOS app, according to a new report from Sensor Tower.

The leading app analytics firm says the Chinese social video app was installed more than 87 million times last month on iOS and Android. That represents an impressive 52.7% increase from June 2019.

FTC and Justice Department reportedly investigate TikTok

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U.S. investigations of TikTok gather steam.
TikTok's not going away just yet.
Photo: Kon Karampelas/Unsplash CC

Both the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department launched probes into allegations that TikTok breached an agreement regarding child-privacy protections, Reuters reported Wednesday.

News of the investigations follows a story earlier this week claiming the U.S. government might ban TikTok for security reasons.

US government is ‘looking at’ banning TikTok

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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has reservations about TikTok.
Photo: TikTok

The United States is considering banning TikTok and other Chinese social media apps, according to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Speaking with Fox News, Pompeo said “we are certainly looking” at such a ban. When asked if people should download the app, Pompeo said, “Only if you want your private information in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party.”

TikTok clone Zynn is booted out of the App Store

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Zynn app
Zynn grew its user base in part by throwing around money.
Photo: Zynn

A Chinese video sharing app which ripped off was heavily inspired by TikTok in its design has been booted out of the App Store, shortly after it was removed from the Google Play Store due to reports of plagiarism.

Zynn not only closely resembled TikTok in its design, but also in much of its content. A previous report from Wired claimed that many popular TikTok users have had their content (and even knockoff user profiles) shared on the rival app. That didn’t go over well!

TikTok raked in a massive $78 million on mobile in April

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2020 is the year everyone wants to be TikTok famous.
TikTok was the number one app in the App Store in April.
Photo: Aaron Yoo/Flickr CC

TikTok had another massively successful month on mobile in April, a Tuesday report by leading app analytics platform Sensor Tower claims.

According to the report, users spent more than $78 million, across both iOS and Android, on TikTok last month. TikTok ranked number one on the App Store’s list of Top Grossing apps for the month, followed by YouTube, and then Tinder. This list does not include games. TikTok’s user spending is up by 10x compared to April last year.

TikTok just enjoyed the best quarter of any mobile app ever

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TikTok has been downloaded at least 2 billion times.
Photo: TikTok

Social video app TikTok isn’t just a big hit on iOS. According to new data published Wednesday by app analytics platform Sensor Tower, it’s an unprecedented hit — having enjoyed the best quarter of any app ever.

The firm says that TikTok has now been downloaded more than 2 billion times globally across both the App Store and Google Play Store. This comes just five months after it passed the 1.5 billion downloads milestone.

TikTok, Zoom and Disney+ dominate the App Store during first quarter 2020

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Which apps have been ruling the App Store during lockdown?
Photo: Apple

TikTok, Zoom and Disney+ have the slightly dubious-sounding honor of being named the three most popular iOS apps in the United States during the age of coronavirus, a new report from app analytics platform Sensor Tower suggests.

The report, which covers the first three months of 2020, sheds light on the way our app habits are changing during the COVID-19 pandemic. In short? We’re downloading a whole lot more apps than usual. That makes the App Store one of the few businesses that’s actually thriving during an incredibly difficult time.

TikTok commits $375 million to COVID-19 relief

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2020 is the year everyone wants to be TikTok famous.
TikTok has been keeping us entertained while stuck at home.
Photo: Aaron Yoo/Flickr CC

TikTok is chipping into the global fight against COVID-19 with one of the largest financial contributions we’ve seen yet from a major tech company. The video-sharing platform has been one of the biggest bright spots of joy and inspiration during this quarantine age, and now it’s ready to pay it back.

On Thursday, the company revealed it is pledging $375 million in relief that will be distributed in various ways to individuals, hospitals, companies and other organizations.

YouTube wants to take on TikTok with upcoming ‘Shorts’ feature

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2020 is the year everyone wants to be TikTok famous.
Big tech is setting its sights on taking down TikTok.
Photo: Aaron Yoo/Flickr CC

TikTok, the popular video-sharing app that is especially popular among young people, is going to get some fresh competition from Google later this year.

Google is reportedly planning to create its own version of TikTok with a new Youtube feature called “Shorts” that will live inside the platform’s apps on Android and iOS.

Apps designed to make TikTok videos better stormed App Store in 2019

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TikTok 1
It's all about TikTok these days. And the apps that help make it what it is.
Photo: TikTok

TikTok is the hottest app going right now, and plenty of other developers are trying to hitch their wagon to TikTok’s proverbial star by building apps that function as “enhancements” to the mega-popular video editing and sharing app.

According to new data from app analytics platform Sensor Tower, of the 480 million installs generated by 2019’s top 20 new apps, almost 38% were video and photo editors and sticker apps designed to enhance the experience of using TikTok or Instagram. That’s quite the ecosystem!