TikTok has announced that the company is testing a new feature that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to generate image descriptions, in an effort to make the platform more accessible for users with visual impairments. 

Meta executives, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram head Adam Mosseri, openly acknowledged TikTok's dominance over Facebook and Instagram in key areas of social media engagement, during discussions dated February 2022, filed as part of the US Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) antitrust lawsuit against Meta, according to a recent report by TechCrunch.

US President Donald Trump has revealed that his administration is in discussions with four groups regarding the sale of Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok, as per a recent report by Reuters.

TikTok has laid off at least a dozen employees from its trust and safety team in Singapore as part of a global restructuring effort aimed at aligning its operations with long-term growth plans, according to a report by The Straits Times.

Elon Musk has dismissed speculation that he plans to buy TikTok, the popular short-video app facing a potential US ban over security concerns. His comments come as US lawmakers push for action against TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, over alleged security risks.

An effort to reach beyond the mainstream media

TikTok is facing down a US law that ordered the company to divest from its Chinese owner ByteDance or be banned in the United States

Oracle and Microsoft are in talks to take over TikTok’s global operations, according to a report from National Public Radio (NPR), a US-based broadcasting platform. The plan would reduce Chinese ownership of the app and address security concerns tied to its parent company, ByteDance, states the report.

Instagram has announced a new video editing app called Edits, aimed at creators who produce videos on their phones. The app, unveiled by Instagram head Adam Mosseri in a video on Instagram, is positioned as a competitor to CapCut, the video editor app owned by TikTok's parent company ByteDance.

Trump promised to issue an executive order delaying the ban to allow time to "make a deal."

Coco Gauff wrote "RIP TikTok USA" and drew a broken heart on a camera lens shortly after reaching the Australian Open quarter-finals on Sunday after the popular app used by 170 million Americans stopped working in the United States.

Perplexity AI, a US-based search engine company, has submitted a bid to merge with TikTok US, as per a recent report by Reuters. The proposal, submitted to TikTok’s parent company ByteDance on Saturday, was first reported by CNBC and confirmed by a source familiar with the discussions.

TikTok suspends app within United States

Only months after overwhelmingly backing the law, lawmakers and officials were now fretting about the ban, with all eyes on whether Trump can swoop in and find a way to save the app.

The US Supreme Court on Friday upheld a law supported by President Joe Biden and Congress that requires the app's owner ByteDance to either sell TikTok or cease US operations by January 19.

Noyb, an Austrian privacy advocacy group, filed a series of complaints against TikTok, Xiaomi, AliExpress, Temu, Shein, and WeChat, alleging violations of European Union data privacy regulations.

The report estimated the value of TikTok's US operations at between $40 and $50 billion.

A Moscow court has fined TikTok three million roubles (around $28,930) for failing to comply with Russian legal restrictions on the distribution of specific types of information, according to a recent report by Reuters.

Trump was fiercely opposed to TikTok during his 2017-21 first term, and tried in vain to ban the video app on national security grounds.

Albania announced a one-year nationwide ban on TikTok, the popular short-video app owned by China's ByteDance, on December 21, citing concerns over the app's influence on children following the fatal stabbing of a teenager last month.