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M&M Breaking News

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  • TikTok is back online but its ultimate fate in America still lies in Trump’s hands TikTok is now accessible again in the United States. Just how long that lasts will likely depend on incoming President Donald Trump. TikTok restored access for American users midday on Sunday after a whirlwind 14 hours during which the app temporarily shut itself down. TikTok credited Trump for bringing the app back, after he pledged to sign an executive order to delay enforcement of the law that had required the app to spin off from its China-based parent company ByteDance or be banned as of Sunday. “I will issue an executive order on Monday to extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect, so that we can make a deal to protect our national security,” Trump said in a Truth Social post Sunday. He added that he would not hold TikTok’s technology partners — including Apple, Google and cloud computing company Oracle — liable for continuing to make the app available until he signed the order. Related article TikTok is back online after Trump pledged to restore it It was that reassurance that he wouldn’t fine its tech partners, TikTok said, that allowed it to bring back US users’ access. “We thank President Trump for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties providing TikTok,” TikTok said in a statement Sunday. “We will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States.” The app’s return was welcomed by many of its 170 million American users. “I was fully crying myself to sleep last night because it was just so sad and I felt like I’d lost a whole community and a job,” influencer Shay Sullivan, who has 1.1 million followers on TikTok, told CNN on Sunday. “Now, I’m just overjoyed. I’m having the best day … it was definitely a roller coaster.” Still, bringing the app back for good may not be straightforward. Ultimately, the law, which passed with bipartisan support and was signed by outgoing President Joe Biden last April, requires TikTok parent company ByteDance to sell the app to a buyer from the United States or one of its allies because of concerns that the app could pose a national security risk. And so far, ByteDance has, at least publicly, resisted the idea of a sale. Trump on Sunday suggested that an American buyer should purchase half of the company and run it as a 50-50 joint venture with its current owners. But it’s unclear if that solution would satisfy those in Congress who passed the law, including members of Trump’s own party concerned about foreign control of a popular platform. Putting the pressure on Trump TikTok didn’t necessarily have to shut itself down. The law requires only that TikTok’s technology partners — including Oracle, which hosts TikTok’s content in the United States, and Apple and Google, which host the app on their app stores — stop supporting the app or face fines of up to $5,000 per person who has access to the platform starting Sunday. The Biden administration suggested last week that it would leave it up to Trump to implement and enforce the law once he took office. Despite that assurance, a person close to TikTok said “multiple critical service partners” indicated to TikTok that they were concerned that the ban might be enforced starting Sunday — so the company decided to go dark. The shutdown appeared aimed at ratcheting up pressure on Trump to act quickly; restoring access to the app could serve as a kind of immediate political victory for the incoming president with America’s youth, although it was Trump who first tried to ban the app during his previous term. TikTok appealed to Trump in its pop-up message on the app starting late Saturday night notifying users that the app was unavailable in the United States. “We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office,” the company posted in its pop-up message. “Please stay tuned!” TikTok CEO Shou Chew — who is expected to be seated prominently at the inauguration Monday — also lauded Trump in a video Friday, saying, “we are grateful and pleased to have the support of a president who truly understands our platform, one who has used TikTok to express his own thoughts and perspectives, connecting with the world and generating more than 60 billion views of his content in the process.” And TikTok thanked Trump when it restored the app, telling users, “As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!” Trump has suggested that he believes TikTok played a role in his election victory by bringing in young voters. A 90-day extension Trump told NBC News on Saturday he would “most likely” delay the ban on TikTok for 90 days shortly after he takes office on Monday, before confirming that plan in his Truth Social post Sunday. With an executive order, Trump could attempt to delay enforcement of the ban to give TikTok parent company ByteDance more time to find a suitable buyer. Still, even that effort could face legal challenges or pushback from Congress. The law gives the president the option to extend the ban deadline only if a deal to sell the platform is in process, and so far, ByteDance has publicly rejected the possibility of a sale. Both ByteDance and Chinese officials have also indicated they would be unwilling to sell TikTok’s US assets with its popular algorithm, the app’s secret sauce that makes it so valuable. Spinning off an American-only version of TikTok could also mean the rest of the world has to download a new app to access US users’ content. Related article Instagram rolls out TikTok-like features amid uncertainty about rival’s future Several prominent Republican lawmakers have indicated they will resist an extension of the law. “Now that the law has taken effect, there’s no legal basis for any kind of ‘extension’ of its effective date,” Senators Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Pete Ricketts of Nebraska said in a joint statement. “For TikTok to come back online in the future, ByteDance must agree to a sale that satisfies the law’s qualified-divestiture requirements by severing all ties between TikTok and Communist China. Only then will Americans be protected from the grave threat posed to their privacy and security by a communist-controlled TikTok.” Cotton also said Sunday that “any company that hosts, distributes, services or other facilitates” was still taking a chance in helping restore TikTok ahead of Trump’s planned executive order. He said they could face “hundreds of billions of dollars of ruinous liability under the law, not just from DOJ, but also under securities law, shareholder lawsuits, and state AGs.” But ByteDance may now reconsider its stance on a sale, having had to shut down the platform, albeit only briefly. At least two potential buyers — a group led by billionaire Frank McCourt and “Shark Tank’s” Kevin O’Leary, as well as AI search engine PerplexityAI — have submitted formal bids for the app, and others have reportedly shown interest in TikTok. McCourt’s buyer group has said it would buy TikTok’s US assets without the algorithm and rebuild the app, but tech giants like Meta and YouTube have for years worked to replicate TikTok’s popular algorithm without quite succeeding. O’Leary told CNN he met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago earlier this month to discuss the outlook for the app. And McCourt told CNN that ByteDance’s bankers have acknowledged receipt of the group’s bid, expected to be valued around $20 billion. Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal also reported last week that China is weighing a sale to Elon Musk. Musk may have the resources to buy the app, and he’s a major Trump supporter and about to take a quasi-role in his government. But it’s unclear that he would want to, and he has not publicly commented on the reports. TikTok called the reports “pure fiction.” If ByteDance chooses to engage, Trump could perhaps argue that significant progress has been made on a deal and he has met the legal threshold needed to pause the ban. But until a sale ultimately goes through, TikTok’s future will remain very much in doubt.
  • TikTok is set to be banned Sunday. Here’s what it means for you Clare Duffy The clock is ticking down on TikTok in America. A law that requires TikTok to find a new, non-Chinese owner or face a ban is scheduled to go into effect Sunday — and there is little indication the company is set to pull off a sale before then. That means 170 million Americans could lose access to a platform they use to find entertainment, news and community, or even run a business, after TikTok became the first new platform in years to pose a real competitive threat to American social media stalwarts like Instagram and YouTube. The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the law, bringing the ban one step closer. But although the ban deadline is now just two days away, there are still many unknowns about what exactly will happen. Will TikTok shut itself off entirely in the United States? That’s not what users or experts had expected, but one report indicated it may do just that. Will the outgoing President Joe Biden administration provide direction? That’s not sounding likely. Will incoming President Trump intervene? If the list of expected attendees at his inauguration is any indication, it’s likely he’ll try. Here’s what we know — and what we don’t — about the ban deadline day. Will my app go away? Experts had expected the app to be removed on Sunday from the Apple and Google app stores — which could face fines under the law for continuing to host TikTok after the deadline. That would mean anyone without the app already on their phones couldn’t download it, but existing users could continue accessing it, without security updates, until it eventually becomes glitchy or stops working. Related article They built careers on TikTok. Now they’re bracing for a possible ban But a Biden administration official told CNN Thursday that the outgoing president plans to leave it to Trump to enforce the ban. “Our position on this has been clear: TikTok should continue to operate under American ownership. Given the timing of when it goes into effect over a holiday weekend a day before inauguration, it will be up to the next administration to implement,” the official said. That could mean that, given Trump takes office the day after the ban takes effect, there would be no one to explicitly instruct app stores to remove the platform on Sunday, potentially leaving them to decide for themselves whether to comply. But even if the app stores left TikTok alone, the company may decide to pull the plug itself. The Information reported Wednesday that TikTok was preparing to shut itself down entirely on Sunday and instead direct users to an informational page about the ban. So, users should mentally and emotionally prepare to potentially lose access to the app starting Sunday, unless they want to download a VPN to get around the ban. Why TikTok has been banned The central allegation against TikTok is that the company poses a potential national security risk. US officials have worried that the Chinese government could pressure TikTok or its parent company, ByteDance, into handing over the personal information of its US users, which could then be used for Chinese intelligence operations or the spreading of Chinese-backed disinformation. There’s no evidence yet that that has actually happened. Still, policymakers and security experts have said China’s national security laws make it a possibility — identifying a kernel of risk that fits into a broader anti-China narrative linked to issues including trade, human rights and authoritarianism. Those concerns were renewed after a report this year suggested US user data had been repeatedly accessed by China-based employees. TikTok has disputed the report. President Joe Biden signed a bill in April that requires the platform to be sold to a new, non-Chinese owner or be banned in the United States. What’s Trump going to do? Although the idea of a TikTok ban was born during Trump’s first presidency, he has since made a 180-degree turn and said he wants to save the app. Related article Biden administration weighed options with impending TikTok ban, but decision will likely fall to Trump The complicating factor: the ban is set to go into effect one day before Trump takes office. Trump had asked the Supreme Court to temporarily pause the ban’s implementation to give him time, as president, to negotiate a sale of TikTok. And sources familiar with his plans told CNN on Wednesday that he was weighing whether to delay the ban and preserve Americans’ access to the platform while he works on a deal. TikTok CEO Shou Chew is set to be seated on the dais, alongside other leading tech CEOs, at Trump’s inauguration — perhaps a sign of just how serious the incoming president is about trying to save the app. And with some in Congress now suggesting that TikTok might need more time to find a buyer, Trump could find support in trying to push off the ban to a later date. The law gives the president the option to extend the ban by 90 days, but triggering the extension requires evidence that parties working on purchasing have made significant progress, including binding legal agreements for such a deal — and TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, hasn’t publicly updated its stance that the app is not for sale. Is a sale still possible? Even if the TikTok ban does go into effect, a sale of the app to a non-Chinese owner could restore access for US users. A group formed by billionaire entrepreneur and former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt and including “Shark Tank”-famous investor Kevin O’Leary made a formal bid to buy TikTok from China-based ByteDance earlier this month. The group wants to buy TikTok’s US assets, albeit without the app’s beloved algorithm — which China has indicated it will not allow to be sold — and rebuild the platform with what they say would be a more transparent feed, and more user control over their data. Chinese officials have also reportedly discussed the possibility of selling TikTok to X owner Elon Musk, whom they might consider the friendliest possible American owner. Musk and ByteDance have not commented on the reports; TikTok called them “pure fiction.” McCourt told CNN on Thursday that while ByteDance’s bankers have confirmed receipt of his group’s offer, he expected the company was “waiting to hear what the Supreme Court does” before seriously engaging in any acquisition conversations. “But they haven’t told us to go fly a kite,” he said, adding that following the court’s ruling, “I hope we can have a robust conversation.” But here’s the thing: Even if TikTok is sold and Americans can keep using it, it will in many ways be a different app. Because China is almost certain to block the sale of the algorithm along with TikTok’s US assets, the app’s “For You” feed will have to be rebuilt by the new owner — which will be no easy task. Many tech giants have already spent years trying to replicate TikTok’s algorithm without quite succeeding. Spinning off an American-only version of TikTok could also mean the rest of the world has to download a new app to access US users’ content. The bottom line is, until Sunday — and probably extending at least into next week — there may be more questions than answers for TikTok users about the app’s future.
  • TikTok will be banned without a savior. Here are the alternative apps users are flocking to Clare Duffy A woman scrolls the Chinese social networking and e-commerce app Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote, in Beijing on January 15. The app has taken off in the United States ahead of the likely ban of TikTok. New York CNN — TikTok is still three days away from a likely ban in the United States, but many users are already bidding the app farewell and seeking out alternatives. Influencer Jasmine Chiswell posted a video Tuesday, showing her frowning over text that reads: “Me saying goodbye to 18 million best friends because TikTok is getting banned,” with sad face and broken heart emojis. The fear of a ban amped up following a report late Tuesday from The Information that TikTok will shut itself down entirely for US users come Sunday, if it doesn’t win its challenge to the Supreme Court or find an American owner by then. Before the report, many people had expected US app stores to remove TikTok but that existing users could continue accessing the app on their phones, at least for a while. Related article TikTok is running out of time and options Still, there is no shortage of TikTok copycat apps eager to welcome those users, now calling themselves “TikTok refugees,” onto their platforms. But the apps surging in popularity this week aren’t the obvious TikTok rivals, like Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, Snapchat Spotlight or X. Instead, a slate of newer apps have surged on app stores this week, including RedNote (also known as Xiaohongshu), Lemon8, Clapper, Flip and Fanbase. The competition to become the new home for TikTok users is a reminder that even after yearslong efforts by mainstream, big tech platforms to replicate the short-form video app’s popular features, users still feel there’s no true TikTok replacement. “A just government for the people, by the people does not force its people to use Instagram Reels,” creator Mike Gottschalk said in a TikTok video. “Instagram is stealing my data in the exact same way TikTok is. We can all pretend that there’s going to be a new app that rides in as a knight in shining armor and replaces TikTok, but I think we all know that it’s just going to be Reels. And that is how empires crumble.” The alternatives Topping the charts on Apple’s and Google’s app stores this week: RedNote, or Xiaohongshu, a China-based app reminiscent of Instagram that’s popular for sharing tips on travel, makeup and fashion. Many of the American users who joined the app this week suggested they were doing so out of spite for the US government, which banned TikTok over national security concerns related to its China-based parent company. Take away their TikTok, they said, and they’d just join another Chinese app. “I surrender all my data to China. Here you go, China, in exchange for keeping my TikTok, you can have all my information,” a TikTok user who goes by @Thiqydusty said in a video. But the influx of new users to RedNote — which was previously confined mainly to the Chinese-speaking world — has also led to some funny moments of cultural exchange in recent days, with users offering up Mandarin lessons, sharing information about Chinese and English internet slang, and calling for the app to implement automatic subtitles in both languages. Lemon8, a Pinterest-like app from TikTok parent company ByteDance, has also gained newfound popularity this week. The company first began pushing the app to American users in early 2023, when TikTok CEO Shou Chew was hauled before Congress to testify about the app’s data protection practices. Related article TikTok needs a US buyer so bad it might seek out Elon Musk But both of those platforms could ultimately be subject to a law that prohibits apps controlled by a US “foreign adversary” — the same law that’s set to ban TikTok. (Some security experts have already raised concerns that RedNote could also pass along US user data to the Chinese government and that many Americans won’t understand what they’re allowing when they agree to the app’s terms of service, which are only available in Mandarin.) “This definition includes TikTok and any other social media and mobile application that is controlled by China or by shareholders connected to China,” said Elettra Bietti, assistant professor of law and computer science at Northeastern University. She added that it would be up to the president to issue a public notice that the platforms were subject to enforcement under the law. “To me, the proliferation of Chinese apps is showing the limits of an app-by-app designation under (the law), and also the US government’s limited ability to control how US citizens use the internet and on which forum they choose to express themselves,” Bietti said. Of course, there are non-Chinese alternatives, too. Clapper, a short-form video platform that has a live audio conversation feature similar to X, told CNN that it gained 1.4 million new users in the past week, including 400,000 on Wednesday alone. And Flip — a shopping-focused short-form video app that’s currently No. 6 on the Apple App Store — posted an apology to users Sunday after unexpectedly rapid growth caused the app to be “either very slow or completely down for most users.” “Audiences that live on TikTok, they’re not going to go to one single destination… I think they’re going to got to many different ones, depending on where their communities are and what type of content (they make),” said Jake Maughan, head of influencer marketing at advertising firm BENlabs. Instagram and YouTube in the backseat? To be sure, mainstream platforms like Instagram and YouTube still almost certainly stand to benefit if TikTok goes away, despite the newfound competition. Big tech companies have in recent years reoriented their businesses to better compete with TikTok, causing a broader shift in the social media ecosystem away from friend-based feeds to prioritizing entertainment and new content that keeps people scrolling longer. But downloads of Snapchat and YouTube fell this week compared to the week prior, according to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower. And while Instagram downloads were up 2% week-on-week, the number of daily active users was essentially the same as the previous week. Many users say those apps are still missing the magic of TikTok. The frustrations range from small annoyances — for example, unlike on TikTok, you can’t pause an Instagram Reels video unless you hold your finger down on the screen — to more esoteric issues, like community. On TikTok, users say they can be more creative and less polished and they’ll be rewarded for that in the comments, whereas Instagram often has more negativity. And because each of the platforms favors slightly different content, success as an influencer on TikTok doesn’t guarantee success on the other apps. Related article They built careers on TikTok. Now they’re bracing for a possible ban Molinaro told CNN that on TikTok, “I get to be a little bit freer, more myself. I get to kind of take the curation away from it, and I just get to talk freely with (my followers) and have fun with them.” “TikTok favors realism. I feel like the other platforms are almost a little bit more vain, whereas TikTok is all about showing up and being your authentic self and a lot of people can resonate with that,” creator Stormi Steele told CNN. Steele worries, too, about losing access to TikTok Shop, the app’s storefront feature that lets creators host live selling events. She said her brand, Canvas Beauty, currently earns $2 million to $3.5 million each month on TikTok. But ultimately, it’s the TikTok algorithm that sets the app apart, feeding users videos based on sometimes scarily-accurate predictions of what they’ll find entertaining, whether they follow those creators or not. Any alternative will have to replicate that algorithm in order to become a real TikTok replacement. “The algorithm that TikTok has created and refined is unmatched. And even YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels and whatnot, those algorithms feel antiquated compared to TikTok,” Maughan said. “TikTok, it was novel. The idea that anybody can go viral, and you can shoot your shot, and you can go from zero to millions (of followers) overnight — you still don’t get that anywhere else.”
  • Meta oversight co-chair says the company looks like it’s ‘buckling to political pressure’ by ending fact-checking program Meta’s decision to end its fact-checking program looks like the company is “caving” to political pressures, said Meta’s oversight board co-chair Michael McConnell. McConnell, who is a law professor at Stanford University, told NPR on Friday that he would have liked to have seen changes made during “less contentious and partisan times so that they would be considered on the merits rather than looking like this is, you know, Donald Trump is president and now they’re caving.” Changes to Meta’s fact-checking program come within two weeks of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration and after CEO Mark Zuckerberg dined at Mar-a-Lago in November. Meta and other tech giants, which have faced fierce criticism from Trump in recent years, have made large donations to Trump’s inaugural fund. Meta did not respond to CNN’s request for comment. “I do think that there’s bad optics here,” said McConnell, who said he was speaking personally and not on behalf of the board. “It certainly looks like this is buckling to political pressure.” Zuckerberg announced on Tuesday that Meta’s partnership with third-party fact-checkers would be replaced with user-generated “community notes” at Facebook, Instagram and Threads, a policy similar to Elon Musk’s X. The company also quietly updated its hateful conduct policy, striking old rules about content that cannot be posted, including referring to “women as household objects or property” or “transgender or non-binary people as ‘it.’” “Fact-checkers have been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they’ve created,” Zuckerberg said in a video announcing the new policy. “What started as a movement to be more inclusive has increasingly been used to shut down opinions and shut out people with different ideas, and it’s gone too far.” Zuckerberg acknowledged that the changes would “reduce the number of innocent people’s posts and accounts that we accidentally take down,” but there would be more harmful content on the platform. McConnell said official revisions to Meta’s hate speech policy “came as a surprise” to board members. Meta first implemented its fact-checking program in 2016 after claims it didn’t stop foreign actors, especially Russia, from using its platforms to spread disinformation. Meta has since faced scrutiny for misinformation about elections, anti-vaccination stories, violence and hate speech. Meta’s newly appointed Chief of Global Affairs Joel Kaplan told Fox News on Tuesday that Meta’s use of third-party fact-checkers was “well-intentioned” but showed too much political bias. Trump later said he watched Kaplan’s appearance and said Meta has “come a long way.” Trump is among the Republicans who have criticized Meta for what they view as censorship of right-wing voices. McConnell said there is “pretty overwhelming evidence” that fact-checkers correct more content from right-wing users, but knowing whether those users spread more misinformation is “a very difficult thing to measure.” He also said there has been “active and vigorous debate” within the Meta oversight board. “The oversight board is a global enterprise, and there’s a huge difference in the way in which Americans think about freedom of speech and other places around the world,” McConnell said. “And that really plays out. It’s also true that the fact-checking program has been much more contentious and controversial in the United States, not so much elsewhere.” McConnell said he doesn’t know what this change means for future elections or foreign government propaganda on the social media platforms. “There is really no magic bullet to this problem,” he said. “But much of this has to do with not whether the information is true or false but where it’s coming from.” CNN’s Clare Duffy contributed to this report.
  • They built careers on TikTok. Now they’re bracing for a possible ban People gather for a press conference about their opposition to a potential TikTok ban on Capitol Hill Joanne Molinaro’s life changed when she found TikTok. She had clawed all the way up to being a partner at a big Chicago law firm after more than a decade of working in corporate litigation. And it nearly crushed her. “I was thinking to myself … lucky me to have this job that pays my bills,” Molinaro said in an interview with CNN’s Terms of Service podcast. “And so what if it’s soul-sucking and it makes me want to curl up at night into fetal position and cry? That’s okay because this is what adults do.” Like many people who were bored at home in the pandemic spring of 2020, Molinaro downloaded TikTok for fun. She mainly watched other people’s videos, although she also posted some cooking videos of her own. But then, one of her videos unexpectedly went viral. Just over a year later, Molinaro withdrew from partnership at her firm to go full-time as a TikTok creator. She’s since built a brand around her profile, @TheKoreanVegan, publishing a cookbook with the same name and racking up more than 3 million followers across TikTok and Instagram. Molinaro is just one of many TikTok influencers who are now bracing for a possible ban of the app in the United States — and the loss of her six-figure income that could come with it. Terms of Service with Clare Duffy - Square A US law that could ban TikTok is set to go into effect on January 19, unless the app is sold or the law is blocked by the Supreme Court. On Friday, the Supreme Court is heard oral arguments on TikTok’s legal challenge to the law, which the company claims violates its First Amendment rights and those of its 170 million American users. The US government has argued that the app poses a risk to national security because its parent company, ByteDance, is based in China. “TikTok collects vast swaths of data about tens of millions of Americans, which the (People’s Republic of China) could use for espionage or blackmail,” the US Justice Department stated in a legal filing to the Supreme Court. “And the PRC could covertly manipulate the platform to advance its geopolitical interests and harm the United States.” The court appeared likely to uphold the law and allow the ban to go into effect, with both liberal and conservative justices directing a series of tough and skeptical questions at lawyers for TikTok and the app’s users. Several key justices, including Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, worried about the potential national security concerns that two presidents have raised about the platform. Historically, the court has deferred to the other branches of government on matters of national security. “Are we supposed to ignore the fact that (TikTok’s) ultimate parent is, in fact, subject to doing intelligence work for the Chinese government?” Roberts said. And during more than two hours of arguments, many of the justices appeared to view the sell-or-ban law not primarily as one with First Amendment implications, but rather an effort to regulate foreign control of popular app. But TikTok lawyer, Noel Francisco, repeatedly argued that the law violates its free speech rights, and that separating TikTok’s US presence from ByteDance is an unreasonable solution. “Any new TikTok would be a fundamentally different platform with different content, which is yet another reason why I think this is a content-based restriction that falls directly on TikTok,” Francisco said. Financial impact of a ban Many TikTok users aren’t concerned by the Chinese government, at least if the revenue they generate is any indication. By TikTok’s own estimate, the 7 million US small businesses that use the app stand to lose $1 billion in revenue, and around 2 million creators would suffer $300 million in lost earnings in just one month, if the app is banned. “A TikTok ban would be absolutely catastrophic for the creators and the small businesses who rely on it,” said Jess Maddox, an assistant professor at the University of Alabama who researches social media and internet culture. “I’ve spent my career talking to creators and influencers, they are resilient, they’ll pivot, but it will be a struggle in the meantime and take a hit to them financially.” TikTok’s popularity skyrocketed in 2020 thanks in large part to its unique algorithm, which prioritizes showing users entertaining content whether or not it’s from an account they follow. It was unlike older mainstay platforms’ feeds, which had largely been based on reinforcing existing social connections. Users flocked to the app, as did creators, who found it far easier to quickly build an audience and discover almost overnight success if they correctly predicted what the algorithm would want. That’s what happened to Eli Rallo, who downloaded the app in 2020 as a senior in college, stuck at home because of Covid-19. (L-R): Joanne Molinaro, Eli Rallo. The two creators are working to grow other income streams ahead of a possible TikTok ban. “I was messing around with my brothers one night… in our kitchen. And I made a video of us filling up a jar of snacks with trail mix and I put music behind it. It was kind of random, very Gen Z humor-esque,” Rallo told CNN. “And the next day it had, like, 200,000 views. I was shocked. And then I just started to make videos from there.” Social media has been Rallo’s full-time job since October 2021; she now has more than 1 million followers across TikTok and Instagram and is in the process of writing her second book. “My career just simply would not be where it is today without TikTok,” she said. Rallo says she now regularly inks five-figure deals with brands to promote their products on TikTok. She’s part of the “creator economy” that Goldman Sachs has estimated could be worth $480 billion by 2027. Related article ‘Shark Tank’s’ Kevin O’Leary and billionaire Frank McCourt want to buy TikTok. One problem: It’s not for sale But she’s worried that could change if the app is banned. “I am very concerned, if I’m being honest, about what would happen because I do think my financial situation would change,” she said. “I’m very lucky that I make money from my books, and I’m very lucky that I make money from brands on Instagram. I think we would see an uptick in deals on Instagram, but the TikTok money is definitely the bulk of my income.” Molinaro said she’s already seeing the financial impact of a potential ban, starting back in April when President Joe Biden signed the sale-or-ban law. In 2024, Molinaro estimates she took in 30% less money from sponsors. “Those brands are not willing to spend dollars right now because they’re terrified. ‘Oh, why would I spend money on a campaign that’s going to just fall flat on its face in a few days?’” she said. “That has directly impacted me, and I’m sure it’s impacted a lot of influencers.” Opportunity on other platforms A TikTok ban could boost competitors like YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. But for people who make earn their income on TikTok, it may be difficult to shift to depending entirely on those other platforms. It can take time to build up a following on other apps large enough to draw big sponsorships, as their TikTok followers may or may not follow them. And other platforms’ algorithms often prioritize different things — maybe longer videos or certain kinds of music — and it can take time for people to adjust their strategies. TikTok supporters hold signs at a news conference expressing concerns about the sale-or-ban legislation, outside of the US Capitol Building on March 12, 2024 in Washington, DC “It’s not the same technology. It’s not the same type of user. It’s not the same culture,” Maddox said. And a ban could have ripple effects beyond individuals on TikTok. Many influencers employ teams to support their careers, such as agents, accountants and lawyers to review brand deals. “Many people think, oh, a TikTok ban is going to mean these glamorous, frivolous influencers are going to have to get real jobs,” Maddox said. “Yes, there’s the top 1% that is making a lot of money and living a very glamorous lifestyle. But the reality is the people who are going to be most hurt by a TikTok ban are those staunchly middle-class Americans who are using this for information, for entertainment, to grow their business, their following, and grow their community.” For now, Rallo and Molinaro say they’re working to diversify their businesses and grow their followings elsewhere, including other social platforms or email newsletters. “Social media, somebody once described it to me, it’s like building real estate on sand. You never know,” Molinaro said
  • Shark Tank’s’ Kevin O’Leary and billionaire Frank McCourt want to buy TikTok. One problem: It’s not for sale Clare Duffy (L-R): Kevin O'Leary, Frank McCourt. The two investors are behind a bid to buy TikTok's US assets from ByteDance ahead of possible US ban. New York CNN — A group formed by billionaire entrepreneur and former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt has made a formal offer to buy TikTok from its China-based parent company, ByteDance. The group, which calls itself The People’s Bid for TikTok and is also backed by “Shark Tank”-famous investor Kevin O’Leary, said Thursday it had delivered a proposal to ByteDance to acquire TikTok’s US assets. It did not disclose the value of the offer. The bid comes just one day before the Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments over whether to uphold a law that would ban TikTok in the United States starting January 19 if it is not sold, following a legal challenge from the social media company. But the proposal could face a major problem: ByteDance has repeatedly said TikTok’s not for sale. Terms of Service with Clare Duffy - Square After President Joe Biden signed the law that could ban the app in April, ByteDance swatted down speculation that it was exploring a sale and said that it had no plans to sell TikTok. In a filing to the Supreme Court — which argues that the law would violate the first amendment rights of the platform and its users — the company said the law “will take effect on January 19, 2025, shutting down TikTok for its more than 170 million monthly American users.” TikTok and ByteDance did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the McCourt group’s bid. TikTok is the first Chinese social media app to become a global success that competes with American tech giants. The People’s Bid is backed by investment firm Guggenheim Securities, as well as technologists and academics, including world wide web inventor Tim Berners-Lee. And McCourt said the group plans to work with President-elect Donald Trump to close the deal. The group’s plan is to buy the US version of TikTok without its famous algorithm and rebuild it on American-designed technology, a likely response to a Chinese export control rule requiring a license to sell sensitive technologies. China’s commerce ministry previously said it would “firmly oppose” a forced sale of TikTok. TikTok's parent company ByteDance has repeatedly said it has no interest in selling the American version of the app. That effort would “minimize interruption for TikTokers and prioritize privacy and trust on the platform,” the group said in a statement. “By keeping the platform alive without relying on the current TikTok algorithm and avoiding a ban, millions of Americans can continue to enjoy the platform,” McCourt, who formed the group through his organization dedicated to improving the internet, Project Liberty, said in a statement Thursday. “We look forward to working with ByteDance, President-elect Trump, and the incoming administration to get this deal done.” But many users and social media experts have questioned whether a sale that excludes the algorithm could be successful, given that the technology that decides what users see on their “For You” feeds is a major reason for the app’s popularity. Other tech giants have struggled to replicate it. “We want to eliminate the misconception that it can’t sell because no one will buy it without the algorithm. NOT true,” O’Leary said in an X post Wednesday, after announcing he was joining the bid to buy the app earlier this week. “We’ll buy it without the algorithm. We don’t need them. We’ll do it ourselves and make TikTok wonderful again.”
  • Microsoft plans to invest $80 billion on AI-enabled data centers in fiscal 2025 Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella speaks during the "Microsoft Build: AI Day" event in Bangkok, Thailand, Microsoft is planning to invest about $80 billion in fiscal 2025 on developing data centers to train artificial intelligence models and deploy AI and cloud-based applications, the company said in a blog post on Friday. Investment in AI has surged since OpenAI launched ChatGPT in 2022, as companies across sectors seek to integrate artificial intelligence into their products and services. video Related video Microsoft president makes big bet on Europe with AI investments AI requires enormous computing power, pushing demand for specialized data centers that enable tech companies to link thousands of chips together in clusters. Microsoft has been investing billions to enhance its AI infrastructure and broaden its data-center network. Analysts expect Microsoft’s fiscal 2025 capital expenditure including capital leases to be $84.24 billion, according to Visible Alpha. The company’s capital expenditure in the first quarter of fiscal 2025 rose 5.3% to $20 billion. As OpenAI’s primary backer, the tech giant is considered a leading contender among Big Tech companies in the AI race due to its exclusive partnership with the AI chatbot maker. More than half of Microsoft’s $80 billion investment will be in the United States, Vice Chair and President Brad Smith said in the blog post. “Today, the United States leads the global AI race thanks to the investment of private capital and innovations by American companies of all sizes, from dynamic start-ups to well-established enterprises,” Smith said.
  • What to expect from stocks in 2025 Stocks had a blockbuster 2023 and 2024. Will 2025 be a three-peat? After two years of substantial gains, Wall Street expects the good times for markets to keep going this year — just not on the massive scale investors have been spoiled with lately. Wall Street forecasts reviewed by CNN show that most strategists expect double-digit percentage growth for the S&P 500 in 2025, though more moderate than in 2024. Analysts expect the S&P 500 to rise 14.8% in 2025, according to FactSet. US stocks surged last year as strong economic growth, cooling inflation, a series of Federal Reserve rate cuts and enthusiasm for President-elect Donald Trump’s election victory boosted investor optimism. Tech and AI stocks were the stars of 2024, and they are largely expected to lead growth again in 2025. Yet Wall Street analysts warn of potential downsides in 2025. Uncertainty around tariff policy proposed by Trump, potentially resurgent inflation and looming geopolitical tensions are among the issues that could hurt the stock market’s growth, according to Bank of America. “I am bullish on stocks for 2025, though with valuations high and the bull market maturing, I don’t think investors should expect quite such spectacular returns next year as we have seen this past year,” Jurrien Timmer, director for global macro at Fidelity Investments said in a December 18 note. Of course, forecasting is a game only for the iron-stomached, and predictions can often miss the mark. In 2024, many analysts raised their price forecasts for the S&P 500 during the year, as the index surged higher than expected. The case for a happy new year The S&P 500 ended 2024 with an annual gain of about 23% after rising by 24% in 2023, marking the first time since 1997 and 1998 that the index has closed with back-to-back gains of above 20%, according to FactSet data. The thriving stock market has not just benefited traders: Gains in the S&P 500 boosts retirement savings and serves as a general signal of economic stability. But Wall Street doubts another year of gains north of 20% is achievable. Forecasts from major banks, including UBS, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America for the S&P 500 in 2025 range from growth of around 10% to 14% — certainly healthy gains by any standard. Among the more bullish analysts, Christopher Harvey, head of equity strategy at Wells Fargo, expects the S&P 500 to reach 7,007 by the end of 2025 — a gain of about 19%. Wall Street expects continued stock market gains because it forecasts strong economic growth, corporate earnings and an incoming business-friendly administration under Trump. Heading into 2025, some analysts see US stocks’ impressive growth as evidence of a new era in tech and AI, with sustainable valuations and strong future earnings growth to support a continued rally. Dan Ives, a tech bull and senior analyst at Wedbush Securities, said in a December 30 note that he expects tech stocks to rise 25% in 2025 due to less regulation under the Trump administration and a continued “Goldilocks foundation” for Big Tech and Tesla. Ives picked Nvidia, Microsoft and Palantir as his top three tech winners for AI in 2025. All were huge gainers last year, too. The bear case for 2025 But the ever-present potential for a volatile policymaking environment during the Trump presidency, the potential for a change in Fed policy and a market that has encountered precious little resistance could pose problems for stocks in 2025. This year, the Fed largely quashed inflation without throwing the economy into a recession. Yet inflation is not entirely tamed. In December, the Fed issued what some economists termed a “hawkish cut,” signaling that after the central bank cut rates it might not do so again for a while. After its final policy meeting of 2024, the Fed revised its outlook for its preferred inflation gauge for 2025, raising it from 2.1% to 2.5%. Concerns about inflation and the Fed sent stocks sinking in early December, and they’ve been struggling to regain their momentum ever since. The Dow on December 18 set its longest losing streak since 1974. Traders expect just an 11% chance of a rate cut in January, according to the CME FedWatch tool. “The Fed’s admitted uncertainty as to monetary policy actions in 2025, combined with the expectation of only two cuts (rather than four) in 2025 amplified investor uncertainty and concern, triggering profit taking this year versus delaying into the new year,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research. As the new year begins, investors will be glued to news about key issues — like potential tariffs — that could make or break markets under the Trump administration. “The most significant wild card on the table for 2025 will be the potential implementation of tariffs,” David Sekera, chief US market strategist at Morningstar said in a December 3 note.
  • ‘Major incident’: China-backed hackers breached US Treasury workstations The exterior of the U.S. Department of Treasury building is seen as they joined other government financial institutions to bail out Silicon Valley Bank's account holders after it collapsed on March 13, 2023 in Washington, DC. The US Treasury Department notified lawmakers on Monday that a China state-sponsored actor infiltrated Treasury workstations in what officials are describing as a “major incident.” In a letter reviewed by CNN, a Treasury official said it was informed by a third-party software service provider on December 8 that a threat actor used a stolen key to remotely access certain Treasury workstations and unclassified documents. “Based on available indicators, the incident has been attributed to a Chinese state-sponsored Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) actor,” Aditi Hardikar, assistant secretary for management at the US Treasury, wrote in the letter. A Treasury spokesperson said in a statement to CNN that the compromised service has been taken offline and officials are working with law enforcement and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). “There is no evidence indicating the threat actor has continued access to Treasury systems or information,” the Treasury spokesperson said. Treasury officials plan to hold a classified briefing about the breach next week with staffers from the House Financial Services Committee, a senior committee staffer told CNN. The exact timing of the briefing has not been scheduled yet. A spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry denied the accusation when asked about the hacking at a regular news briefing on Tuesday. “We have repeatedly stated our position on such groundless accusations lacking evidence. China has always opposed all forms of cyberattacks, and we are even more opposed to spreading false information about China for political purposes,” said Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the foreign ministry. According to the letter to Senate Banking Committee leadership, the third-party software service provider, BeyondTrust, said hackers gained access to a key used by the vendor to secure a cloud-based service that Treasury uses for technical support. “With access to the stolen key, the threat actor was able to override the service’s security, remotely access certain Treasury [Departmental Office] user workstations, and access certain unclassified documents maintained by those users,” the Treasury letter said. BeyondTrust said it identified a security incident that took place on December 2 involving its Remote Support product and notified the “limited number” of customers involved after the company confirmed on December 5 that it had confirmed “anomalous behavior” in the product. It posted information regarding the incident on its website on December 8, and it has been updating its progress in investigating the cause and mitigating future threats. The company said it suspended and quarantined the impacted instances of the product and hired an outside cybersecurity team to investigate. “No other BeyondTrust products were involved,” a Beyond Trust spokesperson said. “Law enforcement was notified and BeyondTrust has been supporting the investigative efforts.” It’s not clear exactly how many workstations were infiltrated. However, the Treasury spokesperson said in the statement that “several” Treasury user workstations were accessed. Hardikar said in the letter that based on Treasury policy, intrusions attributed to advanced persistent threat actors are considered a “major cybersecurity incident.” Treasury officials are required to provide an update in a 30-day supplemental report. It’s not clear if Treasury has fully determined the extent of the damage caused by the breach. Hardikar wrote in the letter that, in an effort to “fully characterize the incident and determine its overall impact,” Treasury has been working with CISA, the FBI, US intelligence agencies and third-party forensic investigators. “CISA was engaged immediately upon Treasury’s knowledge of the attack, and the remaining governing bodies were contacted as soon as the scope of the attack became evident,” the letter said
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  • tiktok-is-back-online-but-its-ultimate-fate-in-america-still-lies-in-trumps-hands-tiktok-is-now-accessible-again-in-the-united-states-just-how-long-that-lasts-will-likely-depend-on-incoming

    TikTok is back online but its ultimate fate in America still lies in Trump’s hands TikTok is now accessible again in the United States. Just how long that lasts will likely depend on incoming President Donald Trump. TikTok restored access for American users midday on Sunday after a whirlwind 14 hours during which the app temporarily shut itself down. TikTok credited Trump for bringing the app back, after he pledged to sign an executive order to delay enforcement of the law that had required the app to spin off from its China-based parent company ByteDance or be banned as of Sunday. “I will issue an executive order on Monday to extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect, so that we can make a deal to protect our national security,” Trump said in a Truth Social post Sunday. He added that he would not hold TikTok’s technology partners — including Apple, Google and cloud computing company Oracle — liable for continuing to make the app available until he signed the order. Related article TikTok is back online after Trump pledged to restore it It was that reassurance that he wouldn’t fine its tech partners, TikTok said, that allowed it to bring back US users’ access. “We thank President Trump for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties providing TikTok,” TikTok said in a statement Sunday. “We will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States.” The app’s return was welcomed by many of its 170 million American users. “I was fully crying myself to sleep last night because it was just so sad and I felt like I’d lost a whole community and a job,” influencer Shay Sullivan, who has 1.1 million followers on TikTok, told CNN on Sunday. “Now, I’m just overjoyed. I’m having the best day … it was definitely a roller coaster.” Still, bringing the app back for good may not be straightforward. Ultimately, the law, which passed with bipartisan support and was signed by outgoing President Joe Biden last April, requires TikTok parent company ByteDance to sell the app to a buyer from the United States or one of its allies because of concerns that the app could pose a national security risk. And so far, ByteDance has, at least publicly, resisted the idea of a sale. Trump on Sunday suggested that an American buyer should purchase half of the company and run it as a 50-50 joint venture with its current owners. But it’s unclear if that solution would satisfy those in Congress who passed the law, including members of Trump’s own party concerned about foreign control of a popular platform. Putting the pressure on Trump TikTok didn’t necessarily have to shut itself down. The law requires only that TikTok’s technology partners — including Oracle, which hosts TikTok’s content in the United States, and Apple and Google, which host the app on their app stores — stop supporting the app or face fines of up to $5,000 per person who has access to the platform starting Sunday. The Biden administration suggested last week that it would leave it up to Trump to implement and enforce the law once he took office. Despite that assurance, a person close to TikTok said “multiple critical service partners” indicated to TikTok that they were concerned that the ban might be enforced starting Sunday — so the company decided to go dark. The shutdown appeared aimed at ratcheting up pressure on Trump to act quickly; restoring access to the app could serve as a kind of immediate political victory for the incoming president with America’s youth, although it was Trump who first tried to ban the app during his previous term. TikTok appealed to Trump in its pop-up message on the app starting late Saturday night notifying users that the app was unavailable in the United States. “We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office,” the company posted in its pop-up message. “Please stay tuned!” TikTok CEO Shou Chew — who is expected to be seated prominently at the inauguration Monday — also lauded Trump in a video Friday, saying, “we are grateful and pleased to have the support of a president who truly understands our platform, one who has used TikTok to express his own thoughts and perspectives, connecting with the world and generating more than 60 billion views of his content in the process.” And TikTok thanked Trump when it restored the app, telling users, “As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!” Trump has suggested that he believes TikTok played a role in his election victory by bringing in young voters. A 90-day extension Trump told NBC News on Saturday he would “most likely” delay the ban on TikTok for 90 days shortly after he takes office on Monday, before confirming that plan in his Truth Social post Sunday. With an executive order, Trump could attempt to delay enforcement of the ban to give TikTok parent company ByteDance more time to find a suitable buyer. Still, even that effort could face legal challenges or pushback from Congress. The law gives the president the option to extend the ban deadline only if a deal to sell the platform is in process, and so far, ByteDance has publicly rejected the possibility of a sale. Both ByteDance and Chinese officials have also indicated they would be unwilling to sell TikTok’s US assets with its popular algorithm, the app’s secret sauce that makes it so valuable. Spinning off an American-only version of TikTok could also mean the rest of the world has to download a new app to access US users’ content. Related article Instagram rolls out TikTok-like features amid uncertainty about rival’s future Several prominent Republican lawmakers have indicated they will resist an extension of the law. “Now that the law has taken effect, there’s no legal basis for any kind of ‘extension’ of its effective date,” Senators Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Pete Ricketts of Nebraska said in a joint statement. “For TikTok to come back online in the future, ByteDance must agree to a sale that satisfies the law’s qualified-divestiture requirements by severing all ties between TikTok and Communist China. Only then will Americans be protected from the grave threat posed to their privacy and security by a communist-controlled TikTok.” Cotton also said Sunday that “any company that hosts, distributes, services or other facilitates” was still taking a chance in helping restore TikTok ahead of Trump’s planned executive order. He said they could face “hundreds of billions of dollars of ruinous liability under the law, not just from DOJ, but also under securities law, shareholder lawsuits, and state AGs.” But ByteDance may now reconsider its stance on a sale, having had to shut down the platform, albeit only briefly. At least two potential buyers — a group led by billionaire Frank McCourt and “Shark Tank’s” Kevin O’Leary, as well as AI search engine PerplexityAI — have submitted formal bids for the app, and others have reportedly shown interest in TikTok. McCourt’s buyer group has said it would buy TikTok’s US assets without the algorithm and rebuild the app, but tech giants like Meta and YouTube have for years worked to replicate TikTok’s popular algorithm without quite succeeding. O’Leary told CNN he met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago earlier this month to discuss the outlook for the app. And McCourt told CNN that ByteDance’s bankers have acknowledged receipt of the group’s bid, expected to be valued around $20 billion. Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal also reported last week that China is weighing a sale to Elon Musk. Musk may have the resources to buy the app, and he’s a major Trump supporter and about to take a quasi-role in his government. But it’s unclear that he would want to, and he has not publicly commented on the reports. TikTok called the reports “pure fiction.” If ByteDance chooses to engage, Trump could perhaps argue that significant progress has been made on a deal and he has met the legal threshold needed to pause the ban. But until a sale ultimately goes through, TikTok’s future will remain very much in doubt.

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    TikTok is set to be banned Sunday. Here’s what it means for you Clare Duffy The clock is ticking down on TikTok in America. A law that requires TikTok to find a new, non-Chinese owner or face a ban is scheduled to go into effect Sunday — and there is little indication the company is set to pull off a sale before then. That means 170 million Americans could lose access to a platform they use to find entertainment, news and community, or even run a business, after TikTok became the first new platform in years to pose a real competitive threat to American social media stalwarts like Instagram and YouTube. The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the law, bringing the ban one step closer. But although the ban deadline is now just two days away, there are still many unknowns about what exactly will happen. Will TikTok shut itself off entirely in the United States? That’s not what users or experts had expected, but one report indicated it may do just that. Will the outgoing President Joe Biden administration provide direction? That’s not sounding likely. Will incoming President Trump intervene? If the list of expected attendees at his inauguration is any indication, it’s likely he’ll try. Here’s what we know — and what we don’t — about the ban deadline day. Will my app go away? Experts had expected the app to be removed on Sunday from the Apple and Google app stores — which could face fines under the law for continuing to host TikTok after the deadline. That would mean anyone without the app already on their phones couldn’t download it, but existing users could continue accessing it, without security updates, until it eventually becomes glitchy or stops working. Related article They built careers on TikTok. Now they’re bracing for a possible ban But a Biden administration official told CNN Thursday that the outgoing president plans to leave it to Trump to enforce the ban. “Our position on this has been clear: TikTok should continue to operate under American ownership. Given the timing of when it goes into effect over a holiday weekend a day before inauguration, it will be up to the next administration to implement,” the official said. That could mean that, given Trump takes office the day after the ban takes effect, there would be no one to explicitly instruct app stores to remove the platform on Sunday, potentially leaving them to decide for themselves whether to comply. But even if the app stores left TikTok alone, the company may decide to pull the plug itself. The Information reported Wednesday that TikTok was preparing to shut itself down entirely on Sunday and instead direct users to an informational page about the ban. So, users should mentally and emotionally prepare to potentially lose access to the app starting Sunday, unless they want to download a VPN to get around the ban. Why TikTok has been banned The central allegation against TikTok is that the company poses a potential national security risk. US officials have worried that the Chinese government could pressure TikTok or its parent company, ByteDance, into handing over the personal information of its US users, which could then be used for Chinese intelligence operations or the spreading of Chinese-backed disinformation. There’s no evidence yet that that has actually happened. Still, policymakers and security experts have said China’s national security laws make it a possibility — identifying a kernel of risk that fits into a broader anti-China narrative linked to issues including trade, human rights and authoritarianism. Those concerns were renewed after a report this year suggested US user data had been repeatedly accessed by China-based employees. TikTok has disputed the report. President Joe Biden signed a bill in April that requires the platform to be sold to a new, non-Chinese owner or be banned in the United States. What’s Trump going to do? Although the idea of a TikTok ban was born during Trump’s first presidency, he has since made a 180-degree turn and said he wants to save the app. Related article Biden administration weighed options with impending TikTok ban, but decision will likely fall to Trump The complicating factor: the ban is set to go into effect one day before Trump takes office. Trump had asked the Supreme Court to temporarily pause the ban’s implementation to give him time, as president, to negotiate a sale of TikTok. And sources familiar with his plans told CNN on Wednesday that he was weighing whether to delay the ban and preserve Americans’ access to the platform while he works on a deal. TikTok CEO Shou Chew is set to be seated on the dais, alongside other leading tech CEOs, at Trump’s inauguration — perhaps a sign of just how serious the incoming president is about trying to save the app. And with some in Congress now suggesting that TikTok might need more time to find a buyer, Trump could find support in trying to push off the ban to a later date. The law gives the president the option to extend the ban by 90 days, but triggering the extension requires evidence that parties working on purchasing have made significant progress, including binding legal agreements for such a deal — and TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, hasn’t publicly updated its stance that the app is not for sale. Is a sale still possible? Even if the TikTok ban does go into effect, a sale of the app to a non-Chinese owner could restore access for US users. A group formed by billionaire entrepreneur and former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt and including “Shark Tank”-famous investor Kevin O’Leary made a formal bid to buy TikTok from China-based ByteDance earlier this month. The group wants to buy TikTok’s US assets, albeit without the app’s beloved algorithm — which China has indicated it will not allow to be sold — and rebuild the platform with what they say would be a more transparent feed, and more user control over their data. Chinese officials have also reportedly discussed the possibility of selling TikTok to X owner Elon Musk, whom they might consider the friendliest possible American owner. Musk and ByteDance have not commented on the reports; TikTok called them “pure fiction.” McCourt told CNN on Thursday that while ByteDance’s bankers have confirmed receipt of his group’s offer, he expected the company was “waiting to hear what the Supreme Court does” before seriously engaging in any acquisition conversations. “But they haven’t told us to go fly a kite,” he said, adding that following the court’s ruling, “I hope we can have a robust conversation.” But here’s the thing: Even if TikTok is sold and Americans can keep using it, it will in many ways be a different app. Because China is almost certain to block the sale of the algorithm along with TikTok’s US assets, the app’s “For You” feed will have to be rebuilt by the new owner — which will be no easy task. Many tech giants have already spent years trying to replicate TikTok’s algorithm without quite succeeding. Spinning off an American-only version of TikTok could also mean the rest of the world has to download a new app to access US users’ content. The bottom line is, until Sunday — and probably extending at least into next week — there may be more questions than answers for TikTok users about the app’s future.

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    TikTok will be banned without a savior. Here are the alternative apps users are flocking to Clare Duffy A woman scrolls the Chinese social networking and e-commerce app Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote, in Beijing on January 15. The app has taken off in the United States ahead of the likely ban of TikTok. New York CNN — TikTok is still three days away from a likely ban in the United States, but many users are already bidding the app farewell and seeking out alternatives. Influencer Jasmine Chiswell posted a video Tuesday, showing her frowning over text that reads: “Me saying goodbye to 18 million best friends because TikTok is getting banned,” with sad face and broken heart emojis. The fear of a ban amped up following a report late Tuesday from The Information that TikTok will shut itself down entirely for US users come Sunday, if it doesn’t win its challenge to the Supreme Court or find an American owner by then. Before the report, many people had expected US app stores to remove TikTok but that existing users could continue accessing the app on their phones, at least for a while. Related article TikTok is running out of time and options Still, there is no shortage of TikTok copycat apps eager to welcome those users, now calling themselves “TikTok refugees,” onto their platforms. But the apps surging in popularity this week aren’t the obvious TikTok rivals, like Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, Snapchat Spotlight or X. Instead, a slate of newer apps have surged on app stores this week, including RedNote (also known as Xiaohongshu), Lemon8, Clapper, Flip and Fanbase. The competition to become the new home for TikTok users is a reminder that even after yearslong efforts by mainstream, big tech platforms to replicate the short-form video app’s popular features, users still feel there’s no true TikTok replacement. “A just government for the people, by the people does not force its people to use Instagram Reels,” creator Mike Gottschalk said in a TikTok video. “Instagram is stealing my data in the exact same way TikTok is. We can all pretend that there’s going to be a new app that rides in as a knight in shining armor and replaces TikTok, but I think we all know that it’s just going to be Reels. And that is how empires crumble.” The alternatives Topping the charts on Apple’s and Google’s app stores this week: RedNote, or Xiaohongshu, a China-based app reminiscent of Instagram that’s popular for sharing tips on travel, makeup and fashion. Many of the American users who joined the app this week suggested they were doing so out of spite for the US government, which banned TikTok over national security concerns related to its China-based parent company. Take away their TikTok, they said, and they’d just join another Chinese app. “I surrender all my data to China. Here you go, China, in exchange for keeping my TikTok, you can have all my information,” a TikTok user who goes by @Thiqydusty said in a video. But the influx of new users to RedNote — which was previously confined mainly to the Chinese-speaking world — has also led to some funny moments of cultural exchange in recent days, with users offering up Mandarin lessons, sharing information about Chinese and English internet slang, and calling for the app to implement automatic subtitles in both languages. Lemon8, a Pinterest-like app from TikTok parent company ByteDance, has also gained newfound popularity this week. The company first began pushing the app to American users in early 2023, when TikTok CEO Shou Chew was hauled before Congress to testify about the app’s data protection practices. Related article TikTok needs a US buyer so bad it might seek out Elon Musk But both of those platforms could ultimately be subject to a law that prohibits apps controlled by a US “foreign adversary” — the same law that’s set to ban TikTok. (Some security experts have already raised concerns that RedNote could also pass along US user data to the Chinese government and that many Americans won’t understand what they’re allowing when they agree to the app’s terms of service, which are only available in Mandarin.) “This definition includes TikTok and any other social media and mobile application that is controlled by China or by shareholders connected to China,” said Elettra Bietti, assistant professor of law and computer science at Northeastern University. She added that it would be up to the president to issue a public notice that the platforms were subject to enforcement under the law. “To me, the proliferation of Chinese apps is showing the limits of an app-by-app designation under (the law), and also the US government’s limited ability to control how US citizens use the internet and on which forum they choose to express themselves,” Bietti said. Of course, there are non-Chinese alternatives, too. Clapper, a short-form video platform that has a live audio conversation feature similar to X, told CNN that it gained 1.4 million new users in the past week, including 400,000 on Wednesday alone. And Flip — a shopping-focused short-form video app that’s currently No. 6 on the Apple App Store — posted an apology to users Sunday after unexpectedly rapid growth caused the app to be “either very slow or completely down for most users.” “Audiences that live on TikTok, they’re not going to go to one single destination… I think they’re going to got to many different ones, depending on where their communities are and what type of content (they make),” said Jake Maughan, head of influencer marketing at advertising firm BENlabs. Instagram and YouTube in the backseat? To be sure, mainstream platforms like Instagram and YouTube still almost certainly stand to benefit if TikTok goes away, despite the newfound competition. Big tech companies have in recent years reoriented their businesses to better compete with TikTok, causing a broader shift in the social media ecosystem away from friend-based feeds to prioritizing entertainment and new content that keeps people scrolling longer. But downloads of Snapchat and YouTube fell this week compared to the week prior, according to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower. And while Instagram downloads were up 2% week-on-week, the number of daily active users was essentially the same as the previous week. Many users say those apps are still missing the magic of TikTok. The frustrations range from small annoyances — for example, unlike on TikTok, you can’t pause an Instagram Reels video unless you hold your finger down on the screen — to more esoteric issues, like community. On TikTok, users say they can be more creative and less polished and they’ll be rewarded for that in the comments, whereas Instagram often has more negativity. And because each of the platforms favors slightly different content, success as an influencer on TikTok doesn’t guarantee success on the other apps. Related article They built careers on TikTok. Now they’re bracing for a possible ban Molinaro told CNN that on TikTok, “I get to be a little bit freer, more myself. I get to kind of take the curation away from it, and I just get to talk freely with (my followers) and have fun with them.” “TikTok favors realism. I feel like the other platforms are almost a little bit more vain, whereas TikTok is all about showing up and being your authentic self and a lot of people can resonate with that,” creator Stormi Steele told CNN. Steele worries, too, about losing access to TikTok Shop, the app’s storefront feature that lets creators host live selling events. She said her brand, Canvas Beauty, currently earns $2 million to $3.5 million each month on TikTok. But ultimately, it’s the TikTok algorithm that sets the app apart, feeding users videos based on sometimes scarily-accurate predictions of what they’ll find entertaining, whether they follow those creators or not. Any alternative will have to replicate that algorithm in order to become a real TikTok replacement. “The algorithm that TikTok has created and refined is unmatched. And even YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels and whatnot, those algorithms feel antiquated compared to TikTok,” Maughan said. “TikTok, it was novel. The idea that anybody can go viral, and you can shoot your shot, and you can go from zero to millions (of followers) overnight — you still don’t get that anywhere else.”

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    Meta oversight co-chair says the company looks like it’s ‘buckling to political pressure’ by ending fact-checking program Meta’s decision to end its fact-checking program looks like the company is “caving” to political pressures, said Meta’s oversight board co-chair Michael McConnell. McConnell, who is a law professor at Stanford University, told NPR on Friday that he would have liked to have seen changes made during “less contentious and partisan times so that they would be considered on the merits rather than looking like this is, you know, Donald Trump is president and now they’re caving.” Changes to Meta’s fact-checking program come within two weeks of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration and after CEO Mark Zuckerberg dined at Mar-a-Lago in November. Meta and other tech giants, which have faced fierce criticism from Trump in recent years, have made large donations to Trump’s inaugural fund. Meta did not respond to CNN’s request for comment. “I do think that there’s bad optics here,” said McConnell, who said he was speaking personally and not on behalf of the board. “It certainly looks like this is buckling to political pressure.” Zuckerberg announced on Tuesday that Meta’s partnership with third-party fact-checkers would be replaced with user-generated “community notes” at Facebook, Instagram and Threads, a policy similar to Elon Musk’s X. The company also quietly updated its hateful conduct policy, striking old rules about content that cannot be posted, including referring to “women as household objects or property” or “transgender or non-binary people as ‘it.’” “Fact-checkers have been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they’ve created,” Zuckerberg said in a video announcing the new policy. “What started as a movement to be more inclusive has increasingly been used to shut down opinions and shut out people with different ideas, and it’s gone too far.” Zuckerberg acknowledged that the changes would “reduce the number of innocent people’s posts and accounts that we accidentally take down,” but there would be more harmful content on the platform. McConnell said official revisions to Meta’s hate speech policy “came as a surprise” to board members. Meta first implemented its fact-checking program in 2016 after claims it didn’t stop foreign actors, especially Russia, from using its platforms to spread disinformation. Meta has since faced scrutiny for misinformation about elections, anti-vaccination stories, violence and hate speech. Meta’s newly appointed Chief of Global Affairs Joel Kaplan told Fox News on Tuesday that Meta’s use of third-party fact-checkers was “well-intentioned” but showed too much political bias. Trump later said he watched Kaplan’s appearance and said Meta has “come a long way.” Trump is among the Republicans who have criticized Meta for what they view as censorship of right-wing voices. McConnell said there is “pretty overwhelming evidence” that fact-checkers correct more content from right-wing users, but knowing whether those users spread more misinformation is “a very difficult thing to measure.” He also said there has been “active and vigorous debate” within the Meta oversight board. “The oversight board is a global enterprise, and there’s a huge difference in the way in which Americans think about freedom of speech and other places around the world,” McConnell said. “And that really plays out. It’s also true that the fact-checking program has been much more contentious and controversial in the United States, not so much elsewhere.” McConnell said he doesn’t know what this change means for future elections or foreign government propaganda on the social media platforms. “There is really no magic bullet to this problem,” he said. “But much of this has to do with not whether the information is true or false but where it’s coming from.” CNN’s Clare Duffy contributed to this report.

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    They built careers on TikTok. Now they’re bracing for a possible ban People gather for a press conference about their opposition to a potential TikTok ban on Capitol Hill Joanne Molinaro’s life changed when she found TikTok. She had clawed all the way up to being a partner at a big Chicago law firm after more than a decade of working in corporate litigation. And it nearly crushed her. “I was thinking to myself … lucky me to have this job that pays my bills,” Molinaro said in an interview with CNN’s Terms of Service podcast. “And so what if it’s soul-sucking and it makes me want to curl up at night into fetal position and cry? That’s okay because this is what adults do.” Like many people who were bored at home in the pandemic spring of 2020, Molinaro downloaded TikTok for fun. She mainly watched other people’s videos, although she also posted some cooking videos of her own. But then, one of her videos unexpectedly went viral. Just over a year later, Molinaro withdrew from partnership at her firm to go full-time as a TikTok creator. She’s since built a brand around her profile, @TheKoreanVegan, publishing a cookbook with the same name and racking up more than 3 million followers across TikTok and Instagram. Molinaro is just one of many TikTok influencers who are now bracing for a possible ban of the app in the United States — and the loss of her six-figure income that could come with it. Terms of Service with Clare Duffy - Square A US law that could ban TikTok is set to go into effect on January 19, unless the app is sold or the law is blocked by the Supreme Court. On Friday, the Supreme Court is heard oral arguments on TikTok’s legal challenge to the law, which the company claims violates its First Amendment rights and those of its 170 million American users. The US government has argued that the app poses a risk to national security because its parent company, ByteDance, is based in China. “TikTok collects vast swaths of data about tens of millions of Americans, which the (People’s Republic of China) could use for espionage or blackmail,” the US Justice Department stated in a legal filing to the Supreme Court. “And the PRC could covertly manipulate the platform to advance its geopolitical interests and harm the United States.” The court appeared likely to uphold the law and allow the ban to go into effect, with both liberal and conservative justices directing a series of tough and skeptical questions at lawyers for TikTok and the app’s users. Several key justices, including Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, worried about the potential national security concerns that two presidents have raised about the platform. Historically, the court has deferred to the other branches of government on matters of national security. “Are we supposed to ignore the fact that (TikTok’s) ultimate parent is, in fact, subject to doing intelligence work for the Chinese government?” Roberts said. And during more than two hours of arguments, many of the justices appeared to view the sell-or-ban law not primarily as one with First Amendment implications, but rather an effort to regulate foreign control of popular app. But TikTok lawyer, Noel Francisco, repeatedly argued that the law violates its free speech rights, and that separating TikTok’s US presence from ByteDance is an unreasonable solution. “Any new TikTok would be a fundamentally different platform with different content, which is yet another reason why I think this is a content-based restriction that falls directly on TikTok,” Francisco said. Financial impact of a ban Many TikTok users aren’t concerned by the Chinese government, at least if the revenue they generate is any indication. By TikTok’s own estimate, the 7 million US small businesses that use the app stand to lose $1 billion in revenue, and around 2 million creators would suffer $300 million in lost earnings in just one month, if the app is banned. “A TikTok ban would be absolutely catastrophic for the creators and the small businesses who rely on it,” said Jess Maddox, an assistant professor at the University of Alabama who researches social media and internet culture. “I’ve spent my career talking to creators and influencers, they are resilient, they’ll pivot, but it will be a struggle in the meantime and take a hit to them financially.” TikTok’s popularity skyrocketed in 2020 thanks in large part to its unique algorithm, which prioritizes showing users entertaining content whether or not it’s from an account they follow. It was unlike older mainstay platforms’ feeds, which had largely been based on reinforcing existing social connections. Users flocked to the app, as did creators, who found it far easier to quickly build an audience and discover almost overnight success if they correctly predicted what the algorithm would want. That’s what happened to Eli Rallo, who downloaded the app in 2020 as a senior in college, stuck at home because of Covid-19. (L-R): Joanne Molinaro, Eli Rallo. The two creators are working to grow other income streams ahead of a possible TikTok ban. “I was messing around with my brothers one night… in our kitchen. And I made a video of us filling up a jar of snacks with trail mix and I put music behind it. It was kind of random, very Gen Z humor-esque,” Rallo told CNN. “And the next day it had, like, 200,000 views. I was shocked. And then I just started to make videos from there.” Social media has been Rallo’s full-time job since October 2021; she now has more than 1 million followers across TikTok and Instagram and is in the process of writing her second book. “My career just simply would not be where it is today without TikTok,” she said. Rallo says she now regularly inks five-figure deals with brands to promote their products on TikTok. She’s part of the “creator economy” that Goldman Sachs has estimated could be worth $480 billion by 2027. Related article ‘Shark Tank’s’ Kevin O’Leary and billionaire Frank McCourt want to buy TikTok. One problem: It’s not for sale But she’s worried that could change if the app is banned. “I am very concerned, if I’m being honest, about what would happen because I do think my financial situation would change,” she said. “I’m very lucky that I make money from my books, and I’m very lucky that I make money from brands on Instagram. I think we would see an uptick in deals on Instagram, but the TikTok money is definitely the bulk of my income.” Molinaro said she’s already seeing the financial impact of a potential ban, starting back in April when President Joe Biden signed the sale-or-ban law. In 2024, Molinaro estimates she took in 30% less money from sponsors. “Those brands are not willing to spend dollars right now because they’re terrified. ‘Oh, why would I spend money on a campaign that’s going to just fall flat on its face in a few days?’” she said. “That has directly impacted me, and I’m sure it’s impacted a lot of influencers.” Opportunity on other platforms A TikTok ban could boost competitors like YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. But for people who make earn their income on TikTok, it may be difficult to shift to depending entirely on those other platforms. It can take time to build up a following on other apps large enough to draw big sponsorships, as their TikTok followers may or may not follow them. And other platforms’ algorithms often prioritize different things — maybe longer videos or certain kinds of music — and it can take time for people to adjust their strategies. TikTok supporters hold signs at a news conference expressing concerns about the sale-or-ban legislation, outside of the US Capitol Building on March 12, 2024 in Washington, DC “It’s not the same technology. It’s not the same type of user. It’s not the same culture,” Maddox said. And a ban could have ripple effects beyond individuals on TikTok. Many influencers employ teams to support their careers, such as agents, accountants and lawyers to review brand deals. “Many people think, oh, a TikTok ban is going to mean these glamorous, frivolous influencers are going to have to get real jobs,” Maddox said. “Yes, there’s the top 1% that is making a lot of money and living a very glamorous lifestyle. But the reality is the people who are going to be most hurt by a TikTok ban are those staunchly middle-class Americans who are using this for information, for entertainment, to grow their business, their following, and grow their community.” For now, Rallo and Molinaro say they’re working to diversify their businesses and grow their followings elsewhere, including other social platforms or email newsletters. “Social media, somebody once described it to me, it’s like building real estate on sand. You never know,” Molinaro said

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  • shark-tanks-kevin-oleary-and-billionaire-frank-mccourt-want-to-buy-tiktok-one-problem-its-not-for-sale-clare-duffy-l-r-kevin-oleary-frank-mccourt-the-two-i

    Shark Tank’s’ Kevin O’Leary and billionaire Frank McCourt want to buy TikTok. One problem: It’s not for sale Clare Duffy (L-R): Kevin O'Leary, Frank McCourt. The two investors are behind a bid to buy TikTok's US assets from ByteDance ahead of possible US ban. New York CNN — A group formed by billionaire entrepreneur and former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt has made a formal offer to buy TikTok from its China-based parent company, ByteDance. The group, which calls itself The People’s Bid for TikTok and is also backed by “Shark Tank”-famous investor Kevin O’Leary, said Thursday it had delivered a proposal to ByteDance to acquire TikTok’s US assets. It did not disclose the value of the offer. The bid comes just one day before the Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments over whether to uphold a law that would ban TikTok in the United States starting January 19 if it is not sold, following a legal challenge from the social media company. But the proposal could face a major problem: ByteDance has repeatedly said TikTok’s not for sale. Terms of Service with Clare Duffy - Square After President Joe Biden signed the law that could ban the app in April, ByteDance swatted down speculation that it was exploring a sale and said that it had no plans to sell TikTok. In a filing to the Supreme Court — which argues that the law would violate the first amendment rights of the platform and its users — the company said the law “will take effect on January 19, 2025, shutting down TikTok for its more than 170 million monthly American users.” TikTok and ByteDance did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the McCourt group’s bid. TikTok is the first Chinese social media app to become a global success that competes with American tech giants. The People’s Bid is backed by investment firm Guggenheim Securities, as well as technologists and academics, including world wide web inventor Tim Berners-Lee. And McCourt said the group plans to work with President-elect Donald Trump to close the deal. The group’s plan is to buy the US version of TikTok without its famous algorithm and rebuild it on American-designed technology, a likely response to a Chinese export control rule requiring a license to sell sensitive technologies. China’s commerce ministry previously said it would “firmly oppose” a forced sale of TikTok. TikTok's parent company ByteDance has repeatedly said it has no interest in selling the American version of the app. That effort would “minimize interruption for TikTokers and prioritize privacy and trust on the platform,” the group said in a statement. “By keeping the platform alive without relying on the current TikTok algorithm and avoiding a ban, millions of Americans can continue to enjoy the platform,” McCourt, who formed the group through his organization dedicated to improving the internet, Project Liberty, said in a statement Thursday. “We look forward to working with ByteDance, President-elect Trump, and the incoming administration to get this deal done.” But many users and social media experts have questioned whether a sale that excludes the algorithm could be successful, given that the technology that decides what users see on their “For You” feeds is a major reason for the app’s popularity. Other tech giants have struggled to replicate it. “We want to eliminate the misconception that it can’t sell because no one will buy it without the algorithm. NOT true,” O’Leary said in an X post Wednesday, after announcing he was joining the bid to buy the app earlier this week. “We’ll buy it without the algorithm. We don’t need them. We’ll do it ourselves and make TikTok wonderful again.”

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    Microsoft plans to invest $80 billion on AI-enabled data centers in fiscal 2025 Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella speaks during the "Microsoft Build: AI Day" event in Bangkok, Thailand, Microsoft is planning to invest about $80 billion in fiscal 2025 on developing data centers to train artificial intelligence models and deploy AI and cloud-based applications, the company said in a blog post on Friday. Investment in AI has surged since OpenAI launched ChatGPT in 2022, as companies across sectors seek to integrate artificial intelligence into their products and services. video Related video Microsoft president makes big bet on Europe with AI investments AI requires enormous computing power, pushing demand for specialized data centers that enable tech companies to link thousands of chips together in clusters. Microsoft has been investing billions to enhance its AI infrastructure and broaden its data-center network. Analysts expect Microsoft’s fiscal 2025 capital expenditure including capital leases to be $84.24 billion, according to Visible Alpha. The company’s capital expenditure in the first quarter of fiscal 2025 rose 5.3% to $20 billion. As OpenAI’s primary backer, the tech giant is considered a leading contender among Big Tech companies in the AI race due to its exclusive partnership with the AI chatbot maker. More than half of Microsoft’s $80 billion investment will be in the United States, Vice Chair and President Brad Smith said in the blog post. “Today, the United States leads the global AI race thanks to the investment of private capital and innovations by American companies of all sizes, from dynamic start-ups to well-established enterprises,” Smith said.

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    What to expect from stocks in 2025 Stocks had a blockbuster 2023 and 2024. Will 2025 be a three-peat? After two years of substantial gains, Wall Street expects the good times for markets to keep going this year — just not on the massive scale investors have been spoiled with lately. Wall Street forecasts reviewed by CNN show that most strategists expect double-digit percentage growth for the S&P 500 in 2025, though more moderate than in 2024. Analysts expect the S&P 500 to rise 14.8% in 2025, according to FactSet. US stocks surged last year as strong economic growth, cooling inflation, a series of Federal Reserve rate cuts and enthusiasm for President-elect Donald Trump’s election victory boosted investor optimism. Tech and AI stocks were the stars of 2024, and they are largely expected to lead growth again in 2025. Yet Wall Street analysts warn of potential downsides in 2025. Uncertainty around tariff policy proposed by Trump, potentially resurgent inflation and looming geopolitical tensions are among the issues that could hurt the stock market’s growth, according to Bank of America. “I am bullish on stocks for 2025, though with valuations high and the bull market maturing, I don’t think investors should expect quite such spectacular returns next year as we have seen this past year,” Jurrien Timmer, director for global macro at Fidelity Investments said in a December 18 note. Of course, forecasting is a game only for the iron-stomached, and predictions can often miss the mark. In 2024, many analysts raised their price forecasts for the S&P 500 during the year, as the index surged higher than expected. The case for a happy new year The S&P 500 ended 2024 with an annual gain of about 23% after rising by 24% in 2023, marking the first time since 1997 and 1998 that the index has closed with back-to-back gains of above 20%, according to FactSet data. The thriving stock market has not just benefited traders: Gains in the S&P 500 boosts retirement savings and serves as a general signal of economic stability. But Wall Street doubts another year of gains north of 20% is achievable. Forecasts from major banks, including UBS, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America for the S&P 500 in 2025 range from growth of around 10% to 14% — certainly healthy gains by any standard. Among the more bullish analysts, Christopher Harvey, head of equity strategy at Wells Fargo, expects the S&P 500 to reach 7,007 by the end of 2025 — a gain of about 19%. Wall Street expects continued stock market gains because it forecasts strong economic growth, corporate earnings and an incoming business-friendly administration under Trump. Heading into 2025, some analysts see US stocks’ impressive growth as evidence of a new era in tech and AI, with sustainable valuations and strong future earnings growth to support a continued rally. Dan Ives, a tech bull and senior analyst at Wedbush Securities, said in a December 30 note that he expects tech stocks to rise 25% in 2025 due to less regulation under the Trump administration and a continued “Goldilocks foundation” for Big Tech and Tesla. Ives picked Nvidia, Microsoft and Palantir as his top three tech winners for AI in 2025. All were huge gainers last year, too. The bear case for 2025 But the ever-present potential for a volatile policymaking environment during the Trump presidency, the potential for a change in Fed policy and a market that has encountered precious little resistance could pose problems for stocks in 2025. This year, the Fed largely quashed inflation without throwing the economy into a recession. Yet inflation is not entirely tamed. In December, the Fed issued what some economists termed a “hawkish cut,” signaling that after the central bank cut rates it might not do so again for a while. After its final policy meeting of 2024, the Fed revised its outlook for its preferred inflation gauge for 2025, raising it from 2.1% to 2.5%. Concerns about inflation and the Fed sent stocks sinking in early December, and they’ve been struggling to regain their momentum ever since. The Dow on December 18 set its longest losing streak since 1974. Traders expect just an 11% chance of a rate cut in January, according to the CME FedWatch tool. “The Fed’s admitted uncertainty as to monetary policy actions in 2025, combined with the expectation of only two cuts (rather than four) in 2025 amplified investor uncertainty and concern, triggering profit taking this year versus delaying into the new year,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research. As the new year begins, investors will be glued to news about key issues — like potential tariffs — that could make or break markets under the Trump administration. “The most significant wild card on the table for 2025 will be the potential implementation of tariffs,” David Sekera, chief US market strategist at Morningstar said in a December 3 note.

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    ‘Major incident’: China-backed hackers breached US Treasury workstations The exterior of the U.S. Department of Treasury building is seen as they joined other government financial institutions to bail out Silicon Valley Bank's account holders after it collapsed on March 13, 2023 in Washington, DC. The US Treasury Department notified lawmakers on Monday that a China state-sponsored actor infiltrated Treasury workstations in what officials are describing as a “major incident.” In a letter reviewed by CNN, a Treasury official said it was informed by a third-party software service provider on December 8 that a threat actor used a stolen key to remotely access certain Treasury workstations and unclassified documents. “Based on available indicators, the incident has been attributed to a Chinese state-sponsored Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) actor,” Aditi Hardikar, assistant secretary for management at the US Treasury, wrote in the letter. A Treasury spokesperson said in a statement to CNN that the compromised service has been taken offline and officials are working with law enforcement and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). “There is no evidence indicating the threat actor has continued access to Treasury systems or information,” the Treasury spokesperson said. Treasury officials plan to hold a classified briefing about the breach next week with staffers from the House Financial Services Committee, a senior committee staffer told CNN. The exact timing of the briefing has not been scheduled yet. A spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry denied the accusation when asked about the hacking at a regular news briefing on Tuesday. “We have repeatedly stated our position on such groundless accusations lacking evidence. China has always opposed all forms of cyberattacks, and we are even more opposed to spreading false information about China for political purposes,” said Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the foreign ministry. According to the letter to Senate Banking Committee leadership, the third-party software service provider, BeyondTrust, said hackers gained access to a key used by the vendor to secure a cloud-based service that Treasury uses for technical support. “With access to the stolen key, the threat actor was able to override the service’s security, remotely access certain Treasury [Departmental Office] user workstations, and access certain unclassified documents maintained by those users,” the Treasury letter said. BeyondTrust said it identified a security incident that took place on December 2 involving its Remote Support product and notified the “limited number” of customers involved after the company confirmed on December 5 that it had confirmed “anomalous behavior” in the product. It posted information regarding the incident on its website on December 8, and it has been updating its progress in investigating the cause and mitigating future threats. The company said it suspended and quarantined the impacted instances of the product and hired an outside cybersecurity team to investigate. “No other BeyondTrust products were involved,” a Beyond Trust spokesperson said. “Law enforcement was notified and BeyondTrust has been supporting the investigative efforts.” It’s not clear exactly how many workstations were infiltrated. However, the Treasury spokesperson said in the statement that “several” Treasury user workstations were accessed. Hardikar said in the letter that based on Treasury policy, intrusions attributed to advanced persistent threat actors are considered a “major cybersecurity incident.” Treasury officials are required to provide an update in a 30-day supplemental report. It’s not clear if Treasury has fully determined the extent of the damage caused by the breach. Hardikar wrote in the letter that, in an effort to “fully characterize the incident and determine its overall impact,” Treasury has been working with CISA, the FBI, US intelligence agencies and third-party forensic investigators. “CISA was engaged immediately upon Treasury’s knowledge of the attack, and the remaining governing bodies were contacted as soon as the scope of the attack became evident,” the letter said

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    AI bigwigs want to go all-in on nuclear. They also happen to be behind nuclear companies OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Microsoft founder Bill Gates now chair nuclear energy startups. Many tech leaders say nuclear will be necessary to power their AI ambitions. Sam Altman is the chairman of a company that promises a brighter future for humankind. No, it’s not OpenAI, the artificial intelligence company he co-founded and now runs as CEO. It’s a company called Oklo, and it’s developing the kind of nuclear power technology that many tech leaders — including Altman himself — say they will need to fuel future artificial intelligence advancements. The proliferation of electricity-hungry data centers to power our digital lives – and increasingly, the AI technology that tech giants say is the future – now means that energy demand could soon outstrip supply. And that would be a problem for tech companies who are angling for their AI technology to revolutionize almost everything about the way we live and work. But while tech leaders have pointed to nuclear energy as essential to a climate friendly future, some industry experts wonder how much their investments will truly benefit the wider public, rather than just protecting their own businesses’ ability to operate. “I think the tech companies are looking out for their own interests, and whether those nuclear vendors are able to sell additional nuclear power plants for the public is another question,” said Sharon Squassoni, a research professor at George Washington University who’s studied nuclear energy and policy. Related article Silicon Valley has a plan to save humanity: Just flip on the nuclear reactors It’s clear that more energy will need to come from somewhere. Electricity demand from US data centers has grown 50% since 2020 and now accounts for 4% of the country’s energy consumption; that figure could grow to 9% by 2030, UBS analysts said in a research note earlier this month. And overall power demand in the United States is expected to grow 13% to 15% a year until 2030, potentially turning electricity “into a much scarcer resource,” according to JPMorgan analysts. The electricity needs of data centers have also threatened to upend tech giants’ sustainability promises. Tech giants have pointed to the benefit of nuclear energy’s reliability versus other renewable energy sources, such as solar or wind. Microsoft in September secured a deal to reopen a reactor on Three Mile Island, the site of a 1979 partial meltdown in Pennsylvania, aiming to revive a different reactor by 2028 to power its AI ambitions. Amazon and Meta have also begun working to lock in deals to secure future nuclear power for their data centers. “Data centers operate 24/7 and they need a stable supply of electricity. They can’t shut down because the wind is not blowing or the sun is down,” said Anna Erickson, a professor at Georgia Tech who studies nuclear engineering. Oklo isn’t Altman’s only nuclear energy investment. The OpenAI CEO has also invested in Helion Energy, a nuclear startup that’s using a different kind of technology from Oklo. Facebook co-founder and now Asana CEO Dustin Moskovitz, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel’s venture capital firm, Mithril, have also invested in Helion Energy. And Altman isn’t the only tech leader trying to cash in on the push toward nuclear. Separately, TerraPower, which is backed and chaired by Microsoft founder Bill Gates, is in the early phases of building a new nuclear reactor in Wyoming. Google joined a $250 million funding round for nuclear startup TAE Technologies in 2022, and Amazon anchored a $500 million financing round for nuclear startup X-energy in October. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has also invested in Canadian nuclear startup General Fusion. As of August, Peter Thiel’s venture capital firm, Mithril, owned 5.3% of Oklo’s shares, and the billionaire tech investor has reportedly backed other nuclear startups. Tech investor Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest also invested in Oklo earlier this year. (President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for energy secretary, Chris Wright, chief executive of the fracking company Liberty Energy, also serves on Oklo’s board.) The push for nuclear Already, lawmakers are lining up to support expanding nuclear power. President Joe Biden in July signed into law the Advance Act, a bill designed to make it easier, cheaper and faster to permit and build new nuclear reactors that received bipartisan support. And during this year’s COP28 climate talks, the United States joined more than 20 other countries in pledging to triple global nuclear energy capacity by 2050. Related article The US is on the cusp of a nuclear renaissance. One problem: Americans are terrified of the waste

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    FTX executives shave serious time off their sentences Ryan Salame and Caroline Ellison, FTX executives convicted for their roles in the notorious crypto fraud led by their former boss Sam Bankman-Fried, have both shaved time off their lengthy prison sentences. Salame, a former top executive of FTX, the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency trading platform, pleaded guilty to criminal fraud charges in September 2023, and was sentenced in May to 7 1/2 years in federal prison. He began his sentence in October. But the Federal Bureau of Prisons currently lists his release date as March 1, 2031, more than a year earlier than his initial release date in April 2032. Business Insider first reported Salame’s new release date. Ellison, Bankman-Fried’s former girlfriend and the former CEO of FTX’s hedge fund arm, Alameda Research, was sentenced to 2 years in prison after she pleaded guilty to seven federal counts of fraud and conspiracy and was a key witness against Bankman-Fried. Her current release date is listed as July 20, 2026, three months earlier than her initial release date. Bankman-Fried, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison, does not have a release date listed on the prisons website. The Bureau of Prisons didn’t immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment. However, in several past statements about early release dates, the bureau has told CNN that it does not comment on the conditions of any individual inmate, but inmates can earn good conduct time that is calculated into their projected release date. Qualified inmates are currently eligible for up to 54 days of GCT time for each year of the sentence imposed by the court. Inmates have other ways of earning time credits while incarcerated, including participation in various prison programs. FTX was a high-profile crypto startup that allowed people to buy and sell digital assets. It had its name emblazoned on an arena in Miami and on every Major League Baseball umpire’s jersey. The exchange had several celebrity endorsers and was widely believed to be a gold-standard for safety and security. But FTX collapsed in November 2022 when customers pulled their funds as rumors spread about FTX’s unusually close ties to its founder’s crypto hedge fund, Alameda Research.

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    Iran lifts ban on WhatsApp and Google Play, state media says Iranian authorities have lifted a ban on the popular messaging platform WhatsApp, according to Iranian state media. Iranian authorities have lifted a ban on Meta’s (META.O) instant messaging platform WhatsApp and Google Play (GOOGL.O) as a first step to scale back internet restrictions, Iranian state media reported on Tuesday. The Islamic Republic has some of the strictest controls on Internet access in the world, but its blocks on US-based social media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are routinely bypassed by tech-savvy Iranians using virtual private networks. “A positive majority vote has been reached to lift limitations on access to some popular foreign platforms such as WhatsApp and Google Play”, Iran’s official IRNA news agency said on Tuesday, referring to a meeting on the matter headed by President Masoud Pezeshkian. “Today the first step in removing internet limitations… has been taken,” IRNA cited Iran’s Minister of Information and Communications Technology Sattar Hashemi as saying. Social media platforms were widely used in anti-government protests in Iran. In September the United States called on Big Tech to help evade online censorship in countries that heavily sensor the internet, including Iran.

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    Mega Millions jackpot soars to an estimated $944 million for Christmas Eve drawing This Christmas Eve, one lucky lottery ticket could celebrate with a Mega Millions jackpot nearing $1 billion – the largest prize ever offered in the month of December. With no one winning the jackpot Friday, the grand prize for Tuesday’s drawing ballooned from $862 million to $944 million, according to the lottery. A jackpot winner in Tuesday’s drawing could choose to receive the money in annuitized payments or take a lump sum estimated at $429.4 million. Friday’s winning numbers were: 2, 20, 51, 56, 67 and Mega Ball 19. Although no tickets matched all six numbers in Friday night’s drawing, five tickets still won $1 million each by matching the first five numbers. Those tickets were sold in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana and Pennsylvania, according to the Mega Millions website. The holiday drawing is part of what the Mega Millions organization is calling the “most unusual jackpot year.” Since Mega Millions began in 2002, there has never been a single year where all jackpots won ranked among the top 10 largest prizes awarded at the time. In March, a New Jersey Mega Millions ticket holder won a whopping $1.13 billion prize. In June, an anonymous player in Illinois took home $552 million after punching in the winning numbers in an online lottery purchase. And in September, a Houston-area resident claimed an $800 million Mega Millions jackpot prize a month after purchasing the winning ticket at a gas station convenience store in Sugar Land. Historically, December has been a pretty lucky month for Mega Millions players, with 13 jackpots won during the holiday season. But the jackpot has only been won once on Christmas Eve, according to Mega Millions. Overall, the chances of winning a Mega Millions jackpot are approximately 1 in 302.5 million. “We tend to see sales go up during the holidays,” Joshua Johnston, the lead director of the Mega Millions Consortium, told CNN, adding that the bump in ticket sales happens as people are out and about shopping. “There’s just really not a product on the market for two bucks that will give you an opportunity throughout the course of a few days to just kind of imagine and dream what it would be like to win that sum of money,” he said. “And that’s just so much fun to think about, especially around the holidays, when there’s already a sense of magic in the air.”

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    Key takeaways from the Fed’s third rate cut Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at a news conference on November 7 in Washington, DC. The Federal Reserve on Wednesday cut interest rates by a quarter point, the third rate cut since it began to lower borrowing costs in September. The central bank’s latest move leaves its benchmark lending rate at a range of 4.25%-4.5%, a two-year low. The decision to cut was not unanimous, is an attempt to ease pressure on America’s economy from elevated interest rates to preserve the labor market’s health. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the latest rate cut was “a closer call,” adding that recent inflation readings were “the single biggest factor” on officials’ minds during the meeting. Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack was the lone dissenter on Wednesday’s decision, preferring to keep rates at their current levels. The Fed signaled in its policy statement that it is leaning toward holding rates steady in the future, since inflation remains stubbornly above the central bank’s 2% target. The US economy has also proved remarkably resilient in the face of elevated borrowing costs, giving the Fed some reassurance that it can stand pat without risking any undue economic damage. Fed officials penciled in just two rate cuts for next year, according to their latest forecasts, down from the four they projected in September. Officials also project slightly stronger economic growth, slightly lower unemployment, and for inflation in 2025 to be higher than they previously thought. The projections overall suggest Fed officials expect the US economy next year to be buoyant, with no recession in sight. They expect inflation to reach their target over a longer period than they previously estimated, not touching 2% until 2027. Related article Dow plunges more than 1,100 points and marked its longest losing streak since 1974 Powell sang the US economy’s praises in his post-meeting news conference, saying its strength has been “the story” of the year. Powell affirmed the likelihood of fewer rate cuts next year that the projections showed. That sent markets into a tailspin, with the Dow dropping by more than 1,000 points. Some investors are bullish on the prospects of strong growth next year, which could come about from the policies of President-elect Donald Trump. The incoming administration promises extending the 2017 tax cuts and cutting down on regulations — policies poised to boost growth if they’re enacted. However, Trump’s threat of massive tariffs on goods coming from Mexico, Canada and China could derail the Goldilocks economy the Fed has seen so far, since the stiff tariffs Trump has floated are widely expected to stoke inflation.

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