TikTok, in response to President Donald Trump’s announcement Friday that the popular video-sharing app will be banned from app stores starting this Sunday, September 20, said it plans to dispute the executive order, calling it “unjust.”
“We will continue to challenge the unjust executive order, which was enacted without due process and threatens to deprive the American people and small businesses across the U.S. of a significant platform for both a voice and livelihoods,” a TikTok spokesperson said in a statement. “We disagree with the decision from the Commerce Department, and are disappointed that it stands to block new app downloads from Sunday and ban use of the TikTok app in the U.S. from November 12.”
TikTok does not directly operate out of China, but is owned by Chinese technology company ByteDance. Trump said Chinese ownership of the app warrants a ban for national security concerns — and that TikTok would need to sell its U.S. operations to an American company to continue operating within the country. According to reports this week, TikTok has reportedly agreed to join forces with software giant Oracle as its “technology partner.”
Over 100 million people in the U.S. have TikTok downloaded on their phones and use it regularly, and the app is increasingly popular with Gen Z, members of which have expressed concern over the president’s decision to restrict the app for what they call political purposes.
A TikTok spokesperson said that the company has “already committed to unprecedented levels of additional transparency and accountability well beyond what other apps are willing to do.”
Experts have told Digital Trends that TikTok does harvest user data, but other U.S.-owned services like Facebook are just as invasive of users’ privacy.
On Friday, Vanessa Pappas, TikTok’s interim global chief, said banning TikTok will pose a new set of concerns for other social media platforms and called on competitors to act. In a tweet, Pappas said: “We invite Facebook and Instagram to publicly join our challenge and support our litigation. This is a moment to put aside our competition and focus on core principles like freedom of expression and due process of law.”
Instagram is testing a new format for long-form videos called Features. It allows select creators to upload horizontal videos running up to 90 minutes long. Instagram has already tested the new format with creators in Brazil, and now, it's expanding to tens of thousands of creators across the US.
How will Instagram's new Features format work?
Instagram is making its way to yet another screen, and this time, Apple TV is getting a taste of the Reels rabbit hole. The company has launched a dedicated Instagram app for Apple TV, bringing Reels, longer videos, and live shows to the big screen. So, if watching one quick clip on a phone somehow turns into an hour of scrolling, there's now a much larger screen for that.
Instagram brings Reels and more to Apple TV
I have lost count of how many times I have gone to bed thinking I will finally sleep on time, only to somehow end up scrolling Instagram or X again. A few minutes turn into an hour, then another, and before I notice, it is 2 or 3 a.m. The next morning, I am usually annoyed with myself because I could have just slept and felt considerably better for the day ahead.
It is also a surprisingly hard habit to beat. Knowing you should put the phone down does not always help once it is already in your hand. Brick Night is a new gadget built around that exact problem. Instead of relying on you to remember to turn on an app blocker, it automatically restricts selected apps and websites when your phone enters your chosen sleep space during the hours you set.