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The EU has effectively vanquished a TikTok feature that Europe's digital commissioner described as "toxic" and "addictive as cigarettes." Owner ByteDance said on Wednesday that TikTok Lite's reward-to-watch feature would be suspended. It's been a brutal day for TikTok as President Biden signed a bill (also on Wednesday) forcing ByteDance to sell the platform's US operations or face a ban.
TikTok Lite, launched earlier this month in France and Spain, lets users earn rewards by watching and liking videos. They can then exchange their points for real-world perks like Amazon vouchers or in-app ones like TikTok's virtual currency, which is used to tip creators. The EU Commission said the "task and reward" feature can stimulate "addictive behavior" in children.
"Our children are not guinea pigs for social media," EU commissioner Thierry Breton posted on X (Twitter) on Wednesday. "I take note of TikTok's decision to suspend the #TikTokLite ‘Reward Program' in the EU."
However, he added a parting shot to remind ByteDance it isn't out of the woods: "The cases against TikTok on the risk of addictiveness of the platform continue."
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President Biden has signed the bill to force a sale of the video app or ban it. Now the law faces court challenges, a shortage of qualified buyers and Beijing's hostility.
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The Nest Secure home system no longer works after Google's April 2024 update. Here's what's affected and what Google is offering instead.
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If your starter word doesn't feature E or A, rethink your Wordle strategy. Here's the entire alphabet ranked by use.
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The update is optional for now but it should start rolling out to all Windows 11 users next month.
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Chatbots may sound human, but they don't think the way we do.
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The Senate has approved legislation that would effectively ban TikTok. Here's what's next.
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Here are some hints, and the answer, for April 25, Wordle No. 1041.
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 Meta-owned messaging platform WhatsApp today announced that it is rolling out support for passkeys on iOS, a feature that will let WhatsApp users log in to their accounts on iOS devices using Face ID, Touch ID, or their device passcode.
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DigiDNA today announced the launch of iMazing 3, an updated version of its iPhone and iPad management software designed for Macs and Windows machines.
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 Tired of the so-called AI PCs already? Buckle up because we, or perhaps the artificial intelligence, haven't even begun to peak. More power-efficient ARM-based CPUs don't get nearly as much limelight as the x86 type. Still, chipmaker Qualcomm is trying to turn your eyes toward its latest Snapdragon chips by promising…
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Experts say that commercial milk remains safe to consume. But what are health officials doing to protect the milk supply, and what about raw milk?
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Citing increased competition and rising costs as the main reason behind the shutdown, Atlas VPN stated that the "insurmountable challenges" had become too much and it could no longer keep up in a highly competitive market.
The popular freemium VPN service was acquired by Nord Security in 2021 with promises that Atlas VPN would continue to operate independently as a business. That's all changed now though, and the entire user base of around 6 million members will migrate over to the much larger NordVPN after shutdown, continuing an unsettling trend of consolidations in the VPN market as a whole.
The VPN consolidation trend
The global VPN market is valued somewhere in the neighborhood of around $40 billion, so it's no wonder that tech companies are chomping at the bit to control as much of that fortune as they can. What used to be a diverse market made up of small, independent VPN companies has now become a homogenous security consortium.
Security conglomerates with strong financial backing have systematically bought up and folded these smaller VPNs into their own businesses. Atlas VPN is just the latest example.
Market consolidation is not inherently a bad thing, and mergers are common in the fast-moving world of tech. But these umbrella companies often intentionally obscure their own owner
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