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Law

A TikTok ‘ban’ is more plausible than ever

Amid years of concerns about the uber popular social media app, US lawmakers made their biggest push yet to force its Chinese owners to sell. The House passed a bill on Saturday that requires a forced sale of TikTok within a year, or it will be banned in the US. Senate approval came shortly after, and the bill was signed into law Wednesday by President Biden.

Why get rid of TikTok?

The short answer is lawmakers in both parties see the app as a threat to national security.

• TikTok is owned by the Chinese tech giant ByteDance, and officials are concerned that the data of TikTok’s 170 million US users could end up in the hands of the Chinese government.

  • Chinese law requires the country’s companies to share information with with the government.

• TikTok’s algorithm is also an issue. Critics are worried that China can use it to promote its interests and influence American public opinion.

TikTok continues to say that it has no plans on giving US data to the Chinese government if asked and that it has never done so before. TikTok and other critics of the bill (turned law) say that a ban “would trample the free speech rights” of users.

The company won’t give up so easily: TikTok is ready to sue to keep its US users, per Bloomberg. Michael Beckerman, TikTok’s head of public policy for the Americas, sent a memo to staff saying, “At the stage that the bill is signed, we will move to the courts for a legal challenge.”

• In the memo, Beckerman suggested that TikTok could argue that the bill is a “clear violation” of TikTok users’ First Amendment rights.

The app’s case might have some legal foundation already: Montana tried to ban TikTok last year, but a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction saying it likely violated the First Amendment.

The TikTok ‘ban’ wasn’t all that was passed

Part of the reason the bill was passed with bipartisan support is because of the other stipulations that reside in the massive proposal:

• It is attached to a $95 billion foreign aid package that will send funds to Ukraine, Taiwan, Israel, and Gaza, which is the main reason it was passed by the Senate.

• A previous iteration required ByteDance to find a buyer within six months. This version extends the deadline to nine months, with room for making it a full year if a sale appears close.

A sale won’t be very easy, though: TikTok is one of the most popular social media platforms on the planet, and will likely be worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

The American tech companies that have those kinds of funds (Meta, Alphabet, etc.) would probably be prevented from buying the platform due to antitrust concerns; meaning the company that buys it could reduce competition by owning too much of the market.

In addition, TikTok is China’s most successful app internationally, and it wont want to hand it over so easily. The country has alluded that it’s not going to allow a sale by ByteDance, adding even more speculation to where TikTok may end up in the coming year.

The DOJ is suing a huge entertainment company

Speaking of antitrust concerns, the Department of Justice has something to say. As soon as next month, the Department of Justice (DOJ) is planning to sue the entertainment company Live Nation, saying it abused its power to lessen competition over ticket prices.

The details of the soon-to-come antitrust lawsuit are still foggy, but, according to Bloomberg, it will probably deal with Live Nation allegedly grouping its promotion services to the ticketing services of Ticketmaster.

A problematic merger

In 2010, Live Nation merged with Ticketmaster and complied with the DOJ’s rules (at the time) that focused on protecting competition, essentially ensuring Live Nation wouldn’t force venues to use Ticketmaster to get promotion.

However, in 2019, regulators found Live Nation was doing just that, thus violating its deal with the Justice Department. This forced the DOJ to revise its deal with the company, adding an anti-retaliation clause to the arrangement.

• Despite this, Ticketmaster now controls over 80% of the primary ticket sales market.

Dan Wall, the head of corporate affairs at Live Nation, defended the company last month. Wall claimed the entertainment giant isn’t a monopoly and they do not set ticket prices, rather, the artists do.

Live Nation is in hot water: The antitrust lawsuit could potentially put the agreement Live Nation reached with the DOJ in 2010 up in flames, and pay a $1 million penalty for each instance the department finds of it coercing venues.

Entertainment

Is AI the next frontier of the music industry?

A new type of music has made its way to the forefront of people’s playlists, and artists are not happy. A new AI music generator, Udio, was released earlier this month, only weeks after another AI music generator, Suno, went viral.

AI music has big investors

Udio secured over $10 million in funding from big investors like will.i.am, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Common, and Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger. The company has garnered a great deal of attention, and its users say its song quality is better than anything else on the market.

I did my own test… and fed Suno and Udio the same prompt to make a rap about how NextGen News (your favorite media outlet) is better than mainstream media. IMO: Suno did quite a bit better, but feel free to judge for yourself.

However, not everyone is hyped

While generating your own AI music with the click of a button might be pretty cool, it has some copyright concerns.

Udio’s release came days after around 200 artists, including Jon Bon Jovi, Billie Eilish, and Nicki Minaj, signed an open letter asking developers to stop making the music generating AI, arguing it devalues the “rights of human artists.”

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Grab Bag

High speed trains are finally coming to the US

Californians that regularly travel to Vegas to gamble (among other things) will be elated. On Monday, construction started on a high-speed rail line connecting the LA area and Vegas. The $12 billion project will be completed under Brightline West, whose sister company already built a bullet train between Miami and Orlando, is hoping to have its first passengers aboard in time for the LA Olympics in 2028.

Just how fast is it?

Dubbed “America’s first true high-speed passenger rail system,” Brightline West says its all-electric speed train can:

• Travel between LA and Vegas in a little over 2 hours, cutting the typical (4-hour-minimum) drive in half.

• Carry at least 11 million passengers per year, with 25 trains each way daily.

This thing is fast: Reaching 186 mph, the new locomotives will be the fastest in the country. Brightline West’s new speedsters will outperform the Amtrak Acela (the current fastest train in the US), which can reach just over 150 mph on parts of the Northeast Corridor between Boston and DC.

It’s been a long time coming

The US only offers a few hundred miles of tracks that allow for speeds above 100 mph, and compared to other countries, we’re severely lacking.

Take, China, for instance:

• The country has 26,000 miles of high-speed rail that have been built in the last 16 years.

• As of two years ago, a 1,050-mile train ride from Beijing to Harbin averaged 211 mph.

• And China isn’t alone. Japan, France, and other European countries have considerable high-speed rail networks that span between their borders.

  • However, it is easier for smaller countries like the ones listed above (besides China) to build high-speed infrastructure throughout their country.

However, Brightline West is among other high-speed trains on their way to the US. There are more than a few high-speed rail projects in development across the country, including a proposed Houston-Dallas link. Hope yet remains for a traffic-less commute.

Meet the luxury airline made just for dogs

If you want to pamper your pooch (ew), you might want to take a look at this airline tailored specifically for them. The company who brought you BarkBox now has your pup’s flight covered. Bark Air will be offering flights (via private jet) that cater to dogs, beginning on May 23.

• It costs $6,000 for the transcontinental flight and $8,000 to bring your pup across the Atlantic

Why does a dog get a better seat than me?

If you’re asking that question you might need to get your money up.

While you’re stuffed in between two loud chewers in economy class, at least you can have peace of mind knowing dogs are flying in private jets. Some of the on-flight amenities are:

• A treat menu with “Doggie Champagne,” or as peasant dogs call it, chicken broth.

• A bigger cabin so your four legged friends can stretch their legs.

  • Only 10 human passengers can ride on a jet that holds as many as 14.

• A puppy play area that looks like a dog park is also in development.

• Removable carpet tiles incase a passenger has an accident on the flight (we’re talking about the dogs, not you).

Will people really spend their money on this? You should probably know better than to ask that question, but past attempts have been lackluster at best. A pup airline called Pet Airways tried something similar in 2007 but was unfortunately taken out back to the shed.

BarkAir CEO, Matt Meeker, says prices may lower if they get enough dogs to take the trip, and the numbers are in his favor… over 65 million US households own pets, up from 38 million when Bark launched the treat subscription service BarkBox over a decade ago, according to Bloomberg.

Fast Facts

Cat Cinema: Why cats are getting casted in Hollywood more frequently.

Presidential Plunge: The number of US voters who say they are “highly interested” in the upcoming presidential election hit a 20-year low at this point in the election calendar.

Murder Mobile: The white Ford Bronco O.J. Simpson used in the infamous 1994 police chase is being sold for $1.5 million. 

Brave Bees: Scientists accidentally flooded an enclosure of hibernating queen bumblebees and they survived being underwater. After replicating the mishap, they found the hibernating queen bees to have roughly the same survival rate as those that hibernate normally. 

Apple AI: Apple plans to overhaul its Mac line with new in-house processors that highlight the company’s AI capabilities.