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Amazon, owned by Jeff Bezos, has placed a bid to acquire TikTok. As AFROTECH™ previously told you, the app owned by ByteDance is facing a ban in the United States due to its association with China — although TikTok states it is not tied to the Chinese government. The app will only avoid a ban if it is sold to a company based in the United States. At the time of this writing, ByteDance has shown no interest in selling TikTok, which reaches over 170 million users in the United States, despite the ban’s looming deadline of April 5. The target date was extended by 75 days after Donald Trump signed an executive order upon assuming office on Jan. 20. “We have been fighting to protect the constitutional right of free speech for the more than 170,000,000 Americans who use our platform every day to connect, create, discover, and achieve their dreams,” TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said on the platform. “On behalf of everyone at TikTok and all our users across the country, I wanna thank President...
Editorial Note: Opinions and thoughts are the author’s own and not those of AFROTECH™ and will not impact the outcome of the events. TikTok has been the center of controversy, due to national security concerns, since 2020, when President Donald Trump first attempted to ban the app in the U.S. Former President Joe Biden continued to push forward with a ban, passing a mandate with overwhelming congressional support to force TikTok, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, to sell to a U.S. company or be banned in the U.S. After several lawsuits and attempts to reverse the decision, the app chose to go dark right before Trump was inaugurated. Since then, Trump has signed an executive order to delay the ban by 75 days , providing a reprieve for TikTok and millions of its U.S. users and more time to sell the app to an American company. Now, time is almost up as the app is at risk again of being banned on April 5 . The Trump administration has stated that it is in talks with several...
Issa Rae is applauding those who are upholding DEI efforts. During SXSW 2025 in Austin, TX, the actress, producer, and newest part-owner of San Diego FC participated in a keynote conversation where she shared her thoughts on the evolving diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) landscape, according to The Hollywood Reporter. A racial awakening occurred in 2020 following the death of George Floyd due to police brutality. This led to an influx of support and a record-breaking $4.3 billion in venture capital and corporate investments towards Black-owned businesses, per ABC News, as well as a 55% increase in DEI roles created, notes NBC News. As time has gone on, many of these bold commitments around DEI have faded out. This has only worsened due to pressures from conservative groups challenging such efforts in litigation, with some success. Legal wins for the right have included the dismantling of Fearless Fund’s Strivers Grant program, which awarded Black woman-owned businesses, and the...
Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian Sr. has his eyes on a new application. As AFROTECH™ previously told you, TikTok had been temporarily banned as a result of not adhering to a U.S. mandate requiring the China-based app to be sold to a U.S. company. On April 24, 2024, former President Joe Biden had signed a law mandating the sale due to concerns about national security and data safety for U.S. citizens . Owned by ByteDance, TikTok was offline just hours before the ban was to go into effect on Jan. 19, 2025. However, users were able to access the app shortly because President Donald Trump affirmed he was looking to save it. Trump took office on Jan. 20 and extended the ban by 75 days allowing more time for a deal to be made. Since then, many individuals have stepped forward to express their interest in buying TikTok. This includes content creator MrBeast, aka Jimmy Donaldson, who has more than 115 million followers on the platform (at the time of this writing). @mrbeast TikTok check your...
The Supreme Court appears to be in favor of lowering the standard for what is required to prove job discrimination when it comes to people who are white, straight, or male. According to The Washington Post, a discrimination lawsuit had been filed in 2020 by Marlean Ames. She had previously been employed at the Ohio government agency managing juvenile corrections. Ames says her position was given to a young gay man in 2019. Then someone else she considered less qualified later received a promotion that she thought she deserved. Ames is a heterosexual white woman and stated that this person was a lesbian. The lower court did not see enough evidence to prove job discrimination had taken place, therefore it ruled against her. For those from majority backgrounds, more evidence is required to show proof that discrimination in the workplace occurred. However, a ruling in Ames’ favor could lead to more “reverse discrimination” lawsuits, Reuters notes. A strong defense would be that majority...
Editorial Note: Opinions and thoughts are the author’s own and not those of AFROTECH™. “Oligarchy” is the word that has been spread across the internet and used to describe what has been observed during Donald Trump’s inauguration. “Oligarchy” is defined as “a country, institution, or organization led by a small group of people.” Observers saw the leaders of the most powerful tech companies in the world not just in attendance but sitting where friends and family sit. They had better seats than Trump’s cabinet. It’s not uncommon for business leaders to convene in Washington D.C. to usher in the exchange of power, but the previous relationship that Trump had with these tech CEOs, and its change to what is seen now, is something to take note of. Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Meta; Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon; Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet; Tim Cook, CEO of Apple; and, of course Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, were all close to the president during his swearing in. Each one of...
Microsoft reportedly has an interest in acquiring TikTok. According to BBC, President Donald Trump has revealed the tech company would like to purchase the platform and adds that there is “great interest in TikTok” from several companies.” At the time of this writing, Microsoft nor TikTok have confirmed or denied the matter. The update comes after 170 million users in the United States were temporarily left in the dark on Jan. 18, 2025, a day ahead of the app’s mandated ban by the U.S. government. As AFROTECH™ previously told you, last year former President Joe Biden signed a law requiring TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app to a U.S.-based company or it would be banned on Jan. 19 due to national security concerns. The Supreme Court unanimously voted to uphold the ban. Despite this, TikTok maintained its position on not selling to a U.S. company and took TikTok and its other applications — such as Marvel Snap, Lemon8, Hypic, and CapCut — offline in the U.S. The apps...
Costco shareholders want to uphold DEI policies. As AFROTECH™ previously told you, Costco’s board of directors has requested that its shareholders reject a proposal introduced by the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR) to eliminate its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. The NCPPR argues that upholding DEI efforts should not be permitted due to the Supreme Court’s ruling on affirmative action in June 2023. The ruling struck down race-conscious affirmative action across colleges and universities, NPR notes. However, Costco’s board of directors contends that the NCPPR has an agenda of “abolishing diversity initiatives,” and its critique of Costco’s DEI policy “reflects a policy bias,” according to Fox Business. “Our success at Costco Wholesale has been built on service to our critical stakeholders: employees, members, and suppliers. Our efforts around diversity, equity and inclusion follow our code of ethics: For our employees, these efforts are built...
Kevin Hart has taken over as CEO of his production company, HARTBEAT, marking the third leadership change in less than two years. According to Bloomberg, Hart stepped in just before Thanksgiving 2024 following a series of layoffs that impacted around 20 employees, nearly one-quarter of the company’s workforce. Shortly after the layoffs, CEO Jay Levine, Chief Financial Officer DJ Jacobs, and Chief Content Officer Brandon Smiley departed amicably due to disagreements about the company’s direction. HARTBEAT is a global, multi-platform media company dedicated to creating entertainment that blends comedy and culture. The company produces films, TV shows, audio series, and branded content. Founded in 2009, Hart merged his two high-growth, profitable companies, Laugh Out Loud and HartBeat Productions, to form the current entity in 2022, per a press release. HARTBEAT was launched with a $100 million investment from the private equity firm Abry Partners, which took a minority stake in the...
Meta has released an alternative to CapCut. The popular video-editing app was temporarily shut down the night of Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025, following a TikTok ban. As AFROTECH™ previously reported TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, had been mandated to sell its app to a company based in the United States or it would be banned. The U.S. had concerns over the spreading of misinformation and China’s possible access to user data . ByteDance has maintained a stance that it will not sell TikTok, and hours before the ban was to become active, several of its apps were removed from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. The ban officially went into effect on Jan. 19 and impacted ByteDance’s subsidiaries such as TikTok, Lemon8, Marvel Snap, Lark, Hypic, and CapCut, USA Today notes. Apple shared in a statement on its website: “Pursuant to the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, apps developed by ByteDance Ltd . and its subsidiaries — including TikTok,...
Editorial Note: Opinions and thoughts are the author’s own and not those of AFROTECH™. Last week, the Chinese social app RedNote grew in popularity as a potential TikTok replacement . As TikTok users waited for the Supreme Court to rule on the ban, they quickly migrated to the platform. The app became number one in the Apple App Store, with thousands of American users joining. Users have mistakenly referred to RedNote as the Chinese version of TikTok, but the platform is more akin to Instagram. RedNote, also known as Xiaohongshu in China, launched in 2013 as a shopping platform. Like many apps, it serves as a default search engine for content on makeup, fashion, travel, and lifestyle tips. Users can post photos and videos in a similar fashion to Instagram Reels and TikTok. The migration from TikTok to RedNote has become a protest statement in the wake of the U.S. government’s ban on TikTok. Initially, calls to ban the app began with President Donald Trump in 2020 before being passed...
TikTok will remain operational for at least another 75 days following an order from President Donald Trump. On Monday, Jan. 19, 2025, during his first day in office , Trump — who has the authority to delay the ban for up to 90 days — ordered the federal government to pause enforcing the law that would ban TikTok nationwide, according to Forbes. The move gives ByteDance, the China-based owner of TikTok, more time to sell a stake in the platform or reach a deal with Trump. After signing the executive order, Trump said he believes the U.S. is entitled to 50% of TikTok and warned China that blocking any deal he may make would be considered an act of “hostility” and lead him to impose tariffs ranging from 25% to 100%, per Forbes. On Sunday, Jan. 20, Trump had promised to sign an executive order on Monday rescinding the ban, prompting TikTok to restore service for its more than 170 million American users after it initially took the app dark the night before. STATEMENT FROM TIKTOK: In...
Editorial Note: Opinions and thoughts are the author’s own and not those of AFROTECH™. TikTok may go dark in the United States. As a former TikTok employee, the way the ban will work here in the United States will be different than the one in India in 2020. The first difference is the politics surrounding why the bans are happening in the two countries in the first place. In India, the ban was less about TikTok and more so about the strained relationship between India and China. The root of their strain comes from the dispute that China and India have related to who owns Aksai Chin, which India claims to be part of its Ladakh region. China has claimed the land since 1962 and the Sino-Indian War. Due to the longstanding tensions between the two countries since, India opted to use economic tools against China, which in this case meant banning Chinese companies from doing business in India. When TikTok was banned from India so were WeChat, Alibaba, and Xiaomi. In the United States,...
The Supreme Court upholds the U.S. bill that would essentially ban TikTok. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, the Court demonstrated that it was “likely” to rule in favor of banning the application owned by ByteDance. A ban would result in the app no longer being available in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, and over time U.S. users who have already downloaded the app would no longer be able to make system updates. TikTok has said the app would be wiped from phones if the ban is enforced. The Supreme Court’s stance supports a bipartisan bill that had been signed in April 2024 by President Joe Biden requiring ByteDance to sell TikTok to a U.S.-based company or face a ban of the app, according to NPR. There were national security concerns by the president and Congress surrounding China’s data access and the spreading of misinformation. TikTok is not in favor of the ban that would go into effect Sunday, Jan. 19, as its owners believe a ban restricts free speech. “The Supreme...
Time is ticking for TikTok users in the U.S. The application, owned by its parent company ByteDance, has stated the app could be pulled from U.S. users beginning on Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, a mandate was issued to the China-based company requiring it to sell the application to a U.S.-based company or face a ban that would go into effect on Jan. 19. The app launched onto the market in 2012, founded by Zhang Yiming, and debuted in the United States six years later. The U.S. government has expressed concerns over how the application is using user data and spreading misinformation, according to The New York Times. “For years, the Chinese government has sought to build detailed profiles about Americans – where we live and work, who our friends and coworkers are, what our interests are, and what our vices are,” Elizabeth Barchas Prelogar, the 48th Solicitor General of the United States, told the Supreme Court in a hearing held Friday Jan. 10, per CNN. She...