Tech

Elon Musk ‘looking into’ return of Vine following TikTok ban

Published

3 hours ago

January 19, 2025

Ekwutos Blog

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Road work ahead? Uh, yeah, I sure hope it does.’

Many will recognise the quote above from one of many iconic Vine videos which took the internet by storm.

Vine allowed people to share six-second video clips, and the quickfire humour it created resulted in ideal conditions for fast-growing internet fame.

Fans have been hoping the app would one day return since it went offline in 2017.

YouTube, TikTok and other social media apps are awash with clips and compilations of popular Vines, harking back to simpler times where creators had to set up a joke and deliver the punchline in just six seconds.

Vine could be making a comeback, eight years after it was closed down (Picture: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Musk bought up X, formerly Twitter, back in 2022, making him a major player in the social media world. Vine was owned by Twitter at the time it was closed down.

So in the wake of TikTok – considered by many as a successor to Vine – being shut down in the US, questions about the future of video sharing on social media have been raised.

The app lost a last-ditch legal bid on Friday to have a ban declared unconstitutional on free speech grounds, with the US Supreme Court unanimously rejecting TikTok’s appeal.

Last April, Joe Biden signed a law which gave TikTok a deadline of January 19 to separate its US business from parent firm ByteDance, a China-based company whose control of TikTok is seen as a national security threat by the American government.

US President-elect Donald Trump has told NBC News he will ‘most likely’ give TikTok 90 more days to work out a deal after he is sworn into office on Monday.

Musk has now indicated he and his team are ‘looking into’ getting Vine back up and running.

Tech

In US, teleworkers don’t want to turn back

Published

3 hours ago

January 19, 2025

Ekwutos Blog

Curtis Sparrer, founder of the PR agency Bospar, says forcing American workers into the office is akin to a 'corporate jail'. Photo: Julie JAMMOT / AFP Source: AFP

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For Curtis Sparrer, a work-from-home evangelist, an office is nothing less than a “corporate jail.”

Five years after the Covid-19 pandemic sent workers scrambling for home, laptops under their arm, Sparrer methodically challenges the arguments made by corporate America as it pushes for a full-time return to office.

The issue has even become increasingly political.

The incoming Trump administration, through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, plans to eliminate all remote work for federal employees.

“When you have a physical office, there is an implicit lack of trust. You need to see people there physically to make sure they’re doing their work,” the PR boss told AFP from his San Francisco apartment, overlooking the city’s iconic rooftops.

In the wake of the work-from-home revolution, hybrid work became the norm in the United States, with few exceptions such as Goldman Sachs and Tesla, which quickly mandated full-time office attendance.

Now, several major companies are abandoning the compromise approach.

Amazon recently required engineers and administrative staff to return five days a week. According to a survey conducted by the Blind professional social network last September, more than 90 percent of employees are unhappy with this decision.

On Reddit, users report having turned down interviews to work for the e-commerce and cloud giant because of the policy.

Some speculate it’s a veiled downsizing strategy, though they believe the company founded by Jeff Bezos risks losing its top talent.

Chewing food

JPMorgan Chase’s March announcement ending telework met similar resistance.

Employees posted so many comments about concerns — from commuting costs to child care — on an internal platform that the bank shut down that section, according to The Wall Street Journal.

JPMorgan CFO Jeremy Barnum addressed the issue during a press call, and acknowledged the risk of losing valuable employees, saying: “We are very much not hoping for attrition as a function of return to office.”

“I’m disappointed that Amazon and others dragged people back to the office when we’ve been making so much progress in making work-from-home a national norm,” Sparrer laments.

When founding Bospar in January 2015, Sparrer deliberately chose not to rent office space, both to save money and to recruit talent beyond San Francisco and New York. Ten years later, he stands by that decision.

Office environments inherently create inequality, he said.

“Someone gets the corner office with windows while another gets a cubicle, creating friction,” he explained.

“There’s also a higher likelihood of sexual harassment, illness spreading, and daily annoyances from office gossip to hearing colleagues chew their food.”

Sparrer particularly emphasized telecommuting’s environmental benefits, noting that most Americans drive to work in gas-guzzling cars.

“The typical office building is a polluting nightmare,” he said. His company’s research suggests that remote workers are more likely to cook at home instead of ordering delivery and to recycle their waste.

‘When, where or how’

According to the “Flex Index” study by IT solutions company Scoop, by the end of 2024, about one-third of US companies required full-time office presence, 38 percent maintained a hybrid approach, and less than 30 percent offered complete employee choice.

DrFirst employee Heather Happe sits at her desk next to her cat Duncan at her home in Frederick, Maryland — she is a 14-year veteran of the company. Photo: Agnes BUN / AFP Source: AFP

Health care software provider DrFirst exemplifies the successful transition to remote work.

The company, which previously maintained three offices in Arizona and Maryland, shifted its 400 employees to permanent telework in 2023 based on employee feedback.

“Over 85 percent of our people reported that working remotely improved their overall well-being, whether mental or physical health, and reduced stress,” said Mathew Carrico, the company’s vice president of human resources.

“Productivity remained high.”

To maintain company culture, DrFirst established online social groups, regular check-ins, and a performance system based on quarterly objectives.

“We don’t dictate when, where, or how people work — that’s where trust comes in,” Carrico explained. “But we maintain accountability through results, just as we would in an office.”

Heather Happe, a 14-year DrFirst veteran, appreciates escaping rush-hour traffic.

“There’s that slippery slope of knowing when to stop working, but you learn to set boundaries,” she said.

“I can spend more time with my son, pets, and plants!”

Tech

Experts say TikTok could face the same fate if the US ban stays.

Published

7 hours ago

January 19, 2025

Ekwutos Blog

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Why TikTok Ban Will Spread Worldwide

The United States has banned TikTok, calling it a national security threat due to alleged ties between its parent company, ByteDance, and the Chinese government—a claim ByteDance denies.

Analysts now believe other countries could follow the US, just as they did with previous bans on Chinese and Russian tech companies like Huawei and Kaspersky.

The ban has left TikTok offline in America, but experts warn this might only be the beginning.

“We’ve seen this pattern before,” said Emily Taylor, Editor of the Cyber Policy Journal.

“Once the US bans a company and pressures its allies, it often leads to similar actions worldwide, even without solid evidence.”

The US has done this in the past. In 2017, it banned Kaspersky antivirus software from government systems, claiming it could be used by Russia for hacking—though no proof was ever provided.

Soon after, countries like the UK followed, and Kaspersky eventually closed its offices in those regions.

A similar story unfolded with Huawei.

The US accused the Chinese tech giant of being a security risk due to its 5G technology.

While no evidence of spying was made public, the US pushed its allies to block Huawei, leading to widespread bans.

“Allies might claim they’re making independent decisions, but US lobbying often plays a big role,” said a former Huawei UK staff member.

Though incoming President Trump has shown interest in reversing the ban, TikTok’s future remains uncertain.

Will it survive, or will it become the next global casualty of US-led security crackdowns?

Tech

TikTok shuts down in the United States hours ahead of a ban

Published

13 hours ago

January 19, 2025

Ekwutos Blog

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CNN —

TikTok went offline in the United States Saturday night, less than two hours before a ban was slated to go into effect. The extraordinary blackout prevents access to one of the world’s most popular social media apps – one that had been used by 170 million Americans.

Visitors to the app were met with a message reading: “Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now. A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now.”

TikTok’s action comes after the Supreme Court on Friday upheld a ban that was passed with broad bipartisan support in Congress and signed into law in April by President Joe Biden. The law prevents American companies from hosting or serving content for the Chinese-owned social media platform unless it sells itself to a buyer from the United States or one of its allies.

But TikTok may not be gone for long. The company suggested it could be back soon – perhaps as early as Monday.

“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 to users who opened the app beginning late Saturday night. “Please stay tuned!”

President-elect Trump said he will “most likely” delay a ban on TikTok for 90 days after he takes office on Monday, adding that he has not made a final decision in a phone interview with NBC Newson Saturday.

“I think that would be, certainly, an option that we look at. The 90-day extension is something that will be most likely done, because it’s appropriate. You know, it’s appropriate. We have to look at it carefully. It’s a very big situation,” Trump said in the interview.

“If I decide to do that, I’ll probably announce it on Monday,” he added.

The blackout from TikTok — and the suggestion that it could soon restore its service — is the latest twist in a saga that’s dragged on for months, leaving the fate of the app in limbo.

The app also has disappeared from Apple’s App Store and the Google Play store. And other apps owned by TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance – including CapCut – also displayed a similar message Saturday night.

Lawmakers said TikTok’s ties to China and its access to reams of data posed a threat to national security.

Many US users told CNN they were bracing for an end to the app, including influencers and other small businesses that said they depended on the platform for a living. Still, they said, they held out hope the app would somehow be saved.

But the Supreme Court’s decision dashed hopes of a last-second judicial assist.

Some of the companies that operate app stores and run computer servers are said to be concerned that they will be held liable for violating terms of the ban. Those service providers pledged to stop carrying the app to avoid legal consequences, a person familiar with companies’ discussions told CNN.

Meanwhile, Trump — who first warned of TikTok’s dangers five years ago — is now casting himself as the app’s savior. Earlier this month, on his Truth Social account, he posted stats about his own popularity on TikTok and asked, “Why would I want to get rid of TikTok?”

TikTok’s CEO Shou Chew has met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago home in the weeks leading up to the ban taking effect and is expected to attend Trump’s inauguration on Monday.

TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment late on Saturday.

A 90-day extension?

The law passed last year allows the president to delay the ban from going into effect by 90 days but requires evidence that parties working to arrange a sale of TikTok to a US-owned company have made significant progress.

But TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, has rejected would-be buyers. The company has cited its popularity among American users, and its value to small businesses across the country, as it fights to stay online without any change in ownership.

After the Supreme Court ruled, 9-0, to uphold the ban, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre signaled the administration wouldn’t enforce the law on Biden’s final day in office.

Due to the federal holiday weekend and the inauguration, “actions to implement the law simply must fall to the next administration,” she said.

But TikTok wasn’t satisfied by that statement. According to a person familiar with the matter, some service providers — companies like Google and Apple that would face exorbitant fines for allowing US access to TikTok once the ban takes effect — told TikTok they believed they were vulnerable under the law starting Sunday.

A person close to TikTok says “multiple critical service providers” indicated to TikTok that they would no longer carry the app or its data, which forced the app offline. The service providers cited fears that the ban might be enforced starting Sunday, despite the Biden administration’s signals to the contrary.

So TikTok took action to take the app down – at least for now.

The tmove, and the pop-up naming Trump, could put even more pressure on the president-elect to negotiate a solution in the days or weeks to come.

TikTok employees were also told by the company on Saturday that the situation was “disappointing” but that the company was working on a solution.

“We know this is disappointing for you not only as employees, but as users. However, we are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please know our teams are working tirelessly to bring our app back to the U.S. as soon as possible,” read the message to employees.

A White House source reiterated to CNN that there will not be any fines by the Biden administration associated with keeping TikTok active on Sunday.

At the same time, however, some Biden officials are content with TikTok going dark for a day, since the law was passed with strong support from both parties.

The decision “is going to be made by the next president anyway,” Biden told reporters Friday.

TikTok’s final minute

On Saturday, the White House called TikTok’s warning about going dark a “stunt.”

“We see no reason for TikTok or other companies to take actions in the next few days before the Trump administration takes office on Monday,” Jean-Pierre said. “We have laid out our position clearly and straightforwardly: actions to implement this law will fall to the next administration. So TikTok and other companies should take up any concerns with them.”

A TikTok spokesperson had no immediate reaction to the statement from the White House.

The company said it expected service providers — like companies that operate servers full of videos — to restrict access to the app at 12:01 a.m. ET on Sunday.

On Apple and Google’s app stores, the most popular free apps for the past week have been TikTok-like apps, including two that are also owned by Chinese companies. One of them, photo-sharing app Lemon8, is owned by ByteDance, just like TikTok. But Lemon8 may have the same fate as TikTok in the future.

Given Trump’s public remarks about TikTok any blackout may not last long.

Trump is said to be considering issuing an executive order that could effectively pause the ban and provide some time to sort out a long-term solution.

But he will face pressure from multiple directions. Some Republican senators, like Josh Hawley of Missouri and Tom Cotton of Arkansas, remain strongly supportive of the ban.

“ByteDance and its Chinese Communist masters had nine months to sell TikTok before the Sunday deadline,” Cotton wrote on X. “The very fact that Communist China refuses to permit its sale reveals exactly what TikTok is: a communist spy app.”

Analyst Richard Greenfield of LightShed Partners, who has long followed the TikTok saga, anticipates that TikTok will ultimately stay online in the United States.

On Saturday, Perplexity AI, a San Francisco-based AI search-engine startup, confirmed to CNN that it submitted a bid to ByteDance to merge with TikTok.