TikTok: key things to know

Video-sharing platform TikTok has over a billion users worldwide, including more than 170 million in the United States, it says — nearly half the country’s population.Here is a closer look at the app, which on Thursday announced it had established a majority American-owned joint venture to operate its US business:- Born in China -TikTok’s transformation from niche video app to global digital entertainment powerhouse is one of the biggest shifts in the sector since the advent of social media.From friends dancing together to home chefs demonstrating recipes or people sharing political views, TikTok can turn ordinary users into celebrities, revolutionizing the traditional path to stardom.The platform was launched in 2016 by Chinese tech company ByteDance for the local market, where it is called Douyin. The international version, TikTok, was released in 2017.It gained massive momentum after merging with Musical.ly, a lip-synching app, a year later.- ‘For You’ page -The so-called secret sauce in TikTok’s rapid expansion has been its innovative recommendation algorithm.Instead of showing content from accounts that users already follow, the endless scroll of TikTok’s “For You” page is based on viewing habits, engagement patterns and sophisticated content analysis.A video from a complete unknown can reach millions of people if the algorithm determines it engaging enough — a model that the app’s rivals have been keen to follow.TikTok’s focus on short clips also helps keep users hooked.It was initially limited to uploads of 15 seconds, but this was later expanded to up to 10 minutes, and now some users can post videos as long as 60 minutes.- Suspicions -TikTok’s mass appeal has made its rise controversial — mainly over its Chinese ownership and built-in unpredictability.The platform has faced scrutiny worldwide, particularly in the United States, over data privacy and potential ties to the Chinese government, including accusations of spying and propaganda.India banned TikTok along with other Chinese apps in 2020, citing national security concerns.And a European Union watchdog fined TikTok 530 million euros ($620 million) last year for failing to guarantee its user data was shielded from access by Chinese authorities.The social media giant has appealed the fine, insisting it has never received any requests from Chinese authorities for European users’ data.- Sell or be banned -The US Congress passed legislation in 2024 requiring that ByteDance divest control of TikTok in the United States, or be banned.The matter was a major sticking point in US-China trade negotiations, and last month, an internal memo from TikTok’s CEO said an agreement had been reached on a new joint venture in the United States.On Friday, TikTok unveiled its new business structure, which it said would implement strict safeguards for data protection, algorithm security and content moderation.ByteDance retains a 19.9 percent stake in the joint venture, keeping its ownership below the 20 percent threshold stipulated by the law.Three investors — Silver Lake, Oracle and Abu Dhabi-based AI investment fund MGX — each hold 15 percent stakes. Oracle’s executive chairman Larry Ellison is a longtime Trump ally.- Teenage safety fears -In a world first in December, Australia banned under-16s from major social media platforms including TikTok, with the onus on tech firms to kick young users off their services.Other countries have expressed concern about the potential effects of TikTok on young users, including accusations it funnels them into echo chambers and fails to contain illegal, violent or obscene content.Albania banned TikTok for a year in March after a 14-year-old schoolboy was killed in the culmination of a confrontation that started on social media.burs-kaf/abs

TikTok: key things to know

Video-sharing platform TikTok has over a billion users worldwide, including more than 170 million in the United States, it says — nearly half the country’s population.Here is a closer look at the app, which on Thursday announced it had established a majority American-owned joint venture to operate its US business:- Born in China -TikTok’s transformation from niche video app to global digital entertainment powerhouse is one of the biggest shifts in the sector since the advent of social media.From friends dancing together to home chefs demonstrating recipes or people sharing political views, TikTok can turn ordinary users into celebrities, revolutionizing the traditional path to stardom.The platform was launched in 2016 by Chinese tech company ByteDance for the local market, where it is called Douyin. The international version, TikTok, was released in 2017.It gained massive momentum after merging with Musical.ly, a lip-synching app, a year later.- ‘For You’ page -The so-called secret sauce in TikTok’s rapid expansion has been its innovative recommendation algorithm.Instead of showing content from accounts that users already follow, the endless scroll of TikTok’s “For You” page is based on viewing habits, engagement patterns and sophisticated content analysis.A video from a complete unknown can reach millions of people if the algorithm determines it engaging enough — a model that the app’s rivals have been keen to follow.TikTok’s focus on short clips also helps keep users hooked.It was initially limited to uploads of 15 seconds, but this was later expanded to up to 10 minutes, and now some users can post videos as long as 60 minutes.- Suspicions -TikTok’s mass appeal has made its rise controversial — mainly over its Chinese ownership and built-in unpredictability.The platform has faced scrutiny worldwide, particularly in the United States, over data privacy and potential ties to the Chinese government, including accusations of spying and propaganda.India banned TikTok along with other Chinese apps in 2020, citing national security concerns.And a European Union watchdog fined TikTok 530 million euros ($620 million) last year for failing to guarantee its user data was shielded from access by Chinese authorities.The social media giant has appealed the fine, insisting it has never received any requests from Chinese authorities for European users’ data.- Sell or be banned -The US Congress passed legislation in 2024 requiring that ByteDance divest control of TikTok in the United States, or be banned.The matter was a major sticking point in US-China trade negotiations, and last month, an internal memo from TikTok’s CEO said an agreement had been reached on a new joint venture in the United States.On Friday, TikTok unveiled its new business structure, which it said would implement strict safeguards for data protection, algorithm security and content moderation.ByteDance retains a 19.9 percent stake in the joint venture, keeping its ownership below the 20 percent threshold stipulated by the law.Three investors — Silver Lake, Oracle and Abu Dhabi-based AI investment fund MGX — each hold 15 percent stakes. Oracle’s executive chairman Larry Ellison is a longtime Trump ally.- Teenage safety fears -In a world first in December, Australia banned under-16s from major social media platforms including TikTok, with the onus on tech firms to kick young users off their services.Other countries have expressed concern about the potential effects of TikTok on young users, including accusations it funnels them into echo chambers and fails to contain illegal, violent or obscene content.Albania banned TikTok for a year in March after a 14-year-old schoolboy was killed in the culmination of a confrontation that started on social media.burs-kaf/abs

L’Iran dit avoir “le doigt sur la gâchette”, Trump estime que Téhéran veut dialoguer

Le chef des Gardiens de la révolution islamique a averti jeudi Washington que ses forces avaient “le doigt sur la gâchette” après plusieurs semaines de manifestations et de répression en Iran, Donald Trump jugeant que Téhéran était disposé au dialogue.”L’Iran veut effectivement parler, et nous parlerons”, a déclaré jeudi le président américain devant le Forum économique de Davos, après être revenu sur les frappes des Etats-Unis contre des sites d’enrichissement d’uranium iranien en juin dernier, destinées selon lui à “ne pas laisser” Téhéran fabriquer une bombe nucléaire. Mais il a par la suite affirmé qu’une “armada” américaine était en route pour le Golfe. “Nous avons beaucoup de navires qui se dirigent dans cette direction, au cas où”, a-t-il dit à bord de l’avion le ramenant de Suisse.Si Donald Trump a menacé à plusieurs reprises d’intervenir militairement lors de la violente répression du récent mouvement de contestation en Iran, cette perspective semble s’être éloignée au cours de la semaine passée.Pour autant, le chef des Gardiens de la Révolution, Mohammad Pakpour, a mis de l’huile sur le feu jeudi en invitant Israël et les Etats-Unis à tirer les leçons de leur récente guerre pour ne pas connaître un “sort douloureux”.L’Iran et Israël se sont livrés en 2025 une guerre de 12 jours, déclenchée par une attaque sans précédent d’Israël le 13 juin contre des installations militaires et nucléaires sur le territoire iranien ainsi que des zones habitées. Les Etats-Unis s’étaient joints à l’offensive de leur allié israélien en frappant trois sites nucléaires dans la nuit du 21 au 22 juin.”Le Corps des Gardiens de la Révolution islamique et notre cher Iran ont le doigt sur la gâchette, plus préparés que jamais, prêts à exécuter les ordres et mesures du guide suprême, un leader qui leur est plus cher que leur propre vie”, a prévenu M. Pakpour, en faisant référence à l’ayatollah Ali Khamenei.Mohammad Pakpour avait été nommé en juin dernier par M. Khamenei pour succéder à Hossein Salami, tué lors des frappes aériennes israéliennes.Ses propos ont été lus à la télévision d’Etat à l’occasion du jour de célébration nationale des Gardiens de la Révolution islamique, bras idéologique du guide suprême et force armée extrêmement organisée, accusée par les organisations de droits humains d’avoir orchestré la répression meurtrière du vaste mouvement contestataire en Iran.- “Cibles légitimes” -Un autre haut responsable militaire iranien, le général Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi, a de son côté averti qu’en cas d’attaque américaine, “tous les intérêts, bases et centres d’influence américains” seraient des “cibles légitimes” pour les forces armées iraniennes.Le président iranien Massoud Pezeshkian a accusé jeudi les Etats-Unis et Israël d’attiser les manifestations comme une “vengeance lâche (…) pour leur défaite dans la guerre des 12 jours”.L’Iran et les Etats-Unis, ennemis jurés depuis la Révolution islamique de 1979, ne cessent d’échanger des menaces.Donald Trump avait ainsi haussé le ton mardi à l’égard des dirigeants iraniens, menaçant de les “rayer de la surface de la Terre” si “quoi que ce soit” lui arrivait. Plus tôt, le général iranien Abolfazl Shekarchi l’avait menacé de mort si Washington s’en prenait à la personne de l’ayatollah Ali Khamenei.L’Iran ne se retiendra pas en cas d’attaque, avait encore commenté le ministre iranien des Affaires étrangères Abbas Araghchi, dans une tribune mardi dans le Wall Street Journal, ajoutant que l’Iran a “toujours été prêt à mener des négociations réelles et sérieuses”.- Deux semaines sans internet – Déclenchée le 28 décembre, la mobilisation en Iran a pris une ampleur majeure le 8 janvier, défiant ouvertement la République islamique, avant d’être violemment réprimée.La télévision d’Etat iranienne – citant la Fondation iranienne pour les martyrs et les anciens combattants – a annoncé mercredi que 3.117 personnes avaient été tuées, un premier bilan officiel très inférieur à ceux avancés par des défenseurs des droits humains.Selon l’ONG Iran Human Rights (IHR), basée en Norvège et dont les chiffres sont cités par l’ONU, au moins 3.428 manifestants ont été tués mais le bilan pourrait même dépasser les 20.000 morts.Une coupure nationale d’internet, qui a permis selon des organisations des droits humains de masquer la répression, dure depuis “deux semaines complètes”, a relevé jeudi l’ONG de surveillance de la cybersécurité Netblocks, précisant que ces derniers jours l’accès a été très sporadique et limité à des sites gouvernementaux.

Iran warns ‘finger on trigger’ as Trump says Tehran wants talks

The commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned Washington Thursday that the force had its “finger on the trigger” in the wake of mass protests, as US President Donald Trump said Tehran still appeared interested in talks.Trump has repeatedly left open the option of new military action against Iran after Washington backed and joined Israel’s 12-day war in June aimed at degrading Iranian nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.Trump said Thursday a US naval “armada” was heading toward the Gulf, adding: “We’re watching Iran.”A fortnight of protests starting in late December shook Iran’s clerical leadership under supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but the movement has petered out in the face of a crackdown that activists say killed thousands, accompanied by an unprecedented internet blackout.The prospect of immediate American action against Tehran appears to have receded, with both sides insisting on giving diplomacy a chance.On his way back from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump told reporters on Air Force One the United States was sending a “massive fleet” toward Iran “just in case.””I’d rather not see anything happen but we’re watching them very closely,” he added. In a standoff marked by seesawing rhetoric, Trump had on Tuesday warned Iran’s leaders the United States would “wipe them off the face of this Earth” if there was any attack on his life in response to a strike targeting Khamenei.Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in a speech Thursday accused the United States and Israel of stoking the protests as a “cowardly revenge… for the defeat in the 12-Day War”.- ‘Legitimate targets’ -Guards commander General Mohammad Pakpour warned Israel and the United States “to avoid any miscalculations, by learning from historical experiences and what they learned in the 12-day imposed war, so that they do not face a more painful and regrettable fate”.”The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and dear Iran have their finger on the trigger, more prepared than ever, ready to carry out the orders and measures of the supreme commander-in-chief,” he said.Pakpour’s comments came in a written statement quoted by state television marking the national day in Iran to celebrate the Guards, whose mission is to protect the 1979 Islamic revolution from internal and external threats.Activists accuse the Guards of playing a frontline role in the deadly crackdown on protests. The group is sanctioned as a terrorist entity by countries including Australia, Canada and the United States, and campaigners have long urged similar moves from the EU and UK.Another senior military figure, General Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi who leads the Iranian joint command headquarters, meanwhile warned that if America attacked, “all US interests, bases and centres of influence” would be “legitimate targets” for Iran’s armed forces.- Real toll? -Giving their first official toll from the protests, Iranian authorities on Wednesday said 3,117 people were killed.The statement from Iran’s foundation for martyrs and veterans sought to draw a distinction between “martyrs”, members of security forces or innocent bystanders, and what it called US-backed “rioters”.Of its toll of 3,117, it said 2,427 people were “martyrs”.Pezeshkian said Thursday that protest “is the natural right of citizens”, but a distinction had to be drawn between protesters “whose hands are stained with the blood of innocent people”.However, rights groups say the heavy toll was caused by security forces firing directly on protesters and that the actual number of dead could be far higher, even more than 20,000.Efforts to confirm the scale of the toll have been hampered by the national internet shutdown, with monitor Netblocks saying Thursday the blackout had surpassed “two full weeks”.”All the evidence gradually emerging from inside Iran shows that the real number of people killed in the protests is far higher than the official figure,” said the director of the Iran Human Rights NGO Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, saying the authorities’ toll has “no credibility whatsoever”.Warning that their own current tolls do not reflect the true number of fatalities, IHR says it has verified at least 3,428 killings. Another NGO, US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), has documented 4,902 deaths.According to HRANA, at least 26,541 people have been arrested. On Thursday alone, state TV announced over 200 more arrests in provinces including Kermanshah in the west and Isfahan in central Iran.

Venezuela moves to open up oil sector, a key Trump demand

Venezuelan lawmakers on Thursday gave their initial backing to plans to throw open the oil sector to private investors, paving the way for the return of US energy majors — a key demand of President Donald Trump.Less than three weeks after the US ouster of Nicolas Maduro, MPs endorsed on first reading a bill allowing private companies to independently engage in oil exploration and extraction.If adopted on a second reading, the bill would roll back decades of state controls over Venezuela’s oil sector, which were tightened by Maduro’s late mentor, socialist firebrand Hugo Chavez, in the mid-2000s.The bill has been promoted by Maduro’s former deputy, acting president Delcy Rodriguez, who has overseen a lightning-fast thaw in ties with Washington since taking the helm.On Thursday, Trump called her leadership “very strong” and said the United States is already taking a cut of Venezuela’s oil.”Our country will become richer and that means our taxes will be going down and they will do better — Venezuela’s going to do better than they’ve ever done,” Trump said.Another change unfolded in Caracas Thursday, with the United States confirming Laura F. Dogu — a former ambassador to Nicaragua and Honduras — as the new charge d’affaires to Venezuela. That was seen as a step toward restoration of full diplomatic ties.- Warming relations -Caracas and Washington severed relations after Maduro’s first widely disputed claim to reelection in 2019.Within days of Maduro’s January 3 capture in Caracas, US diplomats travelled to the Venezuelan capital to discuss reopening the embassy.Trump has boasted that he is working “really well” with Rodriguez, who was vice president and petroleum minister — a position she still holds — in Maduro’s fiercely anti-US government.On Wednesday, a senior US official said Rodriguez would soon visit the United States, despite still being under Washington sanctions.Maduro was toppled after a monthslong US pressure campaign and flown to New York with his wife to face trial on drug trafficking charges.Rodriguez has appeared ready to comply with Trump’s open interest in Venezuela’s oil.”We are in a process of dialogue, of working with the United States, without fear,” she said Wednesday.- Lost opportunities -This week she ploughed $300 million from a US-brokered oil sale into propping up the ailing national currency, the bolivar.The mere anticipation of the injection drove down the price of dollars, the currency in which many Venezuelans conduct their business.But economists warned that true relief from spiraling prices would require a sustained influx of dollars — which in turn requires foreign investment.Venezuela has the world’s largest proven reserves of oil but output has fallen from over three million barrels per day in the early 2000s to around 1.2 million today.The energy reform bill before parliament ends a Chavez-era requirement for private companies to form joint ventures with state-owned oil firm PDVSA, which insisted on holding a majority.”Having oil underground serves no purpose,” parliament speaker Jorge Rodriguez, the interim president’s brother, told lawmakers Thursday, urging them to back the reform.”Every day that passes is a day lost and a day of (oil reserves) that we cannot use.”To win the support of both Venezuelans and Washington, Delcy Rodriguez needs to quickly show improvements in the economy and signal an end to a decade of worsening repression under Maduro.In the past two weeks, her government has slowly freed dozens of political prisoners from the hundreds behind bars.On Thursday, authorities released the son-in-law of opposition figure Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who was serving a 30-year sentence on terrorism charges.Gonzalez Urrutia, in exile in Spain, is widely considered the rightful winner of Venezuela’s 2024 election.His son-in-law Rafael Tudares was arrested by masked men in January 2025 while heading to school with his two children.Since Maduro’s ouster, Trump has ramped up pressure on another Latin American arch-foe, communist Cuba, a longtime Venezuela ally.Trump has vowed to cut off all oil supplies to Cuba, which has relied for years on heavily-subsidized Venezuelan oil and cash to remain afloat.Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said Thursday he spoke by telephone with Rodriguez to express his “support and solidarity.”