A former Trump administration official said TikTok is “disguised as candy” but is actually “cocaine” as pressure has ramped up to ban the app in the country.
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Keith Krach, who served as undersecretary of State for economic growth, energy and the environment, said in an interview on “Meet the Press NOW” on Tuesday that concern about TikTok is a “bipartisan issue.” “The way TikTok is programmed, it preys on children,” he said. “It’s disguised as candy, and it’s actually cocaine. And I think this is coming out everywhere.”
Krach’s comments come as TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is expected to testify before Congress on Thursday about security concerns with the app. Lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle have said they are worried about the app, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. Critics argue it poses a security threat to U.S. citizens and potentially exposes their data to the Chinese government.
TikTok has insisted it has practices in place to ensure user data is protected. Krach said the large number of U.S. users of the app creates more of a reason for the federal government to ban the app.
The Biden administration threatened to ban the app last week if ByteDance did not divest from it. The app has already been banned on devices owned by the federal government and more than two dozen state governments.
FBI Director Christopher Wray told the Senate Intelligence Committee earlier this month that China does not have clear distinctions between the public and private sectors, meaning the government could require ByteDance to comply with requests to provide data it has from TikTok.
The TikTok CEO told The Wall Street Journal last week that the app separating itself from ByteDance would not fix security concerns. Krach said the concerns about security on TikTok are not just about an individual user of the app but everyone who they interact with digitally.
“In essence, what it is, it’s a digital virus, and that TikTok virus, the only cure for that, the only vaccine for that is really a total ban,” he said.
A bipartisan group of senators introduced the RESTRICT Act earlier this month to give the Commerce Department the authority to regulate or ban technology that is tied to foreign adversaries, which would include TikTok. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) introduced a bill in January to ban TikTok from being downloaded on all U.S. devices.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said Tuesday that US user numbers had soared to 150 million – almost half the total population – as he prepared to fight at US Congress for the Chinese owned site's future. The Singaporean CEO said he would share with Congress "all that we're doing to protect Americans using the app," in a reference to a proposal called Project Texas that would guarantee a special handling for the data of US users.
TikTok to be removed from Scottish parliament phones and devices - Sky News Reuters
March 17 (Reuters) - TikTok will be removed from Scottish Parliament phones and devices amid security concerns, Sky News reported on Friday.
The members of the Scottish Parliament and staff were "strongly" advised to remove TikTok, including from personal devices used to access the Scottish Parliament's IT systems, the report said citing an email.
Deadly TikTok Benadryl challenge claims another life A 13-year-old boy from the American state of Ohio recently died after overdosing on Benadryl. He was taking part in the viral social media #benadrylchallenge that dares people to take more than a dozen antihistamine pills.
10 most deadly TikTok challenges of all time.1) Blackout challenge.This challenge, also popularly known as the "choking game" or "fainting game," existed long before TikTok, claiming 82 lives between 1995 and 2007 in the US alone, per Time.
The challenge directs users to cut off their air supply by choking themselves until they pass out. A 10-year-old girl in Italy accidentally asphyxiated herself by tying a belt around her neck and was pronounced brain-dead by doctors.2) Benadryl challenge.A 15-year-old girl from Oklahoma died in 2020 after overdosing on benadryl pills to get high and hallucinate for the Benadryl Challenge. Three teenagers in Texas were also hospitalized for the same.
These near-death accidents prompted the FDA to issue the following PSA:A 15-year-old girl from Oklahoma died in 2020 after overdosing on benadryl pills to get high and hallucinate for the Benadryl Challenge. Three teenagers in Texas were also hospitalized for the same.3) Skull breaker challenge.The name of the challenge is already a warning sign about its potential fatality. It involves a group of people, usually three, jumping next to each other; two of them kick out the third's feet from under them, causing them to fall backwards on their head.
The viral trend has reportedly caused injuries across New Jersey, Miami, Arizona, and Mexico, with a few high schoolers even being charged with cyberbullying in Florida. Health experts have condemned this challenge for its propensity to cause "serious and life-threatening injuries" like skull-fracture, paralysis or even death.4) Fire challenge.he Fire Challenge has a very simple premise — one just needs to cover their body in an inflammable substance and then light it on fire.
Despite its obvious dangers, this challenge found several takers among unassuming 12 and 13-year-olds. This resulted in a number of children being hospitalized for first and second-degree burns.
5) Cha Cha Slide challenge.DJ Casper's cult favorite song Cha Cha Slide sparked a trend where teen drivers swerved their cars in tandem with the song's lyrics "slide to the left, slide to the right" and "criss-cross."
The dangerous wheel jerking and swerving of the car has caused several near-miss accidents, with one user captioning their video, "The car almost flipped."6) Penny challenge.Jamming a penny in the small gap between a partially plugged-in phone charger and an electric socket just screams fire hazard. But TikTok users do it just for the fun of creating a shower of sparks.The viral penny challenge forced a Massachusetts Fire Marshall to issue an advisory about the possibility of electrical system damage or even fires, which was the case in a Plymouth school.The viral penny challenge forced a Massachusetts Fire Marshall to issue an advisory about the possibility of electrical system damage or even fires, which was the case in a Plymouth school.
7) Milk crate challenge.Users trying to climb a stack of milk crates arranged like stairs soon discovered the flimsiness of said crates, leaving them tumbling from heights and sustaining numerous injuries. Even TikTok acknowledged the challenge's perils, banning it from its platform.“The Milk Crate Challenge is very dangerous, and we are seeing many orthopedic injuries as a result of the falls. Injuries can include broken wrists, shoulder dislocations, ACL and meniscus tears, as well as life-threatening conditions like spinal cord injuries.”8) Full-face wax challenge.This viral beauty fad was the brainchild of Dutch barber Renaz Ismael where he caked his customers' faces entirely with gloopy green wax, complete with wax-dipped Q-tips in their nostrils.While skin experts deemed the trend "traumatic for the skin," a beautician pointed out other hazards to BBC:
"Our first concern is that it would cause suffocation. There’s no control element to smothering the face with wax. And wax hardens. So it could harden in the airways and have to be surgically remove
9) Back cracking challenge.This challenge features two individuals cracking their backs against each other. While cracking one's back can feel therapeutic, it can quickly turn dangerous if it is performed incorrectly.A doctor on Buzzfeed explained the dangers of this challenge:
“This ‘adjustment’ can be very detrimental to the spine because it’s not being performed correctly. Doing exercises like this at home can be very dangerous as it can twist or pull someone’s spine out of place.10) Salt challenge.Guzzling a whole mouthful of salt at once doesn't seem like the smartest idea, but it's probably the bizarreness of the challenge that made it viral on the platform.
However, the challenge poses health risks such as dehydration, confusion, and nausea due to the sudden spike in sodium levels. Extreme cases of higher levels of sodium consumption can lead to people suffering from seizures or entering a comatose state.
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A former Trump administration official said TikTok is “disguised as candy” but is actually “cocaine” as pressure has ramped up to ban the app in the country.