US TikTok ban looms; Zuck takes a pop at Vision Pro

US closes in on TikTok ban

The US has moved a step closer to banning TikTok if the social media network’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, doesn’t sell its stake in the US version within six months.

On Wednesday, the US House of Representatives passed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applicants Act, which could lead to a nationwide TikTok ban in all US app stores and web hosting platforms.

The legislation will now go through the Senate, with the BBC reporting that President Joe Biden will sign the bill into law if it reaches his desk.

Lawmakers say TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, has links with the Chinese Communist Party, which it denies. Meanwhile, the White House says the goal is to end Chinese ownership, not to ban TikTok.

Any forced TikTok divestment from the US would almost certainly face legal challenges, which the company would need to file within 165 days of the president signing the bill.

The TikTok ban is also likely to face challenges on the grounds that it restricts the right to free speech, with civil liberties groups arguing that it infringes on the First Amendment.

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Headset Wars: Zuck takes a pop at Vision Pro

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg took to his instant messaging platform, Threads, earlier this week to reiterate his belief that Apple’s Vision Pro headset is inferior to Meta’s Quest 3.

Zuck’s social media outburst followed a comment on the platform by analyst Benedict Evans, who said that Vision Pro (which retails for $3.5K) was “the device Meta wants to reach in three to five years” and that it was confusing for Meta to suggest that Vision Pro had the same specs as Quest.

In response, Zuckerberg said that the Quest 3 (retailing at $500) was better than the Vision Pro and that if the Meta Quest has the “motion blur,” weight, or “lack of precision inputs” as the Vision Pro in the future, then Meta will have “regressed significantly.”

The Facebook founder also took offence to the Meta Quest being called “a games device” and clarified that some of the top apps on the Quest are social, browser, and video player apps.

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Year of Elections: Google restricts AI Chatbot

Google is restricting its Gemini AI chatbot from answering election-related questions in countries where voting is taking place this year, the Guardian reports. This will prevent users from receiving information about candidates, political parties, and other elements of politics.

The change applies to the US and India and will roll out in nations where elections are held this year.

“Out of an abundance of caution on such an important topic, we have begun to roll out restrictions on the types of election-related queries for which Gemini will return responses,” Google’s India team stated on the company’s site.

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Nissan’s Aussie arm hit by data hack

Nissan Australia has revealed that it has started contacting customers whose data may have been compromised three months ago when a cyber attack hit the manufacturer’s computer systems.

It’s believed that around 10,000 individuals have had highly sensitive data stolen, such as driving licenses, tax numbers and Medicare cards.

The carmaker added that it was now working with government authorities in New Zealand and Australia as well as external cyber forensic experts to review the compromised data and understand the impact.

“We now know the list of affected individuals includes some of Nissan’s customers (including customers of our Mitsubishi, Renault, Skyline, Infiniti, LDV and RAMS branded finance businesses), dealers, and some current and former employees,” the company added.

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