Elon Musk Denies Potential TikTok Bid



After being touted as a potential buyer earlier this year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has denied interest in acquiring TikTok’s US operations, PCMag reported.

“I have not put in a bid for TikTok,” Musk said at a conference hosted by German Billionaire Mathias Döpfner. He added that he doesn’t have any plans for what I would do if I had TikTok,” claiming that he doesn’t use and isn’t familiar with the platform.

The X owner added: “I do not require companies in general; it’s quite rare,” calling the 2022 acquisition of the company previously called Twitter (now X) “unusual.”

Under a law signed by President Biden last year, TikTok was ordered to divest its US operation on national security grounds. That was supposed to have been done by Jan. 19, but TikTok fought the ban in court. It lost at all levels, but President Trump — who started the TikTok ban issue himself in 2020 — gave the company a 75-day reprieve when he returned to office.

TechCrunch reported: Elon Musk recently said he is “not chomping at the bit to acquire TikTok.”

Musk made those remarks during an interview at the WELT Economic Summit on January 28. 

The interview came after President Donald Trump delayed a law requiring parent company ByteDance to sell TikTok or see it banned in the United States. At the time, there were reports that the Chinese government was open to a deal in which Musk would require the app.

Trump even told reporter that he’d like to see Musk or Oracle chairman Larry Ellison acquire TikTok; he’s also signed an executive order to create a sovereign wealth fund that could purchase a stake in the app.

But Musk claimed that he wasn’t interested, flatly stating “I have not put in a bid for TikTok.”

“I don’t have any plans for what I would do if I had TikTok,” he said in the interview. “I guess I would look at the algorithm and try to decide: How helpful or useful is this algorithm? And what can we do to shift the algorithm to be more productive and ultimately be beneficial to humanity?”

New York Post reported: Elon Musk has no interest in purchasing TikTok’s American business from Chinese Company ByteDance according to new public comments.

In a recently released video interview at the WELT Economic Summit, the DOGE chief said he doesn’t use the app and could not find a motivation to pursue a purchase.

“I have not actually put in a bid for TikTok, I don’t have any plans for what I wold do if I had TikTok,” Musk told the German forum.

Musk went on to say that he does not generally purchase companies and only does so when he can see an altruistic reason.

“I do not acquire companies that’s quite rare. Acquiring Twitter, now called X, was highly unusual. I usually build companies from scratch,” Musk said.

In my opinion, it certainly sounds like Elon Musk doesn’t want to acquire TikTok at this time.


TikTok Advises Android Users In The US To Sideload The App



If you need to download and install TikTok in the US, you can do so on Android even though the app isn’t back in the Play Store yet. In a tweet, the TikTok Policy account has announced that the service has made Android Package Kits available for download through its official web site. Engadget reported.

Companies don’t typically endorse sideloading, but TikTok is, of course, a special case.

The app briefly went offline on January 19 before a law banning it in the US — unless its parent company ByteDance sells it to an owner based in the country — took effect. Under that law, the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store are required to remove its listing if they don’t want to get slapped with a fine amounting to $5,000 for every user in the US who downloads the app. 

It didn’t take a full day before TikTok restored access to its service, but it’s app has yet to reappear on Google’s and Apple’s stores in the US.

The Verge reported: TikTok is now offering US downloads of the Android version of the app on its own website, the company announced last night. With the change, Android users in the United States now have an easy way to download or update the app for the first time since Google removed it from Google Play last month in response to a US ban on the app.

You can download both TikTok and TikTok Lite, a version of the app designed to work with lower internet connections. Once that’s done, you can install or update the app just by opening the file and approving its installation.

Like Apple, Google requires app makers to follow certain rules to be listed on the Play Store — rules TikTok isn’t necessarily bound to when offering the download on its own.  A TikTok help page claims that, nevertheless, the app “remains safe and secure.”

Forbes reported: More bad news for tens of millions of U.S. TikTok users today, as its suddenly better to be an Android users than an iPhone user. But given reports that eBay was listing TikTok enable iPhones for tens of thousands of dollars, this is a cheaper way to get your fix.

TikTok has been absent on Apple App Store and Google’s Play Store since the short-lived ban last month. While users can use installed apps almost as usual, there have been no new installs or updates. This is a nightmare for those changing phones but also a security issue, with no updates available to fix bugs or vulnerabilities.

Bad news for iPhone users, though. With no stateside sideloading, there’s no way for TikTok to do the same for them. The App Store blackout continues. 

In my opinion, it appears that it might take some time before Apple users can expect to access TikTok on their iPhones.


UK Demands Ability To Access Apple Users’ Encrypted Data



The UK government had demanded that Apple create a backdoor in its encrypted cloud service, in a confrontation that challenges the US tech firm’s avowed stance on protecting user privacy, The Guardian reported.

The Washington Post reported on Friday that the Home Office had issued a “technical capability notice” under the Investigatory Powers Act (IPA), which requires companies to assist law enforcement in providing evidence.

The demand, issued last month, relates to Apple’s Advanced Data Protection (ADP) service, which heavily encrypts personal data uploaded and stored remotely in Apple’s cloud servers, according to the Post, which said this was a “blanket” request that applied to any Apple user worldwide. 

The ADP service uses end-to-end encryption, a form of security that means only the account holder can decrypt the files and no one else can — including Apple.

Apple declined to comment. However, in a submission to parliament last year, it flagged its concerns about the IPA, saying it provided the government with “authority to issue secret orders requiring providers to break encryption by inserting backdoors into their software products.”

Reuters reported: Britain has ordered Apple to give it unprecedentedly broad access to encrypted user data stored on Apple’s data cloud, the Washington Post newspaper reported on Friday.

The UK government’s “technical capability notice” requires blanket access rather than merely assistance to access a specific account, the paper reported, citing unnamed sources.

Governments routinely ask technology companies for user data to crack criminal cases, but Britain’s’ sweeping demand, issued last month, has no known precedent in major democracies, the Post said.

Britain issues such notices under its Investigatory Powers Act of 2016, which combined with various existing powers on intercepting and obtaining communications. 

While security officials say data encryption features make it harder to catch criminals, tech companies have long guarded their users’ right to privacy.

The Verge reported: Apple has been ordered by the UK government to create a backdoor that would give security officials access to users’ encrypted iCloud backups. If implemented, British security services would have access to the backups of any user worldwide, not jut Brits, and Apple would not be permitted to alert users that their inscription was compromised.

Apple’s iCloud backups aren’t encrypted by default, but the Advanced Data Protection option was added in 2022, and must be enabled manually. It uses end-to-end encryption so that not even Apple can access encrypted files. 

In response to the order, Apple is expected to comply to stop offering Advanced Data Protection in the UK. This wouldn’t meet the UK’s demand for access to files shared by global users, however.

In my opinion, I don’t see why the UK government wants to gather encrypted data from Apple’s users. What are they hoping to find?


Lawmakers Push To Ban DeepSeek App From U.S. Government Devices



Lawmakers plan to introduce a bill Thursday that would ban DeeSeek’s chatbot application from government-owned devices, over new security concerns that the app could provide user information to the Chinese government, The Wall Street Journal reported. 

The legislation written by Darin LaHood, an Illinois Republican, and Josh Gottheimer, a New Jersey Democrat, is echoing a strategy that Congress use to ban Chinese-controlled TikTok from government devices, which marked the beginning of the effort to block the company from operating in the U.S. 

“This should be a no-brainer in terms of actions we should take to immediately prevent our enemy from getting information from our government,” Gottheimer said.

The chatbot app, however, has intentionally hidden code that could send user login information to China Mobile, a state-owned telecommunications company that has been banned in the U.S., according to an analysis by Ivan Tsarynny, chief executive of Feroot Security, which specializes in data protection and cybersecurity. Tsarynny;s analysis was published earlier by the Associated Press.

“Our personal information is being sent to China, there is no denial, and the DeepSeek tool is collecting everything that American users connect to it,” Tsarynny said in an interview.

ArsTechnica reported: Lawmakers are now pushing to immediately ban the Chinese chatbot DeepSeek on government devices, citing national security concerns that the Chines Communist Party (CCP) may have built a backdoor into DeepSeek to access Americans’ sensitive private data. If passed, DeepSeek could be banned within 60 days.

DeepSeek shocked the world when it debuted last month. Rumored to rival OpenAI o1 reasoning model despite costing significantly less to develop, DeepSeek’s open source model is free to download. That propelled its popularity, making DeepSeek the most-downloaded app in the U.S.

TikTok has been banned on government devices since 2022, and Donald Trump is currently trying to work out a deal to save the app after TikTok was briefly blocked nationwide. As national security fears around TikTok swirl, one Senator, John Curtis (R-Utah) warned yesterday that DeepSeek is “TikTok on steroids” while questioning Howard Lutnick, Trump’s pick for Commerce secretary.

ABC News reported: Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) is demanding swift action after ABC News’ exclusive reporting about hidden links in DeepSeek’s artificial intelligence tool that could potentially send data to a Chinese state-owned telecommunications company.

“I think we should ban DeepSeek from all government devices immediately. No one should be allowed to downloaded it onto their device,” Gottheimer, who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, told ABC News.

A new bill Gottheimer proposed on Thursday is called the “No DeepSeek on Government Devices Act” and it would require the Office of Management and Budget to develop guidelines within 60 days for the removal of DeepSeek from federal technologies, with exceptions for law enforcement and national security-related activity.

In my opinion, DeepSeek could pose a danger to the lawmakers in the U.S House and Senate. Hopefully, this app will be removed from lawmaker’s phones.

 


USPS Reverses China Parcel Ban Amid Tariff Confusion #1797



Today, I explore a significant shake-up in international shipping. Just hours after the U.S. Postal Service halted parcels from China, it suddenly reversed course. This move follows President Trump’s new tariffs and the elimination of a key duty exemption used by major retailers like Temu and Shein. What does this mean for businesses, consumers, and the economy? My advice to those waiting to buy something is not to delay!

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Continue reading USPS Reverses China Parcel Ban Amid Tariff Confusion #1797


USPS Says Packages From China And Hong Kong Will Be Accepted Again



The U.S. Postal Service on Wednesday halted an order to suspend incoming shipments from China that threatened to severely disrupt trade between two major economies, CBC News reported.

A day after announcing the suspension in the wake of President Trump’s tariffs on China, the postal service said in an online update that it would “continue accepting all international inbound mail and packages from China and Hong Kong Posts.”

It added it was workin to “implement an efficient collection mechanism for the new China tariffs to ensure the least disruption to package delivery.”

Letters and flats were not included in the suspension, the postal service said.

On Tuesday, Beijing announced it would counter Mr. Trump’s new 10% tariff on Chinese goods with retaliatory tariffs of his own. China said starting next Monday it would implement a 15% tariff on coal and liquified national gas products along with a 10% tariff on crude oil, agricultural machinery and large-engine cars imported from the U.S. 

Mr. Trump’s tariff increases also eliminated a duty-free exemption for low-value packages coming from China. The “de minimus” exemption allows goods valued at $800 or below to come into the United States without paying duties or certain taxes.

BBC reported: The US Postal Service (USPS) has resumed accepting parcels from mainland China and Hong Kong following a brief suspension after Donald Trump changed the rules on import taxes.

USPS said it as working with US Customs an Border Protection to ensure “the lease disruption” to package deliveries as the US president announced trade measures which included higher tariffs on Chinese goods.

The US also ended a policy that allowed small packages worth $800 (£641) or less to be sent to America without paying taxes or fees.

Chinese retailers, such as online giants Shein and Temu, have used the exemption to ship low-value packages to the US and have benefited from similar rules in the UK and the European Union (EU) to reach millions of customers.

The explosion of parcels being shipped under the loophole has prompted increased scrutiny in recent years. While all retailers use the exemption, those who sell fast-fashion and cheap goods have seen their sales soar. 

NPR reported: A trade loophole called de minimus helped drive explosive growth for bargain sites such as Temu and Shein, allowing them to ship cheep goods from China to U.S. consumers without having to pay taxes and import duties.

But that now stands to change, after President Trump signed an executive order stating de minimus treatment “shall not be available” for products made in China, the top source of goods imported to the U.S.

The effects could be far reaching: De minimus shipments account for most of the cargo entering the U.S., Customs and Border Protection said last fall. The agency said it was handling some 4 million de minimus shipments every day — a rate that would blow past the previous year’s mark of more than 1 billion shipments.

In my opinion, it appears that President Trump does not want to allow products from China to be delivered to the U.S.

 


Elon Musk Publicize The Names Of Government Employees He Wants To Cut



When President-elect Donald Trump said Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy would recommend major cuts to the federal government in his administration, many public employees knew that their jobs could be on the line, CNN reported.

Last week, in the midst of the flurry of his daily missives, Musk reposted two X posts that revealed the names and titles of people holding four relatively obscure climate-related government positions. Each post has been viewed millions of times, and the individuals named had been subjected to a barrage of negative attention. At least one of the four women named has deleted her social media accounts.

Although the information he posted on those government positions is available through public online databases, these posts target otherwise unknown government employees in roles that do not deal directly with the public.

“These tactics are aimed at sowing terror and fear at federal employees,” said Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents more than 800,000 of the 2.3 million civilian federal employees. “It’s intended to make them fearful that they will be come afraid to speak up.”

The Verge reported: Elon Musk is, in addition to many other things, now the co-lead of the currently nonexistent Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) advisory group. Now, before it even gets rolling, he has begun singling out individual government employees he says are emblematic of the government’s bloat and posting about them to his hundreds of millions of followers on X.

Earlier this week, as first reported by The Wall Street Journal, the X user “datahazard” shared a screenshot on X highlighting the role of Ashley Thomas, the Director of Climate Diversification at the US International Development Finance Corporation, saying “I don’t think the US Taxpayer should pay for the employment” of that role. Musk reposted it, adding the comment “so many fake jobs” in a post with more than 33 million views.

The ensuing harassment, of course, is precisely the point: Musk has systematically turned X into a megaphone for his views and has wielded that megaphone to whatever end he finds funny or useful. Musk and DOGE co-lead Vivek Ramaswamy have promised to do much of their work in public (and sometimes by X poll), too, which means this kind of pointed attention is likely headed toward many other civil servants in the near future.

NBC News reported:  In the shorthand of the tech industry, Elon Musk has hacked the government.

The billionaire tech magnate has never been elected to office or been confirmed by the Senate for a high-level government job, but in the span of a few days, Musk has still gained access to sensitive federal data through his position of President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency project, or DOGE, to push a far-reaching agenda and potentially spark a constitutional crisis.

DOGE is an office within the Executive Office of the President, according to a Trump executive order from Jan. 20, and Musk has been named a “special government employee,” according to a White House official. It is a temporary position that allows him greater access, but it also bypasses some of the disclosure obligations required of full-time government employees.

In my opinion, Elon Musk, who is not an elected official, should not be given any power over the government workers who he wants to get rid of.