All posts tagged "Bytedance"

From Alphabet to X, eight of the largest tech giants spent a record of $71 million combined on U.S. political lobbying in 2025, according to a new report from Issue One, a bipartisan nonprofit working to reduce the influence of money in politics.

“Big Tech is using every tool in the toolbox to gain access and influence in Trump's Washington,” said Michael Beckel, senior research director at Issue One and report co-author.

It’s the latest example of “pay-to-play politics” under President Donald Trump, the report says — highlighting how tech, artificial intelligence (AI) and social media companies spent nearly $330,000 each day Congress was in session in 2025, and came away with a series of wins around industry regulations. ...

President-elect Donald Trump took steps to restore TikTok that legal experts claimed don't "follow the law" set out by Congress when they implemented a ban on the social media platform for national security reasons.

Trump posted to TruthSocial Sunday, "I’m asking companies not to let TikTok stay dark! I will issue an executive order on Monday to extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect, so that we can make a deal to protect our national security. The order will also confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order."

According to Politico, "Biden officials briefly considered the same option, before concluding that the president wouldn’t have the authority to use it even ahead of the ban." ...

President-elect Donald Trump apparently wants MAGA fans to watch Monday's inauguration on TikTok so much that he promised "no liability" to any company who gets the social media platform back up and running before he takes office.

TikTok, owned by Chinese company Bytedance, officially went dark on Sunday after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld lawmakers' ban on the platform in the name of national security.

Trump took to his own social media platform, TruthSocial, to float his idea Sunday. ...

Former president and current White House hopeful Donald Trump has joined TikTok, posting his first video on the wildly popular social media app he once tried to ban while in office.

Reaching out to younger voters as he seeks reelection in November, Trump posted a 13-second clip Saturday night that shows him in his usual blue suit and red tie attending an Ultimate Fighting Championship bout in Newark, N.J.

In the video, which features raucous music, Trump is introduced by UFC CEO Dana White and leans into the camera saying, “It’s my honor.” ...

This article originally appeared in OpenSecrets. Sign up for their weekly newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.

After an expensive lobbying blitz, Congress passed and President Joe Biden signed into law a sweeping foreign aid package that includes a provision barring TikTok from operating in the U.S. if the video-sharing app’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, doesn’t sell its stake in the platform within a year.

ByteDance’s federal lobbying spending reached nearly $2.7 million in the first quarter of 2024, the most it has ever spent during the first three months of any year. It is also more than the video-sharing app spent on lobbying any prior quarter, with the exception of the third quarter of 2023. The jump follows a year of record lobbying totaling over $8.7 million in 2023 amid increased scrutiny of the video-sharing platform’s ties to China. ...

Last week, senators put the CEOs of five social media giants each in the hot seat over accusations of their platforms’ negligence toward the sexual exploitation and online safety of children.

The hottest seat of all at a multi-hour Senate Judiciary Committee hearing belonged to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who a senator asked to stand up and publicly apologize to victims and parents in attendance holding photos of their children they say were sexually abused, bullied or committed self harm — many dying by suicide — related to exploitation on social media platforms.

“Mr. Zuckerberg, you and the companies before us, I know you don’t mean it to be so, but you have blood on your hands,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), the committee’s ranking Republican. “You have a product that’s killing people.”...