TikTok no longer in limbo as it seals US deal After half a decade of geopolitical brinkmanship, court battles and executive orders, TikTok has finally secured its future in the US. The short-form video platform confirmed on Thursday that it has closed a deal allowing it to continue operating across the pond, bringing an end to years of uncertainty that began during Donald Trump’s first [...]
TikTok owner eyes $23bn AI spend amid Nvidia chip uncertainty Tech ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, is set to significantly ramp up its investment in AI next year, as access to Nvidia’s chips once again becomes a key fault line in the global race. ByteDance is reportedly targeting around RMB160bn (£17bn) in capital expenditure in 2026, up from roughly RMB150bn (£15.7bn) this year, with the bulk [...]
TikTok wants you to stop doomscrolling (on its own app) Tech TikTok has spent years perfecting the dark art of keeping you glued to your phone, but now it wants to help you put the phone down. In a move that feels almost existential, the company announced on Wednesday the rollout of a new so-called ‘Time and Well‑Being’ centre designed to help people step away from [...]
Sora: OpenAI targets Tiktok with AI social media platform October 1, 2025 OpenAI has taken an ambitious step into the social media market with the launch of ‘Sora’, its new app designed for users to generate and share AI-generated video content. Coupled with the roll-out of Sora 2, its new audio-visual software model, the platform aims to shift AI from a mere productivity tool, into a space [...]
Trump signals TikTok deal as US operations hinge on agreement September 15, 2025 President Donald Trump has suggested that the United States and China have reached a deal on the future of TikTok, the viral video platform owned by Chinese firm ByteDance. Trump said on his own social media platform, Truth Social, that trade talks in Spain “went very well”, and that a deal was reached regarding “a certain company [...]
TikTok sheds London staff in major AI push August 22, 2025 TikTok is set to lay off hundreds of staff in its content moderation and security team in London, a decision that has sparked concern just as the UK’s Online Safety Act comes into force. The company, owned by ByteDance, is centralising its “trust and safety” operations globally and plans to increasingly rely on artificial intelligence [...]
Is Trump going to save TikTok… again? June 19, 2025 TikTok’s future in the US is once again in limbo – but this time, fewer in both Wall Street and Washington are taking the threat seriously. In a move that surprised few but frustrated many, President Donald Trump is reportedly preparing to delay a divest-or-ban deadline for the third time in the last six months, [...]
EU targets TikTok in escalating global tech crackdown May 2, 2025 Tiktok has been fined €530m (£451.9m) by Ireland’s data watchdog for illegally transferring European user data to China, and failing to properly inform users. The landmark ruling intensifies the EU’s scrutiny of global tech firms and their data flows to countries with intrusive surveillance regimes. The fine, the third largest ever under the EU’s general [...]
Tariffs delay deadline for TikTok sale…again April 10, 2025 TikTok, the beloved video platform that has had Washington in a twist, is back in limbo. What was once just a viral dance platform has now become emblematic – a rope in a high stakes geopolitical tug-of-war. An initial ban over national security concern was introduced, then reversed, and ultimately the app has been treading [...]
Schiehallion: Value of Spacex stake in Baillie Gifford trust skyrockets March 26, 2025 Baillie Gifford’s Schiehallion trust marked up the value of its holdings in Elon Musk’s Spacex by 86 per cent last year, as the trust worked to close the gap between its share price and underlying assets. The valuation of Spacex, which makes up 9.4 per cent of Schiehallion’s portfolio, has increased by more than 600 [...]