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Welcome to The Hill’s Technology newsletter
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Technology
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The Big Story
US faces questions over potential TikTok ban
Congress seems to have found common ground in raging against TikTok, but actually carrying out a ban on the video sharing app will be more complicated.
Any action the U.S. takes to try to block TikTok, which is owned by Beijing-based parent company ByteDance, will have loopholes for users to navigate and is certain to be challenged by free speech groups.
“It’s an enforcement nightmare,”said Aram Sinnreich, a communications professor at American University.
Sinnreich explained that such a move “would have broader sweeping implications for other capacities for government intervention, which has free speech and free trade implications.”
For new users, it would be easier to implement if downloads are blocked from dominant app stores. But for the millions of TikTok users who already have the app downloaded, it’s more complicated.
“It’s not clear how they keep people from using an app that they already have on their phone,” said Darrell West, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
Even if the government carries out those actions, users can still find workarounds to access TikTok as they do in other countries such as China that limit access to certain social media platforms.
Read more on the challenges facing a potential ban at TheHill.com.
Welcome to The Hill’s Technology newsletter, we’re Rebecca Klar and Ines Kagubare — tracking the latest moves from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley.
Artificial intelligence could impact the work tasks of roughly 80 percent of the U.S. workforce, according to new research, as the tech develops in ways that could augment or even displace some labor. Researchers from OpenAI, OpenResearch and the University of Pennsylvania argue in a new paper, posted to arXiv, that around 80 percent of the workforce could have at least 10 percent of their work affected by the implementation …
Twitter CEO Elon Musk reportedly told employees in an email on Friday that the company is now valued at $20 billion, less than half of the $44 billion he paid to purchase the company last year. In the email, viewed by The New York Times, Musk also announced a new compensation program in which employees will be able to receive stock in his holding company, X Corp, that bought Twitter. Musk updated workers on Twitter’s current …
NEW YORK (AP) — Some parts of Twitter’s source code — the fundamental computer code on which the social network runs — were leaked online, the social media company said in a legal filing that was first reported by The New York Times. According to the legal document, first filed with the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California on Friday, Twitter had asked GitHub, an internet hosting service for software …
News we’ve flagged from the intersection of tech and other topics:
Viral pope image generated by AI
A viral photo of what appeared to be the pope in a “swagged-out puffy jacket” was generated by an artificial intelligence tool, The Verge reported.
AR goggles spark dissent at Apple
Some employees are questioning the future path of an expected Apple augmented reality headset device, The New York Times reported.
The Hill Event
The Hill’s Disability Summit, March 29, 1-2 p.m. ET
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), first signed into law in 1990, prohibits discrimination in employment against qualified individuals with disabilities. Yet last year, of the more than 20 million people with disabilities in the United States, only 19 percent were employed. The Hill will convene policymakers and business and nonprofit leaders for a comprehensive discussion on practical solutions to increase employment across the disability community and achieving employment for all. Rep. Mike Bost (R-Ill.), chair of the House Veterans’ Affairs panel, Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), co-Chair of the Bipartisan Disabilities Caucus, Rhiannon Parker, chief innovation officer at The Valuable 500, Armando Contreras, president & CEO of United Cerebral Palsy, Day Al-Mohamed, director of disability policy at the White House Domestic Policy Council join. Save your spot now.
In Other News
Branch out with other reads on The Hill:
South Dakota gov’s veto of cryptocurrency regulations upheld
South Dakota’s House failed Monday to override Gov. Kristi Noem’s recent veto of a bill that would have created government regulations for the use of cryptocurrency in the state. The bill had passed smoothly throughout the legislature, and Noem’s veto of last week was upheld on …
HONG KONG (AP) — Alibaba founder Jack Ma has resurfaced in China after months of overseas travel, visiting a school Monday in the city where his company is headquartered and discussed topics such as artificial intelligence. Ma founded e-commerce firm Alibaba in the 1990s and was once China’s richest …
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Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will speak to the Republican Study Committee, the largest conservative caucus in the House Republican Conference, … Read more
