News Mash-up: Social Media

レアジョブ英会話 Daily News Article Podcast

Facebook to launch Clubhouse-style rooms Facebook Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on April 19 the company planned to launch several audio services, including Clubhouse-style live audio rooms and a way for users to find and play podcasts. Facebook’s incursion into the audio market comes as the sudden explosion of interest in Clubhouse could be waning. Downloads of the Clubhouse app, which is only available on Apple’s iOS devices, suffered an estimated 70% decline in downloads in March from February, when it hit a high. As part of the announcements, Zuckerberg also said Facebook is working with Spotify on “Project Boombox” to share and listen to music on its platform. (Reuters) Biden drops Trump attempt to ban TikTok, WeChat, but orders new security review U.S. President Joe Biden has dropped an effort by the previous president to cripple the TikTok and WeChat apps. As president, Donald Trump had signed a series of executive orders to block new users from downloading the apps and also ban some other functions of the apps. The Chinese-owned apps said the orders would effectively block the apps in the United States. The Trump administration said that sensitive personal data of WeChat and TikTok users could be collected by China’s government. That made the apps a national security concern. However, U.S. courts blocked Trump’s executive orders, and Biden withdrew the orders on June 9. However, he told his Commerce Department to study the security of the apps. The White House remains very concerned about the data risks of TikTok users, a White House official told reporters. (Reuters) These articles were provided by The Japan Times Alpha.