World News

Nepal bans TikTok citing disruption to social harmony

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Nepal has banned China’s TikTok because its content “was detrimental to social harmony.

“The decision comes days after the country introduced a new rule requiring social media firms to set up liaison offices in the country.

TikTok, which has around a billion monthly users, has been banned by several countries including India.

Earlier this year, Montana became the first US state to ban it while the UK Parliament banned it from its network.

Minister for Communications and Information Technology Rekha Sharma has told the BBC Nepali that the platform spread malicious content.

She added that “the ban would come into effect immediately and telecom authorities have been directed to implement the decision”.

But Gagan Thapa, a senior leader of Nepali Congress, which is part of the coalition government, has questioned the government’s decision to impose a ban on TikTok.

He said it was an attempt to curb the freedom of expression and officials should focus on regulating the platform.

TikTok has come under scrutiny from authorities around the world over concerns that data could be passed to the Chinese government.

Its parent company, ByteDance, has previously rejected the allegation. TikTok did not respond to the BBC’s request for comment on the latest ban by the government in Nepal.

Although TikTok lags behind the likes of Facebook and Instagram, its growth among young people far outstrips its competitors.

More than 1,600 TikTok-related cyber crime cases have been registered over the last four years in Nepal, according to local media reports.

According to the BBC Media Action report on the media usage in Nepal, TikTok is the third most used platform nationally.

While YouTube and Facebook are popular among internet users of all age groups, TikTok is highly popular with younger age groups with more than 80% of social media users aged between 16 and 24 using the platform.

Pakistan has temporarily banned the app at least four times since October 2020 while its online shopping service was shut in Indonesia last month.

World News

Australia joins UK, Belgium to ban TikTok on government-owned devices

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Australian authorities have banned the Chinese-owned social network TikTok on all government-owned devices amid growing security concerns and fears that the nation’s official information may fall into the wrong hands.

The ban, announced on Tuesday, will be effective “as soon as practicable,” according to Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, who added that rare exemptions would only be authorised on a “case-by-case basis” with “appropriate security mitigations in place.”

Australia was the last of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance’s five nations to ban TikTok on government-owned devices after the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and New Zealand previously issued similar orders.

Countries like the European Commission, France and the Netherlands also banned the social network on official devices in their nations.

Lee Hunter, general manager of TikTok operations in New Zealand and Australia, said there was no proof that the social network was leaking users’ vital information to the Chinese government.

“There is no evidence to suggest that TikTok is in any way a security risk to Australians and should not be treated differently to other social media platforms,” said Mr Hunter in a statement.

Last month, the company’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, testified before the U.S. Congress that TikTok was not sharing users’ data with the Chinese government.

World News

TikTok app banned from UK Government phones over Chinese ‘spying fears’

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TikTok has been banned from UK Government phones with immediate effect over cyber-security ‘risks.’

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Oliver Dowden disclosed that the block on the Chinese-owned app came after a review by Government experts.

He also revealed that only third-party apps from an approved list would be allowed on official devices.

The restriction comes in response to concerns that users’ sensitive data could be accessed by the authorities in Beijing via TikTok’s firm’s owner ByteDance, which has its headquarters in China.

Members of the Government and officials will also be discouraged from keeping the controversial video-sharing app on their personal phones, but they will not be banned from using them in their own time.

It follows moves by the US, the EU, and Canada to stop officials using the app on their work devices, and comes after the Government declared that China ‘poses an epoch-defining challenge’.

Parliament’s TikTok account was shut down last year after MPs raised concerns about the firm’s links to China.

The official Downing Street TikTok page has not been updated since the summer. But the Ministry of Defence opened an account only last week.

Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, who has called for a more robust attitude towards Beijing, welcomed the development.

But he told MailOnline the ban had to be extended to the personal phones of ministers and senior civil servants to work effectively.

‘While they are ministers they should be denied access. If it is a security risk on the government phones it is a security risk on their phones,’ he said.

‘The idea that they do nothing with the Government other than on their secure phones – I’m sorry, that is not true. This app should not be on their personal phones.’

TikTok has said bans have been based on ‘misplaced fears and seemingly driven by wider geopolitics’, saying it would be ‘disappointed by such a move’ in the UK.

But Alicia Kearns, chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said: ‘Significant questions remain around TikTok’s ability to act as a data Trojan Horse. The Government has a duty to protect our people from the acquisition of our personal data by a hostile states.’

Asked about a possible ban earlier this week, security minister Tom Tugendhat told Times Radio he had asked the National Cyber Security Centre, a branch of GCHQ, to assess the risk.

‘We need to make sure that our phones are not spyware, but useful tools for us,’ he said.

It comes after the Biden administration threatened to ban TikTok in the US unless its Chinese owner sells its shares in the app.

Lifestyle

Nigerian woman files for divorce 9 months after marrying man 2 months after she met him on TikTok

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TikToker, Jasmine Chioma Okafor, popularly known as ‘Ibu’s daughter,’ has revealed that she is separated from the man she met on TikTok and married just two months after.

Jasmine went viral earlier this year when she announced that she was getting married to a US-based man whom she met on TikTok just weeks prior.

The man proposed to her on the same day he flew down to Nigeria to meet her for the first time. Their wedding held in February.

Just last week, Jasmine announced on TikTok that she is expecting twin girls with her husband.

Today, Nov. 14, she took to Instagram to reveal that they are separating. She added that she has filed for divorce.

Lifestyle

Sexy female police officers in viral TikTok video suspended for Impersonation and violation of social media policy

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The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, has suspended two Supernumerary Police Officers, Obaze Blessing with SPY number 5709, and Obaze Emmanuella Uju with SPY number 5708, with immediate effect, for breach of the provisions of the Police Act, 2020, and The Nigeria Police Guidelines for Recruitment/Promotion/Discipline of Supernumerary Police (SPY) 2013 by the Inspector-General of Police, as captured in a video posted by one of the officers in a viral video on August 3, 2022.

The officers went viral recently after TikTok videos of them looking sexy in and out of their uniforms went viral.

A statement released by CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi says the officers who are Suprenumerary police officers dressed in uniforms that are not permitted for their level and also violated the Social media policy of the police.

The statement in part reads

”By the combined effects of the Police Act, 2020 and the Nigeria Police Guidelines for Recruitment/Promotion/Discipline of Supernumerary Police (SPY),2013 was established solely to complement the services of regular Police Officers when needed by Ministries, Departments and Agencies/Multi-National Companies, and Banks who make requests and upon approval pay for their training and cover their emoluments for the period of their engagement. (Sections 21-24 of the Police Act, 2020).

It is equally important to mention that in line with Section 25 (2) (3) of the Police Act, 2020 and the Nigeria Police Guidelines for Recruitment/Promotion/Discipline of Supernumerary Police (SPY), 2013issued by the Inspector-General of Police (Guidelines for SPYs), the mode of dressing of SPY police mandates its SPY officers above the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police not to wear uniforms. Similarly, extant laws delineate the Supernumerary uniform.

It states that they must be on their approved uniform, ash coloured shirt with “SPY” inscriptions all over, over black with shoulder badge carrying the word “SUPERNUMERARY”. Supernumerary Officers adorning police black, neon blue or camouflage uniforms run afoul of the law and would be adequately sanctioned.

The suspended supernumerary officers – Obaze Blessing with SPY number 5709, and Obaze Emmanuella Uju with SPY number 5708, adorned themselves in conventional police officers’ uniforms contrary to the code regulating the SPY service. One of them similarly adorned the rank of Superintendent of Police which is contrary to extant laws.

Above all, they portrayed themselves in the viral video and other videos as undisciplined and unprofessional, in contravention of the Police Social Media Policy, with acts glorifying ill-gotten wealth and ill-morals, which has received wide condemnation from members of the public.”

Adejobi called on all supernumerary officers to adhere strictly with extant laws as strict sanctions would apply to erring officers.

The Force is similarly revisiting other matters of infractions against members of the Supernumerary Police with a view to handing out necessary sanctions to other defaulters.

Entertainment, Lifestyle

Brazilian Hulk’ and TikTok star, Valdir Segato who injected himself with life-threatening oil to create 23-inch biceps, dies on his 55th birthday

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A Brazilian bodybuilder and TikTok star who went viral by injecting himself with life-threatening oil to create 23-inch biceps, has died on his 55th birthday in Ribeirao Preto.

Valdir Segato from Sao Paulo, who was inspired by the physiques of Arnold Schwarzenegger and fictional characters like The Hulk, used synthol injections for years despite risking strokes and infections to produce hulking biceps, pectorals, and back muscles.

According to Mail Online, Segato was warned he faced amputation or nerve damage, and muscle disfigurement six years ago but continued to use the injections to bulk himself out.

The former construction worker even vowed that he wanted to get even bigger.Speaking in 2016, he said: ‘They call me Hulk, Schwarzenegger and He-Man all the time and I like that. I’ve doubled my biceps but I still want to be bigger.’He proudly posted images and videos to social media, calling himself ‘Valdir Synthol’ on Instagram.

According to local media, he died after after being taken to hospital complaining about shortness of breathOne man named Moisés da Conceição da Silva said on the day Segato died, he had asked his mother for help, complaining about a shortness of breath.It was around 6 am, more or less.

He came crawling through the back house and came to the front. Then he knocked on my mother’s window, knocked, knocked, then she woke up and he said ‘help me, help me because I’m dying,” Moisés said, according to Brazil’s Globo news publication.

He was taken to the North Emergency Care Unit (UPA) – a medical facility in the city but could not be saved. ‘They put him in the car and then the neighbour went to the UPA. He arrived at the UPA, he fell at the reception, having a heart attack. I think he had a heart attack’, Moisés told the news website.

Moisés’ brother, Jadson da Conceição, told Globo that this was not the first time Segatohad to be rushed to hospital, and had previously complained of shortness of breath. The first time, he said, they were able to get him to the hospital on time. This time, he said, there was no saving him.

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