Why Trump’s change of heart on TikTok? This is about self-interest, not security

The man who once declared TikTok a ‘national emergency’ has detected a very different mood among young Americans, says Emily Taylor of the International Security Programme, Chatham House

Badenoch tells inquiry of fake claims on WhatsApp during Covid pandemic

Tory leader says comments from ‘likely reputable’ sources such as the BMA were used to support misinformation

Trump may smell money in saving TikTok, but there’s a whiff of platform power too

Whatever deal the US president is eyeing over the app, it is further proof some digital giants wield disproportionate clout

The EU wants to scan every message sent in Europe. Will that really make us safer?

Lawmakers argue that mass surveillance will help to protect children. But the implications for our privacy and security are staggering, says journalist Apostolis Fotiadis

Is TikTok a national security threat – or is the ban a smokescreen for superpower rivalry?

Washington looks happy for the video app to harvest users’ data – as long as China does not reap the rewards

Elon Musk has shown his hand. If politicians like me won’t curb his malign powers, who will?

It’s the job of democracies around the world to stand strong together and hold oligarchs and their platforms to account, says Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey

Nick Clegg defends Meta’s removal of Facebook and Instagram factcheckers

Executive tells WEF in Davos the sites will still have ‘the industry’s most sophisticated community standards’

UK experts warn of dangers of violent content being readily available online

Ofcom figures show number of people seeing material depicting or encouraging violence or injury has risen

Australian children who play Roblox spending average of 137 minutes a day on the gaming app, data shows

Study by parental control software firm Qustodio also shows Roblox is the gaming app most blocked by parents

From TikTok to TrumpTok? The app’s banning and unbanning encapsulates everything wrong with US politics

Having done his best to shut down the social media platform, the new president is now being hailed as its saviour. And once again the Democrats have egg on their faces, writes Arwa Mahdawi

Trump signs executive order to pause US TikTok ban

President’s order says temporary pause would give ‘opportunity to determine appropriate course forward’

Why is TikTok working again in the US as Trump takes office?

App has resumed operations after saying it received assurance over de facto ban, but its future remains uncertain

TikTok users posting cat videos do not threaten UK national security, minister says

Darren Jones defends decision to allow app to continue running in UK as it stops working in US ahead of national ban

An information dark age is upon us. I’m logging off

As Musk, Zuckerberg and Bezos attempt to reshape our reality, my advice is to avoid their toxic platforms and wait it out

We tried banning our young son from watching YouTube…

It just led to him recreating its annoying content offline