The TikTok Bill Could Get a Lot of Apps Banned

bnew

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Facebook snooped on users’ Snapchat traffic in secret project, documents reveal​

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai @lorenzofb / 5:05 PM EDT•March 26, 2024

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on January 31, 2024 in Washington, DC.

Image Credits: Alex Wong/Getty Images

In 2016, Facebook launched a secret project designed to intercept and decrypt the network traffic between people using Snapchat’s app and its servers. The goal was to understand users’ behavior and help Facebook compete with Snapchat, according to newly unsealed court documents. Facebook called this “Project Ghostbusters,” in a clear reference to Snapchat’s ghost-like logo.

On Tuesday, a federal court in California released new documents discovered as part of the class action lawsuit between consumers and Meta, Facebook’s parent company.

The newly released documents reveal how Meta tried to gain a competitive advantage over its competitors, including Snapchat and later Amazon and YouTube, by analyzing the network traffic of how its users were interacting with Meta’s competitors. Given these apps’ use of encryption, Facebook needed to develop special technology to get around it.

One of the documents details Facebook’s Project Ghostbusters. The project was part of the company’s In-App Action Panel (IAPP) program, which used a technique for “intercepting and decrypting” encrypted app traffic from users of Snapchat, and later from users of YouTube and Amazon, the consumers’ lawyers wrote in the document.

The document includes internal Facebook emails discussing the project.

“Whenever someone asks a question about Snapchat, the answer is usually that because their traffic is encrypted we have no analytics about them,” Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg wrote in an email dated June 9, 2016, which was published as part of the lawsuit. “Given how quickly they’re growing, it seems important to figure out a new way to get reliable analytics about them. Perhaps we need to do panels or write custom software. You should figure out how to do this.”

Facebook’s engineers solution was to use Onavo, a VPN-like service that Facebook acquired in 2013. In 2019, Facebook shut down Onavo after a TechCrunch investigation revealed that Facebook had been secretly paying teenagers to use Onavo so the company could access all of their web activity.

After Zuckerberg’s email, the Onavo team took on the project and a month later proposed a solution: so-called kits that can be installed on iOS and Android that intercept traffic for specific subdomains, “allowing us to read what would otherwise be encrypted traffic so we can measure in-app usage,” read an email from July 2016. “This is a ‘man-in-the-middle’ approach.”

CONTACT US​

Do you know more about Project Ghostbusters? Or other privacy issues at Facebook? From a non-work device, you can contact Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai securely on Signal at +1 917 257 1382, or via Telegram, Keybase and Wire @lorenzofb, or email. You also can contact TechCrunch via SecureDrop.

A man-in-the-middle attack — nowadays also called adversary-in-the-middle — is an attack where hackers intercept internet traffic flowing from one device to another over a network. When the network traffic is unencrypted, this type of attack allows the hackers to read the data inside, such as usernames, passwords, and other in-app activity.

Given that Snapchat encrypted the traffic between the app and its servers, this network analysis technique was not going to be effective. This is why Facebook engineers proposed using Onavo, which when activated had the advantage of reading all of the device’s network traffic before it got encrypted and sent over the internet.

“We now have the capability to measure detailed in-app activity” from “parsing snapchat [sic] analytics collected from incentivized participants in Onavo’s research program,” read another email.

Later, according to the court documents, Facebook expanded the program to Amazon and YouTube.

Inside Facebook, there wasn’t a consensus on whether Project Ghostbusters was a good idea. Some employees, including Jay Parikh, Facebook’s then-head of infrastructure engineering, and Pedro Canahuati, the then-head of security engineering, expressed their concern.

“I can’t think of a good argument for why this is okay. No security person is ever comfortable with this, no matter what consent we get from the general public. The general public just doesn’t know how this stuff works,” Canahuati wrote in an email, included in the court documents.

In 2020, Sarah Grabert and Maximilian Klein filed a class action lawsuit against Facebook, claiming that the company lied about its data collection activities and exploited the data it “deceptively extracted” from users to identify competitors and then unfairly fight against these new companies.

An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment.

Google, Meta, and Snap did not respond to requests for comment.

This story was updated to correct the link to the discovery documents in the fourth paragraph.
 

bnew

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1/3
this isn’t about TikTok, it’s about censorship. TikTok has become incredibly effective in educating the public on topics main news outlets won’t even cover.
It’s an accesible way for people to share crucial information in a digestible format. They want to censor that.

2/3
While you’re here!

3/3
It’s actually so worrying. My FYP will give me Palestinian voices, I just learned about the prison strikes, and there is so much generally good educational and call-to-action content on there. And you’re right. They can’t control it so they want to get rid of it.
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Some states are seeking to restrict TikTok. That doesn’t mean their governors aren’t using it​

FILE - Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro arrives in Blue Bell, Pa., Friday, Jan. 5, 2024. Shapiro, a Democrat, is a prolific Tik Tok poster, with his efforts beginning on the campaign trail through a personal account. The first-termer is a rising star in the Democratic Party and among a handful of governors who are building their national profiles and possibly positioning themselves for a 2028 run for the White House. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

FILE - Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro arrives in Blue Bell, Pa., Friday, Jan. 5, 2024. Shapiro, a Democrat, is a prolific Tik Tok poster, with his efforts beginning on the campaign trail through a personal account. The first-termer is a rising star in the Democratic Party and among a handful of governors who are building their national profiles and possibly positioning themselves for a 2028 run for the White House. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

BY BROOKE SCHULTZ

Updated 12:06 AM EDT, April 6, 2024

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HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — POV: You’re on TikTok, and so is your governor — even as your Legislature considers banning the app from state-owned devices and networks.

Efforts to ban TikTok over security concerns about China’s influence through the platform have picked up steam in the past year in state legislatures, with an expansive ban even proposed by Congress. In Pennsylvania, forward movement on a bill that first unanimously passed the state Senate last year could send legislation to the Democratic governor’s desk imminently.

But even as the app faces scrutiny and bans, governors and state agencies — and even President Joe Biden — are still using the app to promote their initiatives and expand their voting pool. Their target is the youth vote, or the people who largely make up the app’s U.S. user base of 170 million.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, is a prolific poster, with his efforts beginning on the campaign trail through a personal account. The first-termer is a rising star in the Democratic Party and is among governors building national profiles and possibly positioning themselves for a 2028 run for the White House.

His careful messaging extends to his official governor account on TikTok. All colored with his priorities and stances, videos have him participating in viral trends, breaking down aspects of his budget proposal, and even taking a dig at Texas via a Beyoncé song.

Other governors use TikTok accounts — among verified accounts, only Democrats — even in states that have banned the app from state devices and networks.

It isn’t surprising that politicians do use TikTok so much, said Anupam Chander, visiting scholar at the Institute for Rebooting Social Media at Harvard University. It’s more surprising that they don’t.

Such outreach draws its lineage to President Franklin Roosevelt’s fireside chats, when Depression-era Americans would gather around the radio to hear his voice. More recently, social media has been galvanized in elections, like former President Barack Obama on Facebook in 2008, or former President Donald Trump on Twitter, now X, in 2016.

“This is an app that can be very personal. You can share your walk to the Senate chambers or your exhilaration as a vote is passed. Or your disappointment when a vote fails,” he said. “This is a way to reach people in a very personal way.”

Former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy made early and, well, liberal use of TikTok during his campaign, with one young Republican saying his social media presence “made him popular.”

“A lot of younger voters seem receptive to candidates such as Ramaswamy, due to his young age and new-generation agenda,” Victoria Carlson, a spokesperson for the George Washington University College Republicans, told CBS News in September.

In Michigan, the app was banned in March 2023 from government devices — with certain exceptions, like Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s promotional account, which has brought cute dog videos, her March Madness bracket and news about her initiatives to her roughly 245,000 followers.

In New Jersey, a government-affiliated app posts jokes and memes. An exemption in New Jersey’s law banning TikTok from government devices allows for posts from non-state networks, with permission. Other government accounts across the country have touted their state parks to drive tourism, events and small businesses.

In Pennsylvania, you have Shapiro and his steaming ‘Get S—t Done’ mug of tea — a nod to his edgy tagline — or slightly shaky footage as he records himself thanking teachers as his kids head back to school. As a play on the popular “point of view” videos where creators set up a scenario, Shapiro makes a concerned face with the overlaid text “POV: When extremists try to stop legal votes from counting.”

“The governor believes, and this administration believes, that there should be no wrong door to accessing government,” said Manuel Bonder, Shapiro’s spokesperson.

TikTok is part of that landscape, he said. The administration has a phone dedicated only to making TikToks, off of state Wi-Fi, with no other apps on it, Bonder said.

A TikTok spokesperson wouldn’t be quoted by name about legislation banning the app.

In 2022, researchers found more than 100 accounts for those running for Congress. A majority were Democrats, said Maggie Macdonald, assistant professor of political science at the University of Kentucky.

“It seems to be, Democrats are exclusively having this debate, in terms of having an account and talking of banning it,” she said.
 

Diunx

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Yep, and morons supporting this shyt because bla bla bla social media, raise your fukking retard kids, first it was comic books, then tv, then video games, theres always some shyt "ruining" the youth, guess what, most kids are shyt and grow up to be shyt, thats why the world has always been full of shyt.
 

Diunx

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the point is China is using it to feed our citizens propaganda and self-destructive trends. In China its an education tool. In the US it’s the “drink motor oil“ challenge.
And is china putting a gun on those morons? If you don't know that you can't drink motor oil then are we really losing anything? Was that moron gonna cure cancer?
 

bnew

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1/2
The tiktok ban will most likely pass today. Here are some things you can do & follow
@vitusspehar for more

2/2
Here if you want to sign


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1/1
BREAKING: The House just passed the bill to ban TikTok in the U.S.

It's likely to pass in the Senate since it's tied to more war funds for the U.S. proxy war in Ukraine and for Israel.

Why the pro-Israel lobby is pushing the ban:


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1/2
A ban on TikTok in the United States is once again back on the chopping block this year as the House of Reps pass a new bill that would ban the popular video sharing app. U.S. House of Reps Pass New Bill That Bundles TikTok Ban and Foreign Aid - IGN

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A Joker open-world game concept created in Unreal Engine 5 by @teaserplayz


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1/1
Biden has promised to sign the TikTok ban by midnight Saturday. TikTok creators are meeting in DC to make their voices heard.

When your govt moves to deny you liberty you make your voices heard all the way to DC! Meet us Saturday at the Capital at 11:30 AM to PEACEFULLY meet members of Congress & make our voices heard for Free Speech! We need to remind our reps that our speech isnt a bargaining chip in their forever wars. @UnderTheDeskNews
@Cancelcloco
@midroadsanity


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1/2
TikTok Ban is a hoax.
We know who's behind it.

2/2
Hint:


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1/1
Solid rant.

I’m curious to see what happens too if they ban TikTok.

The politicians aren’t going to ban it for “national security” interests. It’s to silence dissent.


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3rdWorld

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How exactly is this going to work? Will it be when you try to access the app, you get blocked? What about using a VPN? I'm not sure how something like this will be enforced?

This ban was influenced by negative anti Israel talk on the app and local jews lobbied their congressmen..that's all it is.
That's how powerful they are..in a sense they can do it as they've been controlling your media forever now so this is nothing new.
 
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