United States: After the court’s verdict, TikTok is one step closer to be banned in the US, as it lost its legal battle in overturning a controversial law. On Friday, a US appeals court upheld the law in its ruling. 

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While denying TikTok’s argument, stating that the law was unconstitutional, the judges found the law does not “contravene the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States,” nor does it “violate the Fifth Amendment guarantee of equal protection of the laws.” 

For this ruling, TikTok was optimistic about appealing, which means the platform is one step closer to being banned in the US – if it can’t persuade Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell and find a buyer by early this year, the date will be moved up to January 19, 2025. 

After this deadline, US app stores and internet services that host TikTok will be subject to hefty fines if TikTok is not sold, CNN reported. 

In April, President Joe Biden signed a bill that required the app to be sold to a new, non-Chinese owner, or it would be banned from the US. It was done so, following the concerns on Capitol Hil, that hinted that ByteDance poses a national security risk. 

Concerns of legislators 

In particular, legislators have been concerned that ByteDance could supply user information to the Chinese authorities to ensure political compliance or that the Chinese authorities could pressure ByteDance to skew TikTok’s suggestions to advertise state propaganda. 

TikTok had sought a restraining order against the law in May when it said that the law violates the First Amendment rights of the platform’s over 170 million users in the US. 

That lawsuit was joined by a group of individual TikTok creators who accused the company of cheating them on revenue share. 

CNN reported that the court consolidated that lawsuit with claims from a group of individual TikTok creators. 

During a hearing in September, the US government’s attorneys went further to claim that TikTok has full control over its feed and that ByteDance could use this control to alter the feed of American users. 

In many ways, Friday’s decision hinged on deference to Congress, with the court concluding that lawmakers are acting well within their constitutional rights and following the proper procedure for passing the TikTok bill. 

A major contentious feature of the case had been the offer that TikTok made to US national security officials, which TikTok said would address the spying risks. 

During the litigation, TikTok also suggested that the US government was acting in bad faith as it negotiated with TikTok for several months before cutting off talks and then supporting the legislation recently signed by Biden. 

US government lawyers, on the other hand, argued weakly that the draft deal should not be sufficient for addressing the security issues. 

United States: In an unexpected turn of events, the FBI, along with CISA, has issued a sudden warning urging iPhone and Android users to begin using encrypted messages and calls whenever possible. 

This marks a surprising shift from previous law enforcement positions, where agencies had argued that encrypted content hindered their ability to access information, even with a court order. 

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Similar to other private messengers, Apple, Google, and Meta do not have access to content that is end-to-end encrypted. 

The agency advises avoiding normal text messages over the network, and if they are via RCS, then those texts are not fully encrypted. 

Although this rules out Apple’s new RCS option for messaging Androids, when messaging within iMessage (to other Apple users) or within Google Messages (to other Android users) is secure, forbes.com reported. 

Though again, it was messaging that was responsible for most of the attention that followed in the wake of the FBI and CISA warnings, it also encompasses calls. 

Most cellular calls are not completely encrypted, and each is vulnerable to interception, whether under the law or not. 

This is resolved by using a platform like WhatsApp, Signal, or FaceTime if using iPhones. 

Such calling, however, still exists but not as frequently, especially in the US and most European countries, as you would find many people use secure calling whenever they are traveling in Asia or Africa in particular due to distrusted networks. 

What do we do now? 

Apple is releasing iOS 18.2, which, for the first time, will allow users of iPhones – the world’s most popular smartphones – to transition from their device’s native messaging and calling apps, for example, forbes.com reported. 

This basically means that when you click to call or message instead of the standard Phone or iMessage apps opening up, they won’t. 

These two are calls and messages. I would suggest you switch as soon as iOS 18.2 gets released and demonstrated to be in the bottle. 

Also, it should be left to messaging and calls on WhatsApp, although Signal or any other end-to-end encrypted application will work. We have two different environments – the environment for the messages and for the calls. 

United States: A horrifying mass shooting erupted in the heart of Chicago on Monday afternoon, leaving three people dead and five others injured. The attack ultimately took place inside a home in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood, sending shockwaves through the southwest side of the city.

As police scramble to uncover the motive, the community is left reeling from the violence that actually unfolded at around 2:10 p.m. The Chicago Police Department is investigating, but many questions remain unanswered.

Nobody has been arrested yet, the department said in a news alert, adding that an investigation is underway.

As reported by the USA TODAY, Chicago Police Chief of Patrol Jon Hein said at the press conference that, according to the police, it was a shooting that occurred at a party. He said that the victims were of a Hispanic background, aged between 21 and 35 years but was unable to establish if they were related.

There were no children present during the occurrence of the event.

Hein continued, saying, “We’re going to solve this crime and find the individuals that were responsible for this heinous terrible incident.”

Police officers reported discovering eight people who had been shot).

Cops arrived at the scene to find eight victims of shooting, three of which died in the scene, while the other at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, police said.

Police reported that one of the three men as 26 while the age of the other two remained unknown.

Two of the shooting victims who were basically transferred to Mount Sinai Hospital in Chicago, where a 25-year-old man is hospitalized in stable condition, and a 27-year-old woman is in critical condition, the department said. were also admitted at the UI Health Hospital in Chicago; the man was almost 31 years old, while the woman was 21 years old, and both are in a good condition.

A female was rushed to the hospital of the University of Chicago Medical Center in a critical condition from her injuries inflicted by several gunshot to her shoulder, right hip, left hip and left thigh.