TikTok CEO Claims 150 Million US Users Ahead of Congressional Testimony

Caitlyn Jenner is voicing disdain for Nike’s latest ad featuring trans activist and online influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

The Sun: “His smile could light up a room, his laugh could cheer anyone up. “He was our sunshine on a cloudy day. "He always found good in every situation and touched the lives of many with his messages of hope and encouragement through his TikTok videos, where he chronicled and shared his journey with cancer with the world.

Naman Ramachandran Argonon Group, the parent company behind “The Masked Singer U.K.,” has appointed former Jupiter Entertainment executive VP Steve McGovern as COO of its U.S. business with a remit across Leopard USA, Rose Rock Entertainment and future U.S. operations including acquisitions. Argonon, a global production group headquartered in the U.K. and U.S., owns Scottish indie production company Bandicoot, which makes the U.K. version of “The Masked Singer” as well as “The Masked Dancer.” As part of the group’s strategic shift to the West Coast and upscaled focus on streamers, networks and platforms, McGovern’s role will be based in Los Angeles. Shirley Escott, currently Leopard USA’s COO, relocates to London to pursue other projects after five years in the post. McGovern will report into Argonon CEO James Burstall and Laura Bessell, Argonon’s global COO.

The Masked Singer UK maker Argonon has signed a Chief Operating Officer for its U.S. operation.

Former US President Donald Trump appeared before a New York jury on Tuesday to face more than 30 charges of commercial fraud, including the alleged $130,000 payment to actress Stormy Daniels to keep silent about their relationship in the run-up to the 2016 election, as reported by CNN. His wife, Melania Trump, has been at his side through thick and thin, and this time is no different.The former first lady was seen several hours after Donald Trump arrived with advisors and his son Eric Trump, in a rare public appearance entering the Trump Tower doors, looking downcast and refusing to comment.While Melania did not arrive at the same time as Donald, The DailyMail published yesterday that sources said that Melania unconditionally supports her husband, like the rest of the family.

has operated under the distant threat of a nationwide ban or forced sale. Now, mounting security and privacy concerns are prompting lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to debate its future. Last week, the short-form video platform with made headlines amid a highly publicized congressional hearing that brought TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew face to face with some of his toughest critics. Five palpably tense hours of questioning illuminated very little about what, if anything, Chew can do to quell lawmakers' fears.

After five decades — no exaggeration — of being accused of crimes, Donald Trump was indicted for the first time on Thursday. Despite most of his many legal problems seeming weightier, the charges in his first indictment don’t come from extorting a foreign leader or stealing nuclear secrets. They come from hooking up with a porn star.

Disney’s former head of communications Zenia Mucha is advising TikTok as the beleagued company fights calls to shut it down in the U.S. on security concerns, Deadline has confirmed. It’s already banned across the Federal government with President Biden recently ramping up demands that the global app’s Chinese parent sell the U.S. business to a company Stateside, or see it vanish.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Mucha, along with David Plouffe and Jim Messina, two prominent allies of former president Barack Obama, are working with the Chinese company in its efforts to fight a proposed ban of the video sharing app.TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew last week tried to convince members of the the House Energy and Commerce Committee that the addictive app he claims is now used by more than 150 million Americans has some separation from its China-based parent company, ByteDance.Lawmakers fear that the parent company, which includes Chinese government officials on its board, can access TikTok user data and might also use the platform’s algorithms to influence its content filtering. Congress, the White House and various regulators have suggested a ban or attempts to force ByteDance to sell the app.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Zenia Mucha, formerly Disney’s top spokesperson for almost two decades, was recruited to be part of the team that coached TikTok’s CEO for his congressional hearing earlier this month, according to a new report. In addition to Mucha, TikTok tapped former Obama advisers David Plouffe and Jim Messina to prep Shou Zi Chew, CEO of TikTok, for more than a month before Chew’s March 23 appearance before the House Energy and Commerce Committee — which observers said only reinforced anti-TikTok attitudes among both Republican and Democratic lawmakers concerned about the app’s Chinese ownership by parent company ByteDance. TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Mucha could not be reached for comment.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor About half of Americans are in favor of the U.S. government banning TikTok, the hugely popular video app owned by China-based internet giant ByteDance. Amid intensifying scrutiny of and antagonism toward TikTok, a newly released survey by Pew Research Center found that 50% of Americans support a U.S. government ban on the app, with 22% opposed and a sizable share (28%) unsure, according to a newly released survey conducted by Pew Research Center. Among those who actually use TikTok, just 19% support a ban. Given TikTok’s popularity among teens, it’s worth noting that Pew’s survey was fielded among U.S. adults (those 18 and older). Americans who are aware that TikTok is owned by the ByteDance are particularly likely to support banning it: About 60% of those surveyed who know TikTok’s parent company is based in China support the U.S. government banning the app, compared with 27% of those who are unaware of TikTok’s Chinese ties, according to the Pew survey.

EXCLUSIVE: Night Kitchen Films and Phillm Productions have announced Emmy and Grammy nominated comedian Margaret Cho (Showtime’s Margaret Cho: PsyCHO) has joined DJ Qualls (The Man In The High Castle, Hustle & Flow) and Marisé Álvarez (Disney+’s Obi-Wan Kenobi) in the dark comedy Evilou. 

Naman Ramachandran Yash Raj Films’ “Pathaan” is the biggest Indian hit of the year so far grossing $130 million. The studio’s Akshaye Widhani also served as a co-producer on the film. Part of the release strategy around “Pathaan” was keeping Shah Rukh Khan away from the film’s promotions, creating curiosity around the superstar’s comeback film, the first time he’d headlined a project since 2018’s “Zero.” “There was a lot of excitement and hunger to see India’s biggest movie star on screen after four years. We wanted to preserve that. So when we got into a room with him to talk about marketing the film, we all felt what if we went with a different strategy this time, which is less is more. So we hold back Shah Rukh, not have him seen pre-release, not have him interact with anybody pre-release,” Widhani told Variety. “But once the the film is out, then we come out into the media. That was a conscious decision and one that paid off well, because the whole excitement to go watch him on screen became even more, and the hunger increased when you didn’t see him. And it worked well for us.”

Angelique Jackson Christina Milian continues her streak of rom-coms at Netflix with the upcoming holiday movie “Meet Me Next Christmas.” The project marks the actor and musician’s third collaboration with Netflix following her popular destination romances, 2021’s “Resort to Love” — which spent four weeks on the streamer’s global top 10 film list — and 2019’s “Falling Inn Love.” Milian will executive produce and star in “Meet Me Next Christmas,” playing Layla, who, in pursuit of a fairytale romance with the man of her dreams, must race through New York City to get her hands on the hottest ticket in town: the sold out Pentatonix Christmas Eve Concert.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor The odds of the U.S. banning TikTok are higher after the app’s CEO testified before a House committee, according to some analysts. During the hearing, American politicians expressed frustration over what they saw as evasive and unconvincing answers about China’s influence over TikTok — and the communist regime’s ability to track user data — as well as its efforts to curb misinformation and harmful content, particularly in relation to children who use the app. In his D.C. appearance Thursday, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said the popular app, used by more than 150 million American users monthly, as committed to ensuring privacy and security. He insisted, as TikTok has claimed before, that the company has never furnished U.S. user data to the Chinese Communist Party (nor has the CCP ever made such a request). Chew talked up TikTok’s “Project Texas,” intended to bring user data fully under the aegis of U.S.-based personnel and hosted on Oracle infrastructure.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor In front of a panel of skeptical and often hostile U.S. representatives, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew tried to make the case for why the popular app is not a security threat to the country — and why a government ban of the app would be the wrong course of action. A U.S. ban of the app would hurt the country’s economy, reduce competition and “silence the voices of over 150 million Americans,” Chew said in testimony submitted to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The hearing, titled “TikTok: How Congress Can Safeguard American Data Privacy and Protect Children from Online Harms,” was held Thursday morning in Washington, D.C. The Biden administration recently demanded that ByteDance divest its ownership stake in TikTok or potentially be banned in the U.S. over national-security concerns given TikTok’s Chinese ownership. Under pending congressional legislation, which has bipartisan support, President Biden would have the authority to ban TikTok under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

The chairwoman of the House Energy & Commerce Committee opened a hearing featuring the CEO of TikTok by telling him that “your platform should be banned.”

Sofia Coppola’s 16-year-old daughter has shared a video revealing that she was grounded for trying to charter a helicopter. The teenager said in her now-viral video that she wanted to travel from New York to Maryland to have dinner with her camp friend.

William Earl Variety is pleased to announce additional speakers for its annual Entertainment Marketing Summit, presented by Deloitte, on April 19 in Los Angeles, including Christian Parkes, CMO, Neon; Catherine Halaby, head of entertainment, North America, TikTok; Deon Graham, chief brand officer, Combs Global; and Rachel Delphin, CMO, Twitch. Parkes and Halaby will join a Keynote Entertainment Marketing Leaders panel, also including Karen Bronzo, CMO, Warner Bros. Discovery; Dwight Caines, president, domestic marketing, Universal Pictures; and Marc Weinstock, president, worldwide marketing and distribution, Paramount Pictures. Graham, who oversees campaigns for Sean Combs’ businesses such as Revolt TV and Cîroc Vodka, will join a multicultural marketing conversation featuring Ellene V. Miles, SVP intersectional marketing, Sony Pictures Entertainment/ Motion Picture Group; Christine Benitez, SVP multicultural marketing, Paramount Pictures; and Claudia Chagui, SVP marketing and creative, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises.

Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, the former adviser to Melania Trump in the early days of her time as first lady, has called out reporting that the revelations about Stormy Daniels in early 2018 caused a split between the Trumps. Reporting by DailyMail.