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US TikTok Ban Explained | special
Season 1
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Analysis of the US supreme court TikTok ban case over security concerns - with The London Standard’s science and technology editor, Will Hosie.
Plus, online star Adam McIntyre, who has over one million followers across his social media platforms, on the loss of income and memories if the video app is forced to close down.
It follows reports Tesla, X and SpaceX boss Elon Musk was in talks to buy TikTok’s US operations - something the Chinese ByteDance-owned firm denies.
Also a thanks to Dr Mark Kennedy, director of Imperial’s Data Science Institute.
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