TikTok's efforts to recruit kids as foreign agents

March 11, 2024

TikTok’s trying to get kids on board as overseas operatives. Let’s dive into what’s going on.

Don’t fall for these 5 new scams

Turns out, you can teach an old scammer new tricks. Lucky for you, I’ve got your back. Here are the top scams crooks are cooking up these days and how to avoid getting duped.

📱 Phoning it in: After a recent cell service outage, reports of bogus emails from AT&T to customers started pouring in. The emails said that, due to the outage, the customer didn’t have to pay their bill.

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Know your Airbnb: Picking out the best (and worst) spots on Airbnb is about to get easier. Look for labels that highlight the top 25%, top 1% and bottom 10% of properties based on ratings. No more nasty Airbnb hidden camera surprises, I hope.

Give your willpower a hand

Social media apps are designed to keep you scrolling. Do yourself a solid and tell your phone to limit your time on TikTok, Instagram or your weakness of choice.

On iPhone:

Go to Settings > Screen Time.
Tap App Limits > Add Limit.
To set limits for individual apps, tap the category name to see everything there, then select the ones you want to limit.
Tap Next at the top right, then set the amount of time allowed.
When you finish setting limits, tap Add.

On Android:

Open Settings > Digital Wellbeing & parental controls, then tap the chart.
Select the app you want to limit or tap the hourglass icon.
Choose how much time you can spend on that app. Then, tap OK or Set.
The app will switch to black and white when you have one minute. After that, you’re locked out.

⏱️ For the record, you can override it once time runs out, but don’t! You set that limit for a reason. Speaking of time, the past, present and future walked into a bar. It was tense.

Deadly trend: An 11-year-old boy tragically lost his life to a TikTok challenge called “chroming,” which is huffing toxic chemicals to get high. The nightmare unfolded at a sleepover. He went into cardiac arrest and couldn’t be revived, despite doctors’ best efforts. This has to stop.

Screenshot snitch: Tempted to screenshot a “disappearing message” on Facebook Messenger? Think again — the app will now notify the other user. Imagine all the uncomfortable moments ahead for anyone who doesn’t read my free newsletter!

Max money grab: Since it worked so well for Netflix and Disney+, Max is the latest streaming service to announce plans to start cracking down on password sharing. Time for a frank conversation with the ex.

Adobe’s new app: The Adobe Express app packs in AI tools to turn words into images and fill in the blanks, no design degree needed. It’s free for now, but once the beta’s done, it’ll cost $9.99 a month. There’s always a catch.

Conquering Everest? Don’t forget your tracking chip! Yep, after a grim season with 12 deaths and five climbers MIA, Nepal now requires you to hike with a GPS chip sewn into your clothing in the name of quicker rescues. FYI, there are still 200 unrecovered people on the mountain from past tragedies.

Subpar screens: Samsung’s latest panels are a mix of QD-OLED and WOLED, but good luck figuring out which you’re buying. Samsung wouldn’t shut up about how QD-OLED’s colors pop more, and now silence. Why? LG (the folks who supply WOLED) told them to stop marketing WOLED as inferior. Do your research before shelling out for lesser specs.

TikTok’s power: U.S. lawmakers voted unanimously to ban TikTok if it doesn’t part ways with parent company ByteDance. TikTok’s clapback? A push notification to 170 million Americans accusing Congress of infringing on their “Constitutional rights.” This is what I’ve been talking about forever — TikTok using its sway to have our citizens do its political dirty work.