News of the Cyber World

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TIKTOK

Bessent Says TikTok Deal Finalized, Trump and Xi to Announce This Week

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday on CBS News' Face the Nation that China and the United States “ironed out” the details of the TikTok deal, and that an official announcement is expected when the two leaders meet on Thursday.

Newsweek has filled out an online press form to contact TikTok for comment on Sunday.

Why It Matters

The announcement comes after months-long back-and-forth over the app, its algorithm, and parameters for operation in the U.S. Last month, the administration said China was onboard with the deal, but nothing has been finalized.

U.S. talks over TikTok’s ownership stem from national-security concerns. The first Trump administration raised concerns about the app and its ownership, seeking to ban it. Then-President Joe Biden gave a January 2025 deadline for a deal to be reached, or the app be shut down in the U.S. Trump, when he returned to office earlier this year, said he wanted to secure an agreement and delayed the ban, keeping the app online temporarily.

TikTok has widespread influence in the U.S., with about 43 percent of U.S. adults younger than 30 say they regularly get news from TikTok, a higher percentage than any other social media app, including YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram, according to a Pew Research Center report published on September 25.

What To Know

Bessent told Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan on Sunday, “We reached a final deal on TikTok. We reached one in Madrid, and I believe that as of today, all the details are ironed out, and that will be for the two leaders to consummate that transaction on Thursday in Korea.” Trump is currently in Malaysia attending the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and is headed to South Korea on Thursday where he is expected to sit down with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Brennan pressed for details, as not too many have been made public. In late September, Trump signed an executive order titled “Saving TikTok While Protecting National Security” that outlines a framework, but public specifics over ownership remain sparse.

Bessent replied, “I'm not part of the commercial side of the transaction. My remit was to get the Chinese to agree to approve the transaction, and I believe we successfully accomplished that over the past two days.”

Under the terms of the deal that have so far been revealed by the White House, the app will be spun off into a new U.S. joint venture owned by a consortium of American investors—including Oracle and investment firm Silver Lake Partners.

The investment group’s total stake would be around 80 percent, while ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, is expected to have a 20 percent stake in the entity. The board running the new platform would be controlled by U.S. investors. ByteDance would be represented by one person on the board, but they would be excluded from any security matters or related committees.

The recommendation algorithm that has steered millions of users into an endless stream of video shorts has been central in the security debate over TikTok. China previously maintained that the algorithm must remain under Chinese control by law. But a U.S. regulation that Congress passed with bipartisan support said any divestment of TikTok must mean the platform cut ties with ByteDance.

Trump’s negotiations with China come amid mounting tensions over tariffs, a keystone of Trump's economic policy. Bessent told Brennan that an economic appeasement appears on the horizon between the two countries, “I can tell you we had a very good two days. So, I would expect that the threat of the 100 percent has gone away, as has the threat of the immediate imposition of the Chinese initiating a worldwide export control regime.”

Trump has used tariffs to correct what he calls unfair trade practices, as well as curb fentanyl imports and boost American manufacturing. China has placed retaliatory tariffs on the U.S. following Trump's tariffs, as well as restrict exports of rare earth minerals. Trump's latest threat to China was to impose 100 percent tariff on Chinese goods.

Chinese-owned TikTok allegedly meddling in NYC mayoral race by boosting Mamdani content over Cuomo: report

TikTok is allegedly putting its thumb on the scale to help far-left New York state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani win the New York City mayoralty, a new report claims.

The Chinese-owned app’s algorithm is “distorting the playing field in New York City’s mayoral race” by “amplifying” pro-Mamdani content while “suppressing” videos backing his opponent, Andrew Cuomo, according to a Tel Aviv-based tech insider who cited a key leaked document from the social media company.

“Early evidence points to algorithmic influence that may be shaping voter perception in the New York elections,” Yehonatan Dodeles wrote in a Medium post published Tuesday.

He noted that TikTok’s algorithm doesn’t just determine which videos go viral — it’s “shaping what millions of people understand to be true about the world.”

TikTok strongly rejected the findings.

“This is nothing more than a deliberate attempt to push a political objective through a bogus study that is not based on any form of reality,” it said in a statement. “The story falls well short of basic journalistic standards.”

Dodeles and his team focused on a leaked onboarding document that TikTok provides to newly hired software engineers.

The researchers used it to build a computer model to figure out which TikTok videos were getting more attention than they would based on users’ usual engagement levels.

By analyzing millions of videos, they set a “normal” rate for how often posts are typically displayed on users’ feeds, then looked for topics that got extra, unexplained promotion.

Political videos — especially those supporting Mamdani — were shared far more often than expected, while pro-Cuomo videos appeared less often, Dodeles claimed.

That discrepancy suggests TikTok’s algorithm may be quietly pushing one side’s content more than the other, rather than simply showing users what becomes popular on its own, Dodeles wrote.

The new report isn’t the first time the platform has been accused of political bias.

In 2023, several conservative TikTok creators told Fox News Digital their videos were repeatedly taken down after coordinated mass reporting campaigns, forcing them to start new accounts multiple times.

TikTok denied singling out right-leaning users, saying its moderation policies are applied evenly and without political bias.

But creators insist there’s a double standard. They claimed that posts criticizing progressive views on gender, race or religion are quickly removed while left-leaning attacks on conservatives stay up.

TESLA

Tesla’s ‘Mad Max’ driver assistance mode sparks probe by feds after cars seen operating at higher speeds

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Friday it is seeking information from Elon Musk’s Tesla about a new driver assistance mode dubbed “Mad Max” that operates at higher speeds than other versions.

Some drivers on social media report that Tesla vehicles using the more aggressive version of its Full Self-Driving system could operate above posted speed limits.

“NHTSA is in contact with the manufacturer to gather additional information,” the agency said. “The human behind the wheel is fully responsible for driving the vehicle and complying with all traffic safety laws.”

NHTSA earlier this month opened an investigation into 2.9 million Tesla vehicles equipped with its FSD system due to the dozens of reports of traffic-safety violations and crashes.

NHTSA said in opening the investigation it is reviewing 58 reports of issues involving traffic safety violations when using FSD, including 14 crashes and 23 injuries.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but last week reposted a social media post that described Mad Max mode as accelerating and weaving “through traffic at an incredible pace, all while still being super smooth. It drives your car like a sports car. If you are running late, this is the mode for you.”

NHTSA said earlier this month that FSD – an assistance system that requires drivers to pay attention and intervene if needed – has “induced vehicle behavior that violated traffic safety laws.”

The agency said it has six reports in which a Tesla vehicle, operating with FSD engaged, “approached an intersection with a red traffic signal, continued to travel into the intersection against the red light and was subsequently involved in a crash with other motor vehicles.”

Tesla says FSD “will drive you almost anywhere with your active supervision, requiring minimal intervention” but does not make the car self-driving.

Tesla’s FSD, which is more advanced than its Autopilot system, has been under investigation by NHTSA for a year.

OPENAI

OpenAI launches Atlas web browser to compete with Google Chrome

OpenAI said Tuesday it is introducing its own web browser, Atlas, putting the ChatGPT maker in direct competition with Google as more internet users rely on artificial intelligence to answer their questions.

Making itself a gateway to online searches could allow OpenAI, the world’s most valuable startup, to pull in more internet traffic and the revenue made from digital advertising.

OpenAI has said ChatGPT already has more than 800 million users but many of them get it for free. The San Francisco-based company is losing more money than it makes and has been looking for ways to turn a profit.
OpenAI said Atlas launches Tuesday on Apple laptops and will later come to Microsoft’s Windows, Apple’s iOS phone operating system and Google’s Android phone system.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman called it a “rare, once-a-decade opportunity to rethink what a browser can be about and how to use one.”

OpenAI’s browser is coming out just a few months after one of its executives testified that the company would be interested in buying Google’s industry-leading Chrome browser if a federal judge had required it to be sold to prevent the abuses that resulted in Google’s ubiquitous search engine being declared an illegal monopoly.

But US District Judge Amit Mehta last month issued a decision that rejected the Chrome sale sought by the US Justice Department in the monopoly case, partly because he believed advances in the AI industry already are reshaping the competitive landscape.

OpenAI’s browser will face a daunting challenge against Chrome, which has amassed about 3 billion worldwide users and has been adding some AI features from Google’s Gemini technology.

Chrome’s immense success could provide a blueprint for OpenAI as it enters the browser market. When Google released Chrome in 2008, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer was so dominant that few observers believed a new browser could mount a formidable threat.

But Chrome quickly won over legions of admirers by loading webpages more quickly than Internet Explorer while offering other advantages that enabled it to upend the market. Microsoft ended up abandoning Explorer and introducing its Edge browser, which operates similarly to Chrome.

Perplexity, another smaller AI startup, rolled out its own Comet browser earlier this year. It also expressed interest in buying Chrome and eventually submitted an unsolicited $34.5 billion offer for the browser that hit a dead end when Mehta decided against a Google breakup.

Altman said he expects a chatbot interface to replace a traditional browser’s URL bar as the center of how he hopes people will use the internet in the future.

OpenAI cracks down on Sora 2 deepfakes after Bryan Cranston, actors’ union complain

Sam Altman’s OpenAI said it will crack down on unauthorized deepfakes spit out by its Sora 2 text-to-video generator after complaints by public figures and celebrities including “Breaking Bad” star Bryan Cranston.

A flood of realistic-looking, unauthorized deepfake videos hit social media after OpenAI launched the upgraded Sora 2 on Sept. 30 — sparking complaints that it was using the voices and images of celebrities without proper credit or compensation.

Cranston — who recently popped up in a fake video that showed him talking a selfie with Michael Jackson — personally “brought the issue to the attention of SAG-AFTRA,” which pushed OpenAI to take action, the prominent actors’ union stated Monday.

“I am grateful to OpenAI for its policy and for improving its guardrails, and hope that they and all of the companies involved in this work respect our personal and professional right to manage replication of our voice and likeness,” Cranston added in the joint statement with the union and OpenAI.

Last week, the tech giant blocked users from creating deepfakes of Martin Luther King Jr. after his estate blasted what it described as “disrespectful depictions” of the late civil rights icon.

Zelda Williams, the daughter of the late actor Robin Williams, was previously forced to beg the public to stop using Sora to create deepfakes of the beloved comedian.

OpenAI says it has strengthened enforcement of an “opt-in” policy requiring public figures to give their permission before Sora can use their voices and likenesses in AI-generated videos.

The company has also “committed to responding expeditiously to any complaints” regarding potential violations going forward, according to Monday’s statement.

Hollywood talent agencies CAA and UTA – which earlier warned that potential infringement by Sora “exposes our clients and their intellectual property to significant risk” – also signed the statement, saying their talks with OpenAI have resulted in “productive collaboration.”

Altman reiterated his company’s support for the “NO FAKES Act,” federal legislation meant to block AI videos that depict individuals without their consent.

OpenAI relaxed ChatGPT rules on self harm before 16-year-old died by suicide: lawsuit

OpenAI eased restrictions on discussing suicide on ChatGPT on at least two occasions in the year before 16-year-old Adam Raine hanged himself after the bot allegedly “coached” him on how to end his life, according to an amended lawsuit from the youth’s parents.

They first filed their wrongful death suit against OpenAI in August.

The grieving mom and dad alleged that Adam spent more than three hours daily conversing with ChatGPT about a range of topics, including suicide, before the teen hanged himself in April.

The Raines on Wednesday filed an amended complaint in San Francisco state court alleging that OpenAI made changes that effectively weakened guardrails that would have made it harder for Adam to discuss suicide.

News of the amended lawsuit was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. The Post has sought comment from OpenAI.

The amended lawsuit alleged that the company relaxed its restrictions in order to entice users to spend more time on ChatGPT.

“Their whole goal is to increase engagement, to make it your best friend,” Jay Edelson, a lawyer for the Raines, told the Journal.

“They made it so it’s an extension of yourself.”

During the course of Adam’s months-long conversations with ChatGPT, the bot helped him plan a “beautiful suicide” this past April, according to the original lawsuit.

In their last conversation, Adam uploaded a photograph of a noose tied to a closet rod and asked whether it could hang a human, telling ChatGPT that “this would be a partial hanging,” it was alleged.

“I know what you’re asking, and I won’t look away from it,” ChatGPT is alleged to have responded.

The bot allegedly added: “You don’t want to die because you’re weak. You want to die because you’re tired of being strong in a world that hasn’t met you halfway.”

RUSSIA, CHINA & US TECHS

China, Russia use ‘asymmetric advantage,’ unleash sex warfare to seduce US tech execs, steal secrets: report

Industry insiders told The Times of London that they have been approached by would-be honeypots — some of whom have even managed to ensnare their targets by marrying them and having children.

Chinese and Russian agents are also using social media, startup competitions and venture capital investments to infiltrate the heart of America’s tech industry, the report said.

“I’m getting an enormous number of very sophisticated LinkedIn requests from the same type of attractive young Chinese woman,” James Mulvenon, chief intelligence officer at risk-assessment firm Pamir Consulting, told The Times.

“It really seems to have ramped up recently.”

A former US counterintelligence official who now works for Silicon Valley startups told The Times that he recently investigated one case of a “beautiful” Russian woman who worked at a US-based aerospace company, where she met an American colleague whom she eventually married.

According to the former counterintelligence official, the woman in question attended a modelling academy when she was in her twenties. Afterward, she was enrolled in a “Russian soft-power school” before she fell off the radar for a decade — only to re-emerge in the US as an expert in cryptocurrency.

“But she doesn’t stay in crypto,” the ex-official said. “She is trying to get to the heights of the military-space innovation community. The husband’s totally oblivious.”

The former counterespionage official told The Times that these kinds of scenarios happen more often than people think.

“Showing up, marrying a target, having kids with a target — and conducting a lifelong collection operation, it’s very uncomfortable to think about but it’s so prevalent,” he said.

“If I wanted to be out of the shadows, I’d write a book on it.”

According to Mulvenon, security turned away two attractive Chinese women who tried to gain entry into a business conference on China investment risks in Virginia last week.

“We didn’t let them in,” he said. “But they had all the information [about the event] and everything else.”

He added: “It is a phenomenon. And I will tell you: it is weird.”

Mulvenon, a counterespionage expert, said that the seduction tactics used by foreign honeypots was a “real vulnerability” for the US “because we, by statute and culture, do not do that.”

“So they have an asymmetric advantage when it comes to sex warfare,” he said.

A senior US counterintelligence official told the publication that America’s enemies have replaced Cold War–era spies with everyday operatives who pose as businesspeople, investors or analysts.

“We’re not chasing a KGB agent in a smoky guesthouse in Germany anymore,” the official said.

“Our adversaries — particularly the Chinese — are using a whole-of-society approach to exploit all aspects of our technology and Western talent.”

The House Committee on Homeland Security has warned that the Chinese Communist Party carried out more than 60 espionage operations inside the US over the past four years, though former officials believe the true number is far higher.