Media Beat: American TikTok Ban, Tennessee's AI ELVIS Act, CMW Radiodays' New Keynoter (Column)

Don’t Believe A Word That’s Said

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is reportedly investigating allegations that TikTok and its Beijing-based parent ByteDance “deceived its users by denying that individuals in China had access to their data,” as well as violating a children’s privacy law, people with direct knowledge of the matter told Politico.

The social media platform is battling a recent bill that would either force the sale of the company to American interests or ban access to the platform by banning access via all app stores operating in the market. The nut of the allegations is that TikTok’s ties to a Beijing-based company are a significant threat to national security. However, the U.S. government has yet to enunciate what data is being harvested that isn’t already being culled by Meta, Google and other data harvesters.

Canadian broadcast journalist Richard Gizbert created The Listening Post for Al Jazeera in 2006 and has cultivated a blue-chip audience of free-thinking journos interested in his incisive analysis of media today. His view on the TikTok furor offers a possible insight into the Machiavellian intrigues that take place in the corridors of power between Big Tech and slippery politicians.

Tennessee Law Passes ELVIS Act into Law

The bill, short for the Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security (ELVIS) Act, updates the state’s Protection of Personal Rights Law that protects an individual’s name, photographic likeness and AI misuses protections for artists’ voices.

According to State Governor Bill Lee, existing law had its limitations insofar as protecting name, image and likeness “without specifically addressing new, personalized generative AI cloning models and services that enable human impersonation and allow users to make unauthorized fake works in the image and voice of others.” Therefore, The ELVIS Act becomes the first legislation of its kind in the U.S. to build upon existing state rule protecting against the unauthorized use of someone’s likeness by adding “voice” to the realm it protects.

Spurred by the creator economy in Nashville, Tennessee’s music industry supports more than 61K jobsacross the state and contributes U.S.$5.8B to GDP, the governor said with the passing of the bill.

“From Beale Street to Broadway, to Bristol and beyond, Tennessee is known for our rich artistic heritage that tells the story of our great state,” Gov. Lee said. “As the technology landscape evolves with artificial intelligence, we’re proud to lead the nation in proposing legal protection for our best-in-class artists and songwriters.”

It’s a groundbreaking piece of legislation that will hopefully be modified and or adopted by other territories inside and beyond the U.S. borders.

Trump’s Titanic Truth Social Stock Flotation

Trading began Tuesday for the Trump Media & Technology Group, parent to former President Donald Trump's Truth Social media platform. The firm ended the day at nearly $58 per share with a total valuation of $7.9 billion. Amrith Ramkumar, finance reporter for The Wall Street Journal, joins CBS News to assess the stock's debut performance.

CMW’s Radiodays Adds BBC MD

Radiodays North America has announced Lorna Clarke, the Director of Music at the BBC, will give a keynote speech at the international radio, podcast and audio conference on Monday, June 3. The 2nd annual RNA conference takes place June 2-4, in Toronto as part of Canadian Music Week (CMW) at the Harbour Castle Westin Hotel.

In addition to her responsibility as MD for BBC Radio’s music strategy, she oversees five popular Beeb music networks, live events and TV music. Her morning keynote will address the changing nature of audio listening and the role music can play on linear radio.