What a TikTok Ban means for advertisers and marketers, Google gets a big boost after the March update, Bernie Sanders' 4-day workweek, Advil pain equity ads

The US House of Representatives recently voted to ban TikTok unless its parent company, Chinese-owned ByteDance, sells its stake in the app. The House cited concerns about China’s access to Americans’ data and its potential to use the app to spread misinformation. A forced sale of TikTok, while plausible, appears unlikely due to major hurdles ranging from a lack of viable buyers among big tech companies to potential opposition from ByteDance and the Chinese government.

In recent months, the White House, Congress, US armed forces, and more than half of US states have banned the Chinese-owned social media app, TikTok, from government-issued devices. There’s broad concern that TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, could share Americans’ personal data with the Chinese government, or push Chinese propaganda and misinformation. Some experts say the US should treat TikTok the way it wants other countries to treat American social media platforms—and use moderate measures to protect national security and citizens’ personal data. But Congress may not heed this advice.

In a vital update from NPR News Now, correspondents including Korva Coleman, Eleanor Beardsley, Kinnan Abdalhamid, and Bobby Allyn take us through the latest on global and domestic fronts. The battle for peace in the Middle East hits yet another snag, as Korva Coleman delivers a succinct breakdown of the collapsed cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, including the heavy implications and the subsequent surge in hostilities that have disrupted the region's pursuit of tranquility. Eleanor Beardsley delves into the nuances behind the allegations from Israel's Prime Minister's office, while grappling with the sobering reality of increasing casualties in Gaza.

On U.S. soil, Coleman brings the spotlight back home with the account of a tragic shooting of college students in Burlington, shedding light on the victims' Palestinian heritage and underlining the breached sense of security in academic institutions. The episode also covers the involvement of the FBI in a possible hate crime investigation, signifying a rise in concerns about gun violence and its underlying motives. Meanwhile, political ethics take center stage as the case of Congressman George Santos unfolds, examining the balance between allegations of federal corruption and the legal processes within the House of Representatives. Finally, Bobby Allyn explores free speech debates, centering on Montana's legal skirmishes over TikTok bans and data security, which paints a broader picture of the digital landscape and its regulatory challenges. Each segment underscores NPR News Now's commitment to delivering comprehensive, on-the-ground reporting.

Search engines put the world’s information at our fingertips. But immediate access to information changes the way our brains absorb, process, and retain knowledge. As a result, the human mind is losing its capacity to engage in deeper thought.

It’s harder to stop Google from tracking your location than the company has led you to believe. You have to do more than simply turn off Location History⁠—you also have to turn off a setting called “Web & App Activity.”

Can Google help us understand sexual diversity, detect unreported child abuse, and prevent hate crimes? Data scientist Seth Stephens-Davidowitz thinks so. In Everybody Lies, Stephens-Davidowitz argues that in daily life and traditional surveys, people tend to lie about their sexuality, prejudices, and emotional turmoil—but they willingly confess all of these secrets in their Google searches and other web activity.

Stephens-Davidowitz says this information can be used for the greater good—that it can inform better social policies, improve institutions like education and health care, promote social equity, and bring hidden injustice to light. But to do so, data researchers have to understand big data’s inherent strengths—and avoid its inherent weaknesses.

In this guide, we’ll explore the four benefits that Stephens-Davidowitz says give big data its power while balancing his optimistic viewpoint with recent analyses of big data’s potential for harm.

With Biden’s 80th birthday around the corner, some are wondering whether he’s too old to run for reelection. This discussion is part of a larger set of questions: Is it a problem that US politicians skew older? If so, what should be done about it?

The pandemic has forced Americans to rely more on technology—and tech executives are pushing for an even higher-tech future. But is this really the best future to pursue?

When you hear the word “bias,” you may think of a conscious form of prejudice—but the most potent biases are actually subconscious. These implicit biases are normal neurological responses to the culture you grow up in. In the United States, everyone encounters and encodes antiblack bias to some degree, even in black communities. This racial bias doesn’t just influence how you make decisions—it determines what you notice in your environment and what becomes invisible. And in high-stakes situations like police encounters, the consequences of racial bias can be devastating.

In this guide, we’ll discuss how your brain creates bias; how that bias impacts every area of your life, from where you live to how you post online; and, most importantly, how to combat implicit bias to create a fairer world for everyone. We’ll also compare Dr. Eberhardt’s research on racial bias to other popular books on racism such as How to Be an Antiracist and White Fragility.