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TikTok removes Russian state media accounts
TikTok has removed accounts associated with Russian state media for engaging in “covert influence operations” ahead of the U.S. presidential election.
The short-form video sharing company said Monday the changes affect accounts associated with TV-Novosti — the parent organization of the Russian state media RT — and Rossiya Segodnya, the entity behind Kremlin news agencies RIA Novosti and Sputnik.
The U.S. Department of Justice has said that Moscow remains the primary threat to elections even as a hack by Iran this year has also targeted the presidential campaigns of both political parties. U.S. officials in recent months have used criminal charges, sanctions and public advisories to detail actions taken by foreign adversaries to influence the election, including an indictment targeting a covert Russian effort to spread pro-Russia content to U.S. audiences.
TikTok’s announcement came a week after Meta Platforms, which owns Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, said it banned Rossiya Segodnya, RT and other related entities from its apps, drawing a rebuke from the Kremlin and the two media organizations.
TikTok said on its website that the accounts associated with TV-Novosti and Rossiya Segodnya were already restricted in the United Kingdom, European Union and not allowed to appear on the app’s main “For You” feed.
“There are many people from different countries who value an alternative point of view on events happening in the world. And we’ll find ways to put it out there,” the Rossiya Segodnya press service said in a statement following TikTok’s announcement.
RT did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Separately, TikTok is also making some changes around its business.
The company said in a undated notice posted on its website that it was shutting down its music service – TikTok Music – by November 28. The service, which launched just two years ago, was available in five countries, including prominent markets like Brazil and Australia. It was not available in the U.S.
Invitation Homes agrees to pay $48 million to settle claims
The nation’s largest owner of single-family homes for rent has agreed to pay $48 million to settle claims by the Federal Trade Commission that it reaped millions of dollars via deceptive business practices, including forcing tenants to pay undisclosed fees on top of their monthly rent.
Under the terms of the proposed settlement, Invitation Homes also agreed to ensure it is clearly disclosing its leasing prices, establish procedures to handle tenant security-deposit refunds fairly and cease other unlawful practices, the FTC said Tuesday.
In the complaint, filed in federal court in Atlanta, the FTC claims that the Dallas-based company used “deceptive advertising and unfair practices” to charge millions of dollars in bogus fees that harmed tens of thousands of people.
These mandatory fees, charged for internet packages, air-filter delivery and other services, were not disclosed in the monthly rental rates that Invitation Homes advertised, the FTC claims.
All told, the company charged consumers tens of millions of dollars in junk fees as part of their monthly rental payments between 2021 and June 2023, the FTC alleges.
The agency also claims that Invitation Homes “systematically withheld” tenants’ security deposits after they moved out, unfairly charging them for normal wear-and-tear, and used “unfair eviction practices,” including starting eviction proceedings against renters who had already moved out.
The funds from the settlement, which is subject to approval by a federal judge, would go toward customer refunds.
In a statement, Invitation Homes touted its disclosures and practices and noted that the proposed settlement “contains no admission of wrongdoing.”
As of June 30, the company owned or managed more than 109,000 homes across the U.S.
Shares in Invitation Homes Inc. fell 2.6% Tuesday.
Kmart’s last
full-scale U.S. store to close
NEW YORK | Attention, Kmart shoppers, the end is near!
The erstwhile retail giant renowned for its Blue Light Specials — featuring a flashing blue orb affixed to a pole enticing shoppers to a flash sale — is shuttering its last full-scale store in the mainland United States.
The store, located in swank Bridgehampton, New York, on Long Island, is slated to close Oct. 20, according to Denise Rivera, an employee who answered the phone at the store late Monday. The manager wasn’t available, she said.
That will leave only a small Kmart store in Miami. There also are a handful of stores in Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Transformco, the company that in 2019 bought the assets of Sears and Kmart out of the bankruptcy of Sears Holdings, did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.
In its heyday, there were more than 2,000 Kmarts in the U.S.
Struggling to compete with Walmart’s low prices and Target’s trendier offerings, Kmart filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in early 2002 — becoming the largest U.S. retailer to take that step — and announced it would close more than 250 stores.
A few years later, hedge fund executive Edward Lampert combined Sears and Kmart and pledged to return them to their former greatness. But the 2008 recession and the rising dominance of Amazon contributed in derailing that mission. Sears filed for Chapter 11 in 2018 and now has just a handful of stores left in the U.S., where it once had thousands.
—From AP reports
