TikTok’s #RamadanVibes includes challenges & shows through the holy month

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Updated 22 April 2021
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TikTok’s #RamadanVibes includes challenges & shows through the holy month

DUBAI: TikTok is celebrating Ramadan this month by engaging its community in the Middle East and North Africa region, featuring key Ramadan traditions, from Fawazeer, soaps, dramas and recipes under the hashtag #RamadanVibes.

“Last year, we saw people embrace the spirit of Ramadan on TikTok and come together virtually to celebrate key traditions. As our community couldn’t gather with their families and friends in line with the COVID-19 restrictions, TikTok truly became the platform where Ramadan traditions lived on,” said Rami Zeidan, head of video and creative at TikTok.

“This year, we are building on those traditions to offer our creators a space for celebration, gratitude and entertainment,” he added.

TIkTok’s Ramadan offerings include live events, activities and in-app challenges including:

#GuessTheDish: Through an interactive trivia quiz, users can guess the name of Ramadan dishes in under 3 seconds based on the key ingredients. The #GuessTheDish challenge has received over 50 million views to date, with submissions from the likes of Chef Shaheen and Walid Yari.

#RamadanCheck: Creators can share their daily Ramadan routines using this hashtag. The challenge has received over 188.7 million views to date, including a submission from Rand Majali.

#RamadanMubarak: With 2.5 billion views to date, #RamadanMubarak features Egyptian singer and actor Yousra, and the TikTok community, sharing wishes of good health and wealth to users.

#RamadanStyle: Creators on TikTok can show off their Ramadan outfits under this hashtag. Fashion icon Nirvana Abdul has already shared her own looks this Ramadan.

#Ramadan_Preps: TikTok users share videos about how they prepare for Ramadan. The challenge has reached over 358 million views to date, with submissions from Ahmed Aziz and Rania Ali.

Live shows on TikTok include:

#CookWithTheStars: TikTok will produce a series of cooking episodes to be aired on April 21, 24, 28, and May 1 at 4 p.m. Saudi Arabia Standard Time (SAST) with popular regional celebrities, including Amir Karara, Hend Sabry, Nelly Karim, and Hana Shiha.

Ramadaniat Live Cooking: Viewers will be able to tune in to live cooking sessions with multiple TikTok content creators and regional brands, including Yara Aziz, Hadeel Marei, AtyabTabkha.com and Arla.

The Ramadan UTURN Show: running on April 28, May 2 and May 6 at 11 p.m. SAST, this show is a partnership with leading Saudi online entertainment network UTURN. It will feature entertaining sketches and content covering topics such as sports and entertainment.

Ramadan Radio Shows: Radio stations around the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, including Fujairah FM and Marina FM, will be streaming live shows daily that include contests and giveaways.

Aghla Min Al-Dahab: In partnership with production company Yas Pro Media, the show includes daily interview streams with renowned regional celebrities every night at 1 a.m. SAST.

Fawazeer Ramadan: Users can tune into Go Arabi’s channel every other day at 10 p.m. SAST to answer trivia questions and participate in challenges.


Grok faces more scrutiny over deepfakes as Irish regulator opens EU privacy investigation

Updated 31 sec ago
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Grok faces more scrutiny over deepfakes as Irish regulator opens EU privacy investigation

  • The regulator says Grok has created and shared sexualized images of real people, including children. Researchers say some examples appear to involve minors
  • X also faces other probes in Europe over illegal content and user safety
LONDON: Elon Musk’s social media platform X faces a European Union privacy investigation after its Grok AI chatbot started spitting out nonconsensual deepfake images, Ireland’s data privacy regulator said Tuesday.
Ireland’s Data Protection Commission said it notified X on Monday that it was opening the inquiry under the 27-nation EU’s strict data privacy regulations, adding to the scrutiny X is facing in Europe and other parts of the world over Grok’s behavior.
Grok sparked a global backlash last month after it started granting requests from X users to undress people with its AI image generation and editing capabilities, including putting females in transparent bikinis or revealing clothing. Researchers said some images appeared to include children. The company later introduced some restrictions on Grok, though authorities in Europe weren’t satisfied.
The Irish watchdog said its investigation focuses on the apparent creation and posting on X of “potentially harmful” nonconsensual intimate or sexualized images containing or involving personal data from Europeans, including children.
X did not respond to a request for comment.
Grok was built by Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI and is available through X, where its responses to user requests are publicly visible.
The watchdog said the investigation will seek to determine whether X complied with the EU data privacy rules known as GDPR, or the General Data Protection Regulation. Under the rules, the Irish regulator takes the lead on enforcing the bloc’s privacy rules because X’s European headquarters is in Dublin. Violations can result in hefty fines.
The regulator “has been engaging” with X since media reports started circulating weeks earlier about “the alleged ability of X users to prompt the @Grok account on X to generate sexualized images of real people, including children,” Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle said in a press statement.
Spain’s government has ordered prosecutors to investigate X, Meta and TikTok for alleged crimes related to the creation and proliferation of AI-generated child sex abuse material on their platforms, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said on Tuesday.
“These platforms are attacking the mental health, dignity and rights of our sons and daughters,” Sánchez wrote on X.
Spain announced earlier this month that it was pursuing a ban on access to social media platforms for under-16s.
Earlier this month, French prosecutors raided X’s Paris offices and summoned Musk for questioning. Meanwhile, the data privacy and media regulators in Britain, which has left the EU, have opened their own investigations into X.
The platform is already facing a separate EU investigation from Brussels over whether it has been complying with the bloc’s digital rulebook for protecting social media users that requires platforms to curb the spread of illegal content such as child sexual abuse material.