Welcome to the Tech Mem Right Home for Tuesday, March 21st, 2023.

I'm Brian McCullough.

Today, ahead of a major showdown in Congress this week,

Tik-T wants the US to know exactly how popular it is.

Why ChatGPT was shut down for a while yesterday?

Why Google is suspending Pin Doo Duo

from the Play Store, the AI-powered Doctor's Office of

the Future, and is Andy Jassy the David Moyes of Amazon?

If you got that reference, congratulations.

Here's what you miss today in the world of tech.

So again, it's starting to feel like there is some sort of momentum building

for some sort of Tik-Tok showdown with the U.S. government, either an outright ban, maybe a

forced divestment, but something. In fact, let me put this on your radar. A literal showdown is coming before Congress. This Thursday

Tik-Tok CEO Shoozy Chu will be appearing before the House Energy and

Commerce Committee and well Tik-Tok seems to be willing to come to play

quoting musically. As part of the run-up to the hearing Tik-Tok has announced a new

stat for its US business. It now has 150 million monthly active users there,

which is up from the 100 million figure it published in August 2020.

Obviously the announcement of the new milestone is no coincidence. It's a pointed

reminder to politicians calling for a ban on Tik-Toc of the app's sheer scale in the

U.S. Well more accurately it's a pointed reminder to the politicians who haven't

yet called for a ban and might still be swayable to Tik-Tok's cause. As US Commerce Secretary

...