TikTok on Wednesday said it is testing a feature that would let people add “Footnotes” providing informative context to videos that might be misleading.The feature being tested in the United States, where the short-form video sharing app has some 170 million users, appears similar to Community Notes on X, formerly Twitter.Unlike X though, TikTok will continue its own fact-checking program to fight misinformation, head of operations Adam Presser said in a blog post.”Footnotes will draw on the collective knowledge of the TikTok community by allowing people to add relevant information to content on our platform,” Presser said.”It will add to our suite of measures that help people understand the reliability of content and access authoritative sources, including our content labels, search banners, our fact-checking program, and more.”Adult US users who have been on TikTok for more than six months and haven’t violated its community guidelines were invited to apply to contribute to Footnotes.Contributors will also be able to rate Footnotes left by other people.Footnotes deemed as “helpful” will be made visible on TikTok, at which point any users can vote on them as feedback regarding their merit, according to Presser.”Whether the content discusses a complex STEM-related concept, shares statistics that could misrepresent a topic, or updates about an ongoing event, there may be additional context that could help others better understand it,” Presser said.”That’s why we’re building Footnotes.”Footnotes will augment TikTok’s existing integrity measures such as labeling content that can’t be verified and partnering with fact-checking organizations such as AFP to assess the accuracy of posts on the platform.Meta early this year ended its third-party fact-checking program in the United States, with chief executive Mark Zuckerberg saying it had led to “too much censorship.”As an alternative, Zuckerberg said Meta’s platforms, Facebook and Instagram, would use “Community Notes,” similar to the Elon Musk-owned X.Community Notes is a crowd-sourced moderation tool that X has promoted as a way for users to add context to posts, but researchers have repeatedly questioned its effectiveness in combating falsehoods.Supporters of President Donald Trump, among others, have contended without proof that conservative voices were being censored or stifled under the guise of fighting misinformation, a claim professional fact-checkers vehemently reject.TikTok is adding Footnotes as its China-based parent company ByteDance faces a deadline to sell the app or have it banned in the United States.Trump has said there was a deal on the sale of TikTok, but tariffs recently imposed by Washington on Beijing derailed it.ByteDance, while confirming recently that it was in talks with the US government on finding a solution, warned that there remained “key matters” to resolve.

The uncertainty kicked up by Donald Trump’s stop-start tariff rollout will undoubtedly hit growth, the president of the World Bank said Wednesday, ahead of next week’s semi-annual meeting of global financial leaders in Washington.”Uncertainty and volatility are undoubtedly contributing to a more cautious economic and business environment,” Ajay Banga told reporters, alluding to the market turbulence unleashed by the new US administration’s tariff policy. This uncertainty would “certainly” cause slower growth than previously anticipated, he added during the virtual event. The World Bank and International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Spring Meetings kick off on Monday, with the Bank keen to promote its agenda to drive job creation in developing and emerging market economies. But the gathering of finance ministers and central bankers will take place against a challenging international backdrop, with US President Donald Trump’s tariff policy threatening to derail economic growth in many parts of the world.Since taking office in January, the US president has imposed 25 percent levies on several sectors including, autos, steel and aluminum, as his administration seeks to redress what it says is an unfair trading relationship with the rest of the world. The White House also imposed a new “baseline” tariff of 10 percent on most countries, and announced higher import taxes on dozens of trading partners, only to then temporarily roll many of them back. China — America’s third-largest trading partner — has been hit with a barrage of new tariffs totalling 145 percent overall. Beijing, in turn, has announced retaliatory tariffs of 125 percent on US goods.- ‘The right questions’ – The United States is the top shareholder at the World Bank Group, and has historically been a key driver of policy at the Washington-based institution, which has been led by a US citizen for most of its history.Shortly before leaving office, Joe Biden’s administration committed the United States to $4 billion in new funding for the World Bank’s agency that leverages donor funds to provide loans and grants to some of the world’s poorest countries. The Trump administration has so far refused to commit to that $4 billion figure, raising questions about how much money it plans to contribute to the World Bank and other international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Speaking on Wednesday, Banga indicated that the Bank would make do with a smaller budget if the United States did not provide funding at the same level as before, but that he still hoped Washington would come around. “We’re having a constructive dialogue with the US administration,” he said. “I don’t know where it’ll end, but I’ve got no problem with the dialogue I’m having.””They’re asking the right questions, and we’re trying to give them the right answers,” he added. – Nuclear, gas financing -Donald Trump has a long public record questioning the impact of man-made climate change. Since his return to office, concerns have been raised that his administration’s view on climate change could hit the World Bank, which has committed to increasing its climate finance portfolio to 45 percent of total lending. Banga told reporters on Wednesday that, while “the words might be a problem in different people’s eyes,” the Bank’s climate actual commitments should be less controversial. “We are not taking away from education and schools and development to fund something,” he said. “What’s inside the 45 (percent) is a commitment that half of it, over time, will go to resiliency and adaptation.”Banga also suggested that the Bank could soon take another look at funding nuclear and natural gas energy projects — something that would require approval from donor countries. “There is no reason why a country in Africa should not care about affordable, accessible electricity,” he said. “And it includes gas, geothermal, hydroelectric, solar, wind and nuclear where it makes sense,” he added. 

French President Emmanuel Macron will on Thursday meet with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US envoy Steve Witkoff, the Elysee palace said, as transatlantic tensions soar over the war in Ukraine. Witkoff, who recently met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Rubio are heading to Paris for talks on ending the war in Ukraine, the State Department said separately.US President Donald Trump’s push for a ceasefire in Ukraine has yet to bear fruit despite his pledges to end the war quickly. Russia’s strikes that have recently killed dozens of people including many many children in Ukraine’s cities of Sumy and Kryvyi Rig show how the war is taking a hefty toll despite a series of diplomatic efforts.Macron has taken the lead in seeking to forge a coordinated European response to protecting Ukraine, both during the current conflict and in its eventual aftermath after Trump shook the world by opening direct negotiations with Russia. The State Department said Rubio was travelling with Witkoff to meet European officials for talks on the goal of stopping the war triggered by Russia’s invasion in 2022.A French diplomatic source said Rubio and France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot would discuss “the war in Ukraine, the situation in the Middle East and the Iranian nuclear file”.This will be Rubio’s third trip to Europe since taking office.Witkoff said on Monday, just days after his third meeting with Putin, that he himself sees a peace deal “emerging”.Talks to end the Gaza war have also stalled, with Israel saying on Wednesday it would keep blocking humanitarian aid from entering the Palestinian territory, where a relentless military offensive has turned the Palestinian territory into a “mass grave”, according to medical charity Doctors Without Borders.Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said blocking aid to the besieged territory of 2.4 million people was to pressure the Palestinian militant group Hamas.The Paris talks also come after discussions between the United States and Iran on Tehran’s nuclear program were held Saturday in Oman.Another round is scheduled for April 19, also in Oman.Separately, the French defence minister, Sebastien Lecornu, will travel to Washington on Thursday.He is set to meet with Pete Hegseth, US Defense Secretary, for talks on a number of issues including Ukraine, Iran and Gaza.He was also expected to hold talks with National Intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard and Keith Kellogg, Trump’s Ukraine envoy.lb-dt-dab-ah-as/rmb