On the TED radio hour, linguist Ann Curzan says she gets a lot of complaints about people using the pronoun they to refer to one person.
I sometimes get into arguments with people where they will say to me, but it can't be singular.
And I will say, but it is.
The history behind words causing a lot of debate.
That's on the Ted radio hour from NPR.
This is FRESH AIR.
Im Dave Davies.
A lot of people love TikTok, the video sharing app, and some people love to hate it, particularly in the United States Congress.
TikToks parent company is based in China, and there are fears that it could harvest data about its us users and provide it to the chinese government.
Or that TikToks videos and algorithm could be programmed by the Chinese Communist Party to influence Americans political and cultural views.
Last month, in an extraordinary move, Congress passed and President Biden signed a bill requiring a forced sale of TikTok to a non chinese buyer.
If the company isnt sold over a specified time period, the law permits the us government to ban the app in the United States.
TikTok vows to fight the move, along with free speech advocates who say it would violate the First Amendment.
For some insight into what may happen and what it means, we turn to Drew Harwell, a technology reporter for the Washington Post, who's been following the issue.
He's part of a team that won a George Polk award in 2021 on how an israeli firm, Spyware, was used to tap the phones of activists, journalists, and business and political leaders across the globe.
Drew Harwell, welcome back to FResh Air.
Thank you so much for having me.
I want to begin by just talking a little bit about TikTok because I'm sure there are a lot of listeners who know it very well and use it a lot and some who have no idea.
This is a free app that allows you to watch endless videos, and if you care to create and post your own, right?
That's right.