Portman calls for action at Hollywood women's luncheon

Natalie Portman took a flamethrower to the patriarchy. George Clooney admonished what he called the Trump administration's culture of fear. Emma Gonzalez implored people to vote. And host Jenifer Lewis spared no one, from Melania Trump and Kanye West to Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh.

Nothing was off the table at Variety magazine's Power of Women luncheon held in Beverly Hills on Friday, almost exactly a year since The New York Times and The New Yorker published accounts from dozens of women alleging sexual misconduct by the once-powerful movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.

Weinstein, who has denied any wrongdoing, was quickly ostracized by the entertainment industry, which helped gain momentum for the #MeToo and Time's Up movements.

Tiffany Haddish arrives at Variety's Power of Women event on Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, at the Beverly Wilshire hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan StraussInvisionAP)

In a commanding 15-minute speech, Portman addressed the underrepresentation of women in all industries and laid out guidelines to incite change, such as donating to Time's Up, opting against depicting violence against women in films and hiring women for positions they're not typically considered for. She was being recognized for her humanitarian efforts in co-founding Time's Up, a legal defense fund that was created following the rise of the #MeToo movement to address and combat inequality in the workplace.

The Oscar-winning actress was being recognized for her humanitarian efforts in co-founding Time's Up.

"Be embarrassed if everyone in your workplace looks like you," Portman said.

Lena Waithe arrives at Variety's Power of Women event on Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, at the Beverly Wilshire hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan StraussInvisionAP)

Portman said Weinstein is "still free" because "our culture protects the perpetrators of sexual violence, not its victims." She added that the Time's Up defense fund has served more than 3,500 people from "workers at McDonald's to prison guards to military personnel to women in our own industry who have faced gender-based harassment, coercion and assault."

"Recently our lawyers helped Melanie Kohler triumph against Brett Ratner and his lawyer Marty Singer...who tried to use Brett's enormous financial advantage over her to try to bully her into silence," Portman said. "Because of our lawyers ... he dropped his case of defamation."

Regina King, an honoree supporting the I Have a Dream Foundation, followed Portman saying "Man, Natalie Portman 2020."

Regina King arrives at Variety's Power of Women event on Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, at the Beverly Wilshire hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan StraussInvisionAP)

Portman was not the only person to get a standing ovation Friday. Eighteen-year-old Emma Gonzalez, who became a nationally recognized advocate for gun control after surviving the February 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, also brought the well-heeled Hollywood crowd to their feet.

Advocating for March for Our Lives, Gonazelz, wiping away tears, said to the women in the vast ballroom at the Beverly Wilshire hotel, "You know that you are forces to be reckoned with. You can and have inspired peace and understanding and most importantly right now, you can inspire your audience to vote. Now more than ever, women need to continue to rise up."

Gonzalez was introduced by George Clooney who announced himself as "Amal's husband." The audience, in turn, cheered. Clooney struck a more serious tone in discussing a time where fear is capitalized on — "fear of Muslims, fear of immigrants, fear of minorities, fear of strong women."

Emma Gonzalez arrives at Variety's Power of Women event on Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, at the Beverly Wilshire hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan StraussInvisionAP)

"Are we really scared of all the things that actually make America great? And if the answer is yes, then we'll have history to answer to," Clooney said. "After all the jokes, and insults, and reality show frenzy, what will be remembered, what will stand the test of time is holding responsible these wolves in wolves' clothing."

Everyone who took the stage got a word in for a cause they were passionate about. Honoree Lena Waithe, there for The Trevor Project, said Time's Up has had a huge impact on her life in the past year.

"I've befriended so many women I probably would have never even met or had a reason to speak to, and I can't remember a time in this industry when women have huddled together. We've all gotten on the same page," Waithe said. "I wish it didn't take something so tragic to bring us together. I wish trauma in the workplace and sometimes at home wasn't the thing we had in common. Luckily we have refused to be victims. Luckily we've refused to be silent. Luckily we've decided to rise up and scream at the top of our lungs and become a force of rebels who won't be treated like second class citizens."

Gina Rodriguez arrives at Variety's Power of Women event on Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, at the Beverly Wilshire hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan StraussInvisionAP)

The event, presented by Lifetime, with sponsors such as Audi, Morocco Oil and The Venetian Resort, also honored Tiffany Haddish, who spoke about the non-profit The Unusual Suspects Theatre Company and Participant Media CEO David Linde for helping to make female-focused films from "Roma" to "RBG."

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Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr

Tarana Burke arrives at Variety's Power of Women event on Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, at the Beverly Wilshire hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan StraussInvisionAP)

Gina Rodriguez, left, and Regina King arrive at Variety's Power of Women event on Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, at the Beverly Wilshire hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan StraussInvisionAP)

NEW DELHI (AP) — The hugely popular Chinese app TikTok may be forced out of the U.S., where a measure to outlaw the video-sharing app has won congressional approval and is on its way to President Biden for his signature.

In India, the app was banned nearly four years ago. Here's what happened:

In June 2020, TikTok users in India bid goodbye to the app, which is operated by Chinese internet firm ByteDance. New Delhi had suddenly banned the popular app, alongside dozens other Chinese apps, following a military clash along the India-China border. Twenty Indian and four Chinese soldiers were killed, and ties between the two Asian giants plunged to a new low.

The government cited privacy concerns and said that Chinese apps pose a threat to India’s sovereignty and security.

The move mostly drew widespread support in India, where protesters had been calling for a boycott of Chinese goods since the deadly confrontation in the remote Karakoram mountain border region.

“There was a clamour leading up to this, and the popular narrative was how can we allow Chinese companies to do business in India when we’re in the middle of a military standoff,” said Nikhil Pahwa, a digital policy expert and founder of tech website MediaNama.

Just months before the ban, India had also restricted investment from Chinese companies, Pahwa added. “TikTok wasn’t a one-off case. Today, India has banned over 500 Chinese apps to date.”

At the time, India had about 200 million TikTok users, the most outside of China. And the company also employed thousands of Indians.

TikTok users and content creators, however, needed a place to go — and the ban provided a multi-billion dollar opportunity to snatch up a big market. Within months, Google rolled out YouTube Shorts and Instagram pushed out its Reels feature. Both mimicked the short-form video creation that TikTok had excelled at.

“And they ended up capturing most of the market that TikTok had vacated,” said Pahwa.

In India, TikTok content was hyperlocal, which made it quite unique. It opened a window into the lives of small-town India, with videos coming from tier 2 and 3 cities that showed people doing tricks while laying down bricks, for example.

But for the most part, content creators and users in the four years since the ban have moved on to other platforms.

Winnie Sangma misses posting videos on TikTok and earning a bit of money. But after the ban, he migrated to Instagram and now has 15,000 followers. The process, for the most part, has been relatively painless.

“I have built up followers on Instagram too, and I am making money from it, but the experience isn’t like how it used to be on TikTok,” he said.

Rajib Dutta, a frequent scroller on TikTok, also switched to Instagram after the ban. “It wasn’t really a big deal,” he said.

The legislation to outlaw the app has won congressional approval and now awaits a signature from Biden.

The measure gives ByteDance, the app’s parent company, nine months to sell it, and three more if a sale is underway. If this doesn’t happen, TikTok will be banned. It would take at least a year before a ban goes into effect, but with likely court challenges, it could stretch longer.

In India, the ban in 2020 was swift. TikTok and other companies were given time to respond to questions on privacy and security, and by January 2021, it became a permanent ban.

But the situation in the U.S. is different, said Pahwa. “In India, TikTok decided not to go to court, but the U.S. is a bigger revenue market for them. Also, the First Amendment in America is fairly strong, so it’s not going to be as easy for the U.S. to do this as it was for India,” he said, in reference to free speech rights in the U.S. Constitution.

As Chinese apps proliferate across the world, Pahwa says countries need to assess their dependency on China and develop a way to reduce it as the apps can pose a national security risk.

The app is also banned in Pakistan, Nepal and Afghanistan and restricted in many countries in Europe.

“Chinese intelligence law and its cybersecurity law can allow Chinese apps to work in the interest of their own security. That creates a situation of distrust and it becomes a national security risk for others,” said Pahwa.

“There should be different rules for democratic countries and for authoritarian regimes where companies can act as an extension of the state,” he added.

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This story corrects the expert's erroneous reference to Fourth instead of First Amendment.

FILE- Activists of Jammu and Kashmir Dogra Front shout slogans against Chinese President Xi Jinping next to a banner showing the logos of TikTok and other Chinese apps banned in India during a protest in Jammu, India, July 1, 2020. (AP Photo/Channi Anand, File)