In this Feb. 3, 2018 file photo, John Singleton arrives at the 70th annual Directors Guild of America Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
NEW YORK (AP) --
Court papers show that "Boyz N the Hood" director John Singleton is in a coma at a Los Angeles hospital eight days after suffering a major stroke.
The 51-year-old director's condition was revealed in a court filing Thursday from his mother, Shelia Ward, who is requesting she be appointed his temporary conservator to make medical and financial decisions for him while he is incapacitated.
Singleton's family had previously announced that he'd had a stroke on April 17, but there had been no details revealed about the seriousness of his condition.
It's not clear whether the temporary conservatorship has been granted.
Singleton was nominated for an Oscar for 1991's "Boyz n the Hood." His other films include "Poetic Justice," starring Janet Jackson, and his recent projects include the TV series "Snowfall."
A visitor passes the TikTok exhibition stands at the Gamescom computer gaming fair in Cologne, Germany, Thursday, Aug. 25, 2022. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)
The U.K.'s data protection watchdog said Monday that it's investigating how TikTok uses the personal information of teenagers to deliver content recommendations to them when they use the social media platform.
The Information Commissioner's Office said that there are growing concerns around how social media platforms were using data generated by children's online activity to power their recommendation algorithms, and the potential for young people to see inappropriate or harmful content as a result.
The regulator said that it wanted to ensure the robustness of TikTok's safety procedures when it comes to using the personal information of teens ranging in age from 13 to 17.
"It's what they're collecting, it's how they work," information commissioner John Edwards said. "I will expect to find that there will be many benign and positive uses of children's data in their recommender systems."
"What I am concerned about is whether they are sufficiently robust to prevent children being exposed to harm, either from addictive practices on the device or the platform, or from content that they see, or from other unhealthy practices," he said.
As part of the investigation, the regulator will also look into how online forum site Reddit and image-sharing site Imgur use children's personal data and how they estimate or verify a child's age.
TikTok, which is operated by Chinese technology firm ByteDance, said in a statement that it was "deeply committed to ensuring a positive experience for young people on TikTok."
"Our recommender systems are designed and operate under strict and comprehensive measures that protect the privacy and safety of teens, including industry-leading safety features and robust restrictions on the content... Read More
