<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



TikTok said Sunday it was “restoring service” to U.S. users, about 14 hours after it abruptly shut itself down minutes before a nationwide ban took effect—a move prompted by President-elect Donald Trump’s promise to halt the ban when he takes office Monday by extending a deadline for China-based ByteDance to sell the app.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Timeline</h2>



1:50 p.m. EST, January 19TikTok is now back online for many American users, sending a popup message that states: “Welcome back!” adding, “As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.”—though it still does not appear to be available on Apple’s App Store.



1 p.m. EST, January 19Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., who chairs the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, warned that “any company that hosts, distributes, services or otherwise facilitates communist-controlled TikTok could face hundreds of billions of dollars of ruinous liability” in <a href="https://x.com/SenTomCotton/status/1881038993875140640" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a tweet</a> responding to the company’s announcement that it’s restoring the app.



1 p.m. EST, January 19Some TikTok users reported the app has started working again.



12:30 p.m. EST, January 19TikTok <a href="https://x.com/TikTokPolicy/status/1881030712188346459" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweeted</a> it “is in the process of restoring service” and thanked Trump for “providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties,” adding the company “will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States.”



11:55 a.m. EST, January 19TikTok now greets users with a popup saying it is “working to restore our service in the U.S. as soon as possible”—but the message no longer praises Trump for promising to “work with” the platform, after <a href="https://x.com/mikeisaac/status/1880826325189156936" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">drawing some criticism</a>.



10:00 a.m. EST, January 19Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/113855616848696050" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced</a> he will sign an executive order Monday delaying the TikTok ban and called for the platform to be taken over by a joint venture with U.S. and current owners, also urging companies to prevent TikTok from “going dark” and vowing “no liability” for any tech firms that act before Monday (the law gives Trump the power to extend the ban for up to 90 days if ByteDance is making progress toward a sale).



7:03 a.m. EST, January 19Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/113854921940858148" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">posted</a> to Truth Social: “SAVE TIKTOK.”



12:00 a.m. EST, January 19A nationwide ban on TikTok took effect, formally barring internet service providers and app stores from offering the ultra-popular social media platform.



11:00 p.m. EST, January 18TikTok shut itself down in the United States at some point before 11 p.m. EST, greeting American users with a message that said “you can’t use TikTok for now” due to a “law banning TikTok” set to take effect Sunday—but the platform noted Trump “has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office.” (Read <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2025/01/18/tiktok-shuts-down-in-us-before-ban-takes-effect-heres-what-to-know/">more here</a>.)



12:30 p.m. EST, January 18Trump <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2025/01/18/trump-says-hell-most-likely-delay-tiktok-ban-for-90-days/">signaled</a> he would “most likely” issue a 90-day extension on the TikTok ban, saying an announcement would “probably” come Monday, though he did not definitively say whether he would do so.



January 17TikTok said in a <a href="https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/tiktokjan-17" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">statement</a> its service will “be forced to go dark” on Jan. 19 unless the Biden administration—which <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2025/01/17/statement-by-white-house-press-secretary-karine-jean-pierre-regarding-tiktok/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a> earlier on Friday TikTok “should remain available to Americans” if “under American ownership”—guarantees Apple, Google and other service providers won’t be punished by supporting the app.



January 17The Supreme Court ruled the law does not violate the First Amendment rights of the app and its users, upholding the federal government’s national security argument and leaving TikTok open to a ban on Jan. 19 unless it is sold to an American company.



January 16The Biden administration does not plan to intervene against the law forcing TikTok’s ban or sale by Jan. 19, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/16/politics/biden-administration-tiktok-ban/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according to</a> <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/biden-administration-leave-trump-implement-tiktok-ban/story?id=117753133&amp;cid=social_twitter_abcn" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">multiple</a> <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-01-16/tiktok-poised-for-reprieve-as-trump-team-pledges-extension?srnd=homepage-asia" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">outlets</a>, one day after <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/joe-biden/biden-administration-keep-tiktok-available-us-rcna187902" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NBC News</a> reported Biden’s team was “exploring options” on how it can avoid the app being shut down—though <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/biden-administration-leave-trump-implement-tiktok-ban/story?id=117753133&amp;cid=social_twitter_abcn" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ABC reports</a> Biden also won’t take action to enforce the ban against app stores or internet providers.



January 16Schumer <a href="https://www.democrats.senate.gov/news/press-releases/leader-schumer-floor-remarks-urging-an-extension-of-the-tiktok-ban_to-allow-time-for-a-workable-solution--to-protect-americans-livelihoods-and-protect-against-ccp-surveillance" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a> it is “clear that more time is needed to find an American buyer,” noting Senate Democrats’ failed attempt to <a href="https://x.com/SenateDems/status/1879965995759980830" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">pass a bill</a> extending the Jan. 19 deadline and urging lawmakers for a solution that keeps TikTok in the U.S. while also protecting Americans’ data privacy (the law banning TikTok unless ByteDance sells the app passed on a bipartisan basis last year).



January 15TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2025/01/16/tiktok-ceo-will-reportedly-attend-trumps-inauguration-as-ban-threat-looms/">expected to attend</a> Trump’s inauguration, according to The New York Times.



January 14ByteDance <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2025/01/14/heres-how-much-elon-musk-could-buy-tiktok-for-as-china-reportedly-eyes-deal/">would likely expect</a> $40 billion to $50 billion for the platform’s U.S. operations, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives estimated (other analysts have offered <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/phoebeliu/2025/01/15/how-much-billions-tiktok-really-worth-possible-ban/">a range of figures</a> for how much TikTok is worth, depending on whether the deal includes TikTok’s powerful content algorithm).



January 13Chinese government officials have considered selling TikTok’s U.S. operations to Trump-allied billionaire Elon Musk if the Supreme Court does not stop the ban from going through on Jan. 19, reported <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-01-14/china-discusses-sale-of-tiktok-us-to-musk-as-one-possible-option" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bloomberg</a>, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter—though the people noted the deliberations are preliminary and officials prefer to keep TikTok under the ownership of China-based ByteDance (ByteDance told Forbes it “can&#8217;t be expected to comment on pure fiction” when asked about the Bloomberg report).



January 10The Supreme Court heard oral arguments over the law requiring TikTok to be sold to a U.S. company or face a ban, with justices appearing “inclined” to uphold the law after appearing satisfied with its focus on the controversial Chinese ownership of the app’s parent company, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/01/10/us/tiktok-ban-supreme-court/supreme-court-tiktok-ban-law?smid=url-share" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The New York Times</a>.



January 9Billionaire <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ahead-of-january-19-deadline-project-liberty-announces-a-formal-offer-to-acquire-tiktok-us-302346575.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Frank McCourt</a>’s Project Liberty announced a proposal to buy TikTok’s U.S. operations—but not its algorithm—by migrating American users to a locally run digital infrastructure, a deal McCourt <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/phoebeliu/2025/01/15/how-much-billions-tiktok-really-worth-possible-ban/">has suggested</a> could be worth $20 billion, with interest from other investors like “Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary (it’s unclear whether ByteDance is considering the offer).



January 6O’Leary, part of <a href="https://www.thepeoplesbid.com/about" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The People&#8217;s Bid for TikTok</a>, told Fox News’ Martha MacCallum he <a href="https://www.thewrap.com/kevin-oleary-buy-tiktok-shark-tank/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">planned to buy</a> the app and that he would need Trump’s help to do so.



January 3The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to uphold the law forcing the ban or sale of TikTok despite Trump’s <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2025/01/03/can-trump-stop-tiktok-ban-heres-what-he-can-and-cant-do-if-supreme-court-upholds-law/">support of the app</a>, arguing TikTok has not shown enough to reason to justify a pause of the law’s date of taking effect and that Trump has not presented a viable argument for a pause.



December 27, 2024Trump opposed the potential ban of TikTok in a <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/24/24-656/336151/20241227163400981_2024-12-27%20-%20TikTok%20v.%20Garland%20-%20Amicus%20Brief%20of%20President%20Donald%20J.%20Trump.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">court filing</a>, arguing if the Supreme Court intervenes, he could secure a “political resolution” after his Jan. 20 inauguration that would keep the app in the U.S.



December 18, 2024The Supreme Court announced it will review TikTok’s challenge against the federal law that could potentially ban the app, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2024/12/18/supreme-court-will-decide-tiktok-bans-fate-as-justices-take-up-case/">scheduling oral arguments</a> for Jan. 10—just days before the law is set to become effective.



December 16, 2024TikTok requested an injunction from the Supreme Court that would <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2024/12/16/tiktok-asks-supreme-court-to-stop-federal-ban/">block the ban</a> against it until the conservative majority court rules on TikTok’s legality or dismisses the case, saying the pause would “create breathing room for this Court to conduct an orderly review &#8230; before this vital channel for Americans to communicate with their fellow citizens and the world is closed.”



December 16, 2024Chew met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate, according to <a href="https://x.com/kaitlancollins/status/1868761606542524712" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CNN</a>, and argued an injunction from the Supreme Court, which was ultimately not granted, would give Trump’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/11/12/trump-tiktok-ban-sale/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">TikTok-friendly administration</a> time to comment on the matter.



December 6, 2024The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2024/12/06/tiktok-ban-upheld-in-court/">denied TikTok’s petition</a> to review the law against TikTok after the court’s three-judge panel said national security concerns outweigh TikTok’s First Amendment rights, later declining TikTok’s request to halt its ruling upholding the law.



May 14, 2024Eight TikTok users sued the federal government, accusing them of First Amendment violations and calling the ban “<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2024/05/14/tiktok-users-sue-federal-government-over-potential-ban/">unconstitutionally overbroad</a>.”



May 7, 2024TikTok <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexandralevine/2024/05/07/tiktok-fights-back-heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-its-suit-against-the-us-government/">filed suit</a> against the federal government, challenging the constitutionality of the ban and arguing the app and its American users were having their First Amendment rights violated.



April 24, 2024President Joe Biden signed the bill requiring TikTok to be sold or banned, provoking a response from the platform, which claimed in a <a href="https://x.com/TikTokPolicy/status/1783149300471525637" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">statement</a> it “invested billions of dollars to keep U.S. data safe and our platform free from outside influence and manipulation.”



April 23, 2024The Senate <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2024/04/23/potential-tiktok-ban-clears-key-senate-vote-part-of-israel-ukraine-taiwan-aid-package/">voted 80-19</a> to pass the bill, which Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said was done to “prevent foreign adversaries from conducting espionage, surveillance, maligned operations, harming vulnerable Americans, our servicemen and women, and our U.S. government personnel.”



April 20, 2024The House in an overwhelming <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2024/04/20/house-approves-nationwide-tiktok-ban-heres-what-to-know/">360-58</a> vote passed the legislation against TikTok, with Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., saying in a <a href="https://x.com/nicholaswu12/status/1767910828861174000" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">statement</a> the legislation was “designed to address legitimate national security and privacy concerns.”

Wildly Popular Social Media App TikTok Unavailable For U.S. Users

TikTok Ban Live Updates: TikTok Back Online For Many Users—As Trump Promises To Delay US Ban

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



Thirty pages of uncovered documents in a lawsuit against TikTok owner ByteDance suggest the company has aggressively pursued children’s use of its app despite knowing its widespread dangers including possible sexual exploitation, according to an exclusive&nbsp;<a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/10/11/g-s1-27676/tiktok-redacted-documents-in-teen-safety-lawsuit-revealed" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">NPR report</a>, which confirms previous reporting by Forbes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">Key Facts</h2>



The documents, discovered&nbsp;<a href="https://www.lpm.org/news/2024-10-09/ag-coleman-sues-tiktok-says-internal-documents-show-company-knowingly-addicted-ky-youth" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">by Kentucky Public Radio</a>&nbsp;after they were improperly redacted, include summaries of internal studies and communications between TikTok executives as they discuss responses to crises and ways to improve the app.



The documents were part of a suit&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexandralevine/2024/10/08/attorneys-general-sue-tiktok-ban/">filed this week</a>&nbsp;by the Kentucky attorney general as part of a two-year, multistate investigation into TikTok.



A&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexandralevine/2022/04/27/how-tiktok-live-became-a-strip-club-filled-with-15-year-olds/">Forbes report in 2022</a>&nbsp;showing TikTok’s live-streaming platform crowded with viewers urging and paying young girls to perform acts that “toe the line of child pornography” caused ByteDance to open an investigation that confirmed “a significant” number of adults messaging underage streamers about stripping live, and in just one month users sent 1 million “gifts” to underage children engaged in this “transactional behavior,” according to the documents.



The investigation prompted one TikTok official, according to NPR, to report that “a major challenge with Live business is that the content that gets the highest engagement may not be the content we want on our platform.”



Other documents show TikTok executives aware of the addictive quality of the app, citing internal research that it took less than an hour to become addicted, and that compulsive usage correlates to negative mental health effects like the loss of analytical skills and memory formation while also interfering with sleep, responsibilities and human connection.



App features released and promoted by the app to help users limit their time on the platform were internally viewed only as a “way to improve public trust” while not effectively reducing users’ screen time, according to the documents, which also reveal that TikTok believed 95% of smartphone users under 17 used the app, which was often ineffective at quickly removing users under 13, the age requirement to be on the app.



The documents also show the platform largely used artificial intelligence instead of human moderation to prevent content about self-harm and eating disorders, while also demoting users deemed “unattractive” by the company and reworking the algorithm to amplify those deemed “beautiful.”



TikTok spokesman Alex Haurek told Forbes in a statement it was highly irresponsible of NPR to publish court-sealed information, adding the “complaint cherry-picks misleading quotes and takes outdated documents out of context to misrepresent our commitment to community safety.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">Crucial Quote</h2>



One TikTok executive warns in the documents that the addictive nature of the app could deprive children using TikTok of “other opportunities,” clarifying that “I literally mean sleep, and eating, and moving around the room, and looking at someone in the eyes.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">Key Background</h2>



These documents — now sealed — come from the Kentucky Public Radio&nbsp;<a href="https://www.lpm.org/news/2024-10-09/ag-coleman-sues-tiktok-says-internal-documents-show-company-knowingly-addicted-ky-youth" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">copying-and-pasting parts</a>&nbsp;of the redacted legal documents, which revealed the 30 pages of secret documents. The documents were redacted legal filings from a two-year investigation by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexandralevine/2024/10/08/attorneys-general-sue-tiktok-ban/">14 attorney generals</a>, which led to state officials suing the company on Tuesday. One of the cases, a complaint filed in the D.C. Superior Court, explicitly referenced Forbes reporting on the problems with TikTok Live. ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, faces a federal law requiring the company to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2024/09/16/tiktok-ban-heard-today-in-court-heres-what-to-know/">sell by January 2025</a>, so that it’s not solely owned by a Chinese company, or face a U.S. ban. Federal government officials&nbsp;<a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cadc.40861/gov.uscourts.cadc.40861.1208647192.0_1.pdf" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">argued</a>&nbsp;in the September lawsuit that ByteDance’s Chinese ownership “creates a national security threat of immense depth and scale.” The Forbes investigation mentioned in the lawsuit is just one of many Forbes stories on the company, which also includes ByteDance&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/emilybaker-white/2022/12/22/tiktok-tracks-forbes-journalists-bytedance/?sh=2ccb583e7da5">spying on Forbes journalists,</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexandralevine/2023/05/05/tiktok-bytedance-sensitive-words-suppression-china/?sh=130ca8e469c9">tracking “sensitive” words</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexandralevine/2023/09/27/tiktok-exposed-politicians-celebrities-contacts-privacy-security-election-china/?sh=7282c882466c">exposing</a>&nbsp;celebrities and politicians’ contacts,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/emilybaker-white/2022/12/01/tiktok-chinese-state-media-divisive-politics/?sh=79d4798e5e64">promoting</a>&nbsp;Chinese propaganda and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexandralevine/2024/04/17/tiktok-mishandled-advertisers-data-bytedance-china/?sh=8e548b1da2b5">mishandling</a>&nbsp;user data.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-chief-critic">Chief Critic</h2>



In response to the federal law, TikTok <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cadc.40861/gov.uscourts.cadc.40861.1208620273.1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">argued</a> the U.S. government’s ban does not equally apply its free speech rules to platforms. It also argued that the ban would be based purely on speculation and flawed concerns about content manipulation and data security practices TikTok is not performing.

In this photo illustration the TikTok logo seen displayed on

TikTok Can Become Addictive After Just 35 Minutes, Uncovered Documents Claim

Pangenome

TikTokers Are Stealing Doctors And Nurses’ Photos To Peddle Pills And Powders

Internal privacy experts worried that not having a corporate records retention policy could violate U.S. and EU laws. Years later, the company still doesn’t have one.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



<abbr>T</abbr>ikTok’s parent company ByteDance&nbsp;may have broken laws in the U.S. and EU because it has no internal corporate records retention policy, according to seven current and former ByteDance employees and hundreds of internal documents and chat logs reviewed by&nbsp;Forbes.



The internal materials show TikTok’s legal and policy experts clearly warning senior leaders, including Global Chief Security Officer Kim Albarella, that ByteDance’s lack of a policy for managing internal records could threaten its ability to operate in the U.S. and EU. One, from spring 2023, shows an internal privacy policy expert expressing relief that regulators had not yet noticed that the company was out of compliance.



Employees expressed concerns that the company could be out of compliance with the United States FTC Act and Europe’s privacy regulation GDPR. Rules around corporate record retention and deletion, while seemingly mundane, are critical because they prevent companies from scrubbing their records of evidence of wrongdoing and protect the privacy of people whose information is stored in corporate records.



The seven sources told&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;that ByteDance lacked such a policy for years, an oversight with potentially dire consequences for a company already under investigation by the U.S. government and that has faced global scrutiny for its data privacy practices. Some worried it could also jeopardize the company’s fast-growing ecommerce business, centered on TikTok Shop, which launched in the U.S. last September and is targeting revenue of $17.5 billion this year.



In communications viewed by&nbsp;Forbes, employees explained that not having a records retention policy put the company out of compliance with the International Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard, which — if discovered — could have halted its ability to process credit card transactions entirely. A document from late 2022 stated that TikTok Live had been “launched without consideration of PCI compliance.”



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
Preservation of corporate records —&nbsp;and the accessibility of those records by U.S. Government officials&nbsp;— has high stakes for TikTok.
</blockquote>



The internal materials reviewed by&nbsp;Forbes, many of which are attorney-client privileged, reveal a scramble to create and launch a stopgap policy for credit card-specific documents in early 2023 to ensure the company was compliant with the requirements. But in March 2023, Albarella told employees they were not going to fast-track a cardholder data-specific policy, and instead, would proceed with building and launching a comprehensive policy, the materials show. The problem: her staff said that process would take 1-2 years to operationalize, and in the meantime, the company was still not compliant, the materials show.



In response to a detailed list of questions about the internal materials, TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek sent the following statement: &#8220;We believe these assertions are based on outdated documents, which were predominantly prepared by employees who are no longer with the company, who did not have visibility into all our work in this area, and who are now attempting to advance an agenda without regard for the facts.&#8221; Haurek said the 1-2 year timeline “was pulled from a document prepared by a single former employee and was not validated.”



Responding to the internal document about TikTok Live’s PCI compliance, Haurek wrote: &#8220;This unauthorized statement does not accurately reflect the PCI compliance status of these products. It was entered into the report &#8211; after final review &#8211; by an employee who has since left the company.” ByteDance spokesperson Mike Hughes added: &#8220;We follow industry standards on apps subject to PCI standards.&#8221; When asked directly whether ByteDance is in compliance with the FTC Act and GDPR today, Hughes wrote: “We continuously strive to meet our legal obligations related to data governance.”



Neither spokesperson responded to questions about which country or countries their corporate records were stored in.



Hillary Sale, a professor of leadership and corporate governance at Georgetown Law School, told&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;that any company of TikTok’s size should have a retention policy, and that these are systems that every startup should implement as they grow. Companies should have “an understanding of how and when to retain documents, and ensur[e] that people across the company understand that importance,” she told&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;in an interview.



Preservation of corporate records — and the accessibility of those records by U.S. Government officials — has high stakes for TikTok, as it is in the midst of multi-year&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/emilybaker-white/2023/08/21/draft-tiktok-cfius-agreement/">negotiations</a>&nbsp;with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. The Biden Administration last year threatened that it would force ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a ban of the app in the U.S. (Disclosure: In a previous life, I held policy positions at Facebook and Spotify.)



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
It remains unclear whether even a TikTok-specific retention policy is now in place.
</blockquote>



TikTok is also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/emilybaker-white/2023/03/16/fbi-doj-investigating-bytedance-tiktok-surveillance-journalists/?sh=ed4fd8a6fc2a">under criminal investigation</a>&nbsp;by the U.S. Department of Justice for surveilling journalists,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/emilybaker-white/2022/12/22/tiktok-tracks-forbes-journalists-bytedance/?sh=c5f64247da57">including this reporter</a>, and was served a subpoena for documents related to that investigation late last year. Previously,&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;reported that ByteDance&#8217;s own anti-fraud experts&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/emilybaker-white/2022/11/28/tiktok-inaccurate-government-inquiries-internal-bytedance-risk-assessment/?sh=276e46223fed">warned</a>&nbsp;the company that it was incapable of ensuring that their responses to law enforcement requests, like subpoenas, were accurate, in part because of the company’s irregular data preservation practices. At the time, the company said: “This document was created within one department nearly two years ago, never presented internally beyond that, and is largely inaccurate, with outdated details which are made irrelevant by regular updates to our practices in the years since.”



In fall 2022, a lawyer for TikTok told colleagues that he was working with one product team on an electronic discovery feature that would enable the company to better respond to requests for company records, but warned colleagues that it would be a lengthy process, according to documents reviewed by&nbsp;Forbes. At the time, the task of developing a policy had been given to TikTok’s Data Defense and Access Assurance team, but that team deprioritized it in favor of more pressing work. The project was then given to data compliance experts within the company’s Global Security Organization (GSO).



Also in 2022, ByteDance hired Redgrave LLP, a firm specializing in corporate information governance, to help it create a document retention policy. One of the first questions the outside attorneys raised was whether the policy should be written to cover just TikTok, or all of ByteDance. In a conversation from mid-2022, TikTok’s former global lead for security compliance told Albarella, the company’s acting Chief Security Officer, that the policy would need to be ByteDance-wide, because “ByteDance’s internal system cannot be separated between products.”



Policy drafts from early 2023 authored by Redgrave counsel show that while the attorneys originally intended the draft policy to cover all internal ByteDance documents, they subsequently narrowed it to cover only documents owned by TikTok. (Redgrave did not respond to a comment request.)



Still, it remains unclear whether even a TikTok-specific retention policy is now in place.&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;asked both TikTok and ByteDance whether they today have comprehensive, enforced data retention policies.



&#8220;Like any company, we retain records to meet legal obligations,” Hughes replied. Haurek added: “We have policies and procedures in place that govern the retention of TikTok user personal information.”



Neither answered a follow-up question asking to clarify whether TikTok and ByteDance have corporate records retention policies today.

TikTok’s Lawyers Repeatedly Warned Executives It Could Be Breaking Data Laws

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



Google <a href="https://blog.google/products/search/more-content-by-people-for-people-in-search/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced</a> Thursday it will take more steps to promote high-quality content in its search results, while the Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-tests-tiktok-like-feed-in-app-11660754386" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a> this week Amazon will try out a new video feature for shoppers, becoming the latest tech giants to introduce changes to try to compete with the increasingly popular TikTok.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">KEY FACTS</h2>



Google said it is making updates to ensure high quality content is promoted in its search results, while cutting back on the amount of low-quality, unoriginal content designed “for ranking well in search engines rather than to help or inform people.”



The changes come after Google’s Senior Vice President Prabhakar Raghavan <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2022/07/12/google-exec-suggests-instagram-and-tiktok-are-eating-into-googles-core-products-search-and-maps/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a> last month younger people are using apps like TikTok and Instagram instead of Google for searches.



Amazon, meanwhile, is trying out a stream of TikTok-like photos and videos in its app called “Inspire,” where shoppers can like, share and purchase items in the same place, the&nbsp;Journal&nbsp;reported, citing a person familiar with the product.&nbsp;



The new portal is being tested by Amazon employees, but could be launched more broadly, the&nbsp;Journal&nbsp;reported.&nbsp;



Amazon spokesperson Alyssa Bronikowski told Forbes the company is “constantly testing new features to help make customers’ lives a little easier.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">BIG NUMBER</h2>



One billion. That’s how many monthly active users TikTok&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/tiktok-hits-1-billion-monthly-active-users-globally-company-2021-09-27/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>&nbsp;it had in September 2021, a 45% increase from the year before.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



Alphabet, Google’s parent company, has taken a series of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-11/google-is-remaking-search-maps-for-the-tiktok-generation?sref=5EPYOKdS" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">steps</a>&nbsp;this year to make improvements to Google’s search engine and maps function to help draw in younger users, including new features for people to search for nearby items using images and discover physical objects using their phone cameras. Raghavan&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-11/google-is-remaking-search-maps-for-the-tiktok-generation?sref=5EPYOKdS" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told</a>&nbsp;Bloomberg in May the company was aiming for Google Search to “be something that you can do anywhere, in any way you want, using any of your senses.” Meta, too, has attempted to compete with TikTok’s popularity, launching short videos known as reels in 2020 for Instagram users, followed by Facebook&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/metas-facebook-escalates-tiktok-rivalry-launches-reels-globally-11645549200?mod=article_inline" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">users</a>&nbsp;this year. Alphabet also created a new feature called “Shorts” for YouTube, a short-form video platform designed to look like TikTok. TikTok is currently&nbsp;<a href="https://techcrunch.com/2022/08/09/tiktoks-latest-test-feature-improve-search-capabilities/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">trying</a>&nbsp;out a new feature to improve its own search functions by identifying keywords in comments and linking to search results for the words. The app has surged in popularity since it was launched in 2016, becoming the third largest worldwide social media platform behind Instagram and Facebook in 2021,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.insiderintelligence.com/newsroom/index.php/tiktok-is-the-third-largest-worldwide-social-network-behind-instagram-and-facebook/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according</a>&nbsp;to Insider Intelligence. Raghavan&nbsp;<a href="https://techcrunch.com/2022/07/12/google-exec-suggests-instagram-and-tiktok-are-eating-into-googles-core-products-search-and-maps/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>&nbsp;in July Google has found about 40% of young people turn to popular social media apps like TikTok or Instagram “when they’re looking for a place for lunch,” instead of Google Maps or Search, key products for Alphabet.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">CONTRA</h2>



Instagram last month decided to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2022/07/28/instagram-pauses-on-some-tiktok-like-changes-for-now-after-complaints/?sh=5a474aea6526">pause</a>&nbsp;changes designed to make the app look more like TikTok, including a redesign of its feed, after facing a host of criticisms from users, including major creators like Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian. It had planned to prioritize video content over photos, but decided to “take a big step back and regroup,” after facing a backlash over the modifications, Instagram chief Adam Mosseri said at the time.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://techcrunch.com/2022/08/18/google-will-roll-out-new-updates-to-reduce-low-quality-and-unoriginal-content-in-search-results/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google will roll out new updates to reduce low-quality and unoriginal content in search results</a>&nbsp;(Tech Crunch)



<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-tests-tiktok-like-feed-in-app-11660754386" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Amazon Tests TikTok-Like Feed in App</a>&nbsp;(Wall Street Journal)



<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-11/google-is-remaking-search-maps-for-the-tiktok-generation?sref=5EPYOKdS" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google Is Remaking Search, Maps for the TikTok Generation</a>&nbsp;(Bloomberg)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2022/07/28/instagram-pauses-on-some-tiktok-like-changes-for-now-after-complaints/?sh=5a474aea6526">Instagram Pauses On Some TikTok-Like Changes—For Now—After Complaints</a> (Forbes)



By Madeline Halpert, Forbes Staff

Tech Giants Are Racing To Compete With TikTok—Here’s How

In June, Senegalese-born Khaby Lame became the most followed star on TikTok. The social media app’s market is particularly growing in Africa’s biggest economy with more influencers tuning to it to make a living.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“During Covid I started posting videos on TikTok initially because I was bored.”</blockquote>



TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, has become one of the world’s most downloaded apps with more than 2 billion downloads according to figures from the platform.



In Africa too, the social media platform has made followers and fortunes for its many stars.



Senegalese-born Khaby Lame is one such example.



He became the most followed star on the social media app with 142.5 million followers in June this year, catapulting him from a humble factory worker living in Italy to landing glamorous and lucrative sponsorships with brands such as Hugo Boss.



His rise has resonated with Africans all over the world and the sensation to become the next big TikTok star has reached fever pitch particularly in Nigeria; little wonder for Africa’s biggest economy.



In recent years, the country is amongst the most active users of TikTok on the continent according to a report by international broadcaster Deutsche Welle.



In recent times, the ‘Don’t leave me’ challenge created by Nigerian TikTok star Josh2Funny became a viral sensation attracting the likes of Greek-Nigerian NBA superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo and other Hollywood celebrities.



With an unprecedented youth unemployment rate in Nigeria, social media has become a medium for Gen Z creators to earn a living. Spurred on by the negative effects of the coronavirus, TikTok reportedly attracted millions of users who wanted an escape from the lockdown.



According to TikTok, its market share in Nigeria peaked at about 50% in 2021.



“During Covid, I started posting videos on TikTok initially because I was bored. Then I realized people were gradually engaging with my content and it became a form of therapy for me because it helped me cope with the stress of being in lockdown every day,” says EmekaG, a TikTok creator in Lagos.



Like him, many young Nigerian creators are hoping to build their own unique brand on the social media platform to help them engage with brands and ultimately make a living as TikTok influencers.



The appeal of the platform lies in its micro-video sharing interface which allows users to create short, funny videos and share them on the platform as well as other apps like Instagram.

Juventus v Villarreal CF: Round Of Sixteen Leg Two – UEFA Champions League

TikTok’s Superstars In West Africa And Growing Market

TOPLINE: <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/joewalsh/2021/07/24/olympic-ratings-fall-sharply-nbc-says-17-million-watched-opening-ceremony-in-us/">Millions of people</a> all around the world are tuning into hours of Olympics events this week, but many athletes competing in Tokyo have taken to the app TikTok to show followers what it’s like at the Olympic Village during the Games, often going viral in the process.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h3>



The first Olympic meme to go viral in Tokyo showed athletes jumping on beds in the Olympic Village in TikTok videos after rumors swirled that the bedframes were <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2021/07/19/the-anti-sex-cardboard-beds-of-the-olympics-explained/">made of cardboard</a> to prevent Olympians from having sex and breaking pandemic protocol—as Argentian basketball players Fran Caffaro and Tayavek Gallizzi proved in one viral video, the beds are <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@caffarof/video/6987334212575661317?sender_device=pc&amp;sender_web_id=6985254902423651845&amp;is_from_webapp=v1&amp;is_copy_url=0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sturdier than they appear</a>. 



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-tiktok wp-block-embed-tiktok"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="tiktok-embed" cite="https://www.tiktok.com/@caffarof/video/6987334212575661317" data-video-id="6987334212575661317" data-embed-from="oembed" style="max-width:605px; min-width:325px;"> <section> <a target="_blank" title="@caffarof" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@caffarof?refer=embed">@caffarof</a> Trying the Olympic cardboard beds with 480 pounds ✅ <a title="olympics" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/olympics?refer=embed">#olympics</a> <a title="olympics2020" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/olympics2020?refer=embed">#olympics2020</a> <a title="olympics2021" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/olympics2021?refer=embed">#olympics2021</a> <a title="tokyo" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/tokyo?refer=embed">#tokyo</a> <a title="tokyo2020" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/tokyo2020?refer=embed">#tokyo2020</a> <a title="tokyo2021" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/tokyo2021?refer=embed">#tokyo2021</a> <a title="argentina" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/argentina?refer=embed">#argentina</a> <a title="arg" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/arg?refer=embed">#arg</a> <a title="basketball" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/basketball?refer=embed">#basketball</a> <a target="_blank" title="♬ Ball If I Want To - DaBaby" href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/Ball-If-I-Want-To-6973722766373570561?refer=embed">♬ Ball If I Want To &#8211; DaBaby</a> </section> </blockquote> <script async src="https://www.tiktok.com/embed.js"></script>
</div></figure>



Another Olympian to go viral on the platform was 18-year-old American diver <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@tylerdownss/video/6987483523921759494?_d=secCgYIASAHKAESMgowZOCeYM74c7smjs9j2t9d2hdqGShs15DmVJ6An2lCcWAf2bkIlxjyD4ymaqLKwRcdGgA%3D&amp;checksum=8faa4d9fa95d7d2172a291e052b5ffe615c27c2a49dc8d9d2aa96c615811a051&amp;language=en&amp;preview_pb=0&amp;sec_user_id=MS4wLjABAAAAawoof_42mR5wsC_7K-cVTbyU_yuD_TYlZTWRUr1ihRZB__7r6cvd2kPiri1djYbt&amp;share_app_id=1233&amp;share_item_id=6987483523921759494&amp;share_link_id=EE332493-9D78-4F56-B9E4-9079FE689AC0&amp;source=h5_m&amp;timestamp=1627137553&amp;tt_from=copy&amp;u_code=d8gk1d6c01khe4&amp;user_id=6743866028382520325&amp;utm_campaign=client_share&amp;utm_medium=ios&amp;utm_source=copy&amp;_r=1&amp;is_copy_url=1&amp;is_from_webapp=v1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tyler Downs</a>, who posted a relatable video about wanting to meet star gymnast Simone Biles, another member of Team USA, during the Games.



American rugby player Ilona Maher has posted a variety of behind-the-scenes videos of the Games to her TikTok account—in one, she describes scouting the Olympic Village for a “tall foreign demigod”&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@ilonamaher/video/6988449598331292933?_d=secCgYIASAHKAESMgow7QAObZXXM7GgvVsgCfc1ajnhQ%2FTqFW4rp8tmF53rsnVvHy4Z8F%2Bgt%2Bb3YNklcdcjGgA%3D&amp;checksum=3267ca6e011fd4fbbe682bc0e8d877db285d345f7dd7b8ccc95eaeb274f61ca9&amp;language=en&amp;preview_pb=0&amp;sec_user_id=MS4wLjABAAAAawoof_42mR5wsC_7K-cVTbyU_yuD_TYlZTWRUr1ihRZB__7r6cvd2kPiri1djYbt&amp;share_app_id=1233&amp;share_item_id=6988449598331292933&amp;share_link_id=0F65B3AE-1FC5-4C61-81BD-8CF13AD90AAB&amp;source=h5_m&amp;timestamp=1627139729&amp;tt_from=copy&amp;u_code=d8gk1d6c01khe4&amp;user_id=6743866028382520325&amp;utm_campaign=client_share&amp;utm_medium=ios&amp;utm_source=copy&amp;_r=1&amp;is_copy_url=1&amp;is_from_webapp=v1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">athlete to marry</a>, and in another she shows off the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@ilonamaher/video/6987899983349468421?_d=secCgYIASAHKAESMgowcnp4waqdE1Ssr%2BGeXdaF%2Fm4Rgi0tFXODlCpQ4IScJXBB8XDE2CjnZJgU1cYXmryEGgA%3D&amp;checksum=7d197536761b74e810a6c5c8810da5b43f95d111619795531eedabd7ad12f799&amp;language=en&amp;preview_pb=0&amp;sec_user_id=MS4wLjABAAAAawoof_42mR5wsC_7K-cVTbyU_yuD_TYlZTWRUr1ihRZB__7r6cvd2kPiri1djYbt&amp;share_app_id=1233&amp;share_item_id=6981535158310636806&amp;share_link_id=98A16295-D4F3-4037-BAD7-585089AE4336&amp;source=h5_m&amp;timestamp=1627173431&amp;tt_from=copy&amp;u_code=d8gk1d6c01khe4&amp;user_id=6743866028382520325&amp;utm_campaign=client_share&amp;utm_medium=ios&amp;utm_source=copy&amp;_r=1&amp;is_copy_url=1&amp;is_from_webapp=v1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ralph Lauren and Nike gear</a>&nbsp;Team USA athletes were gifted.



American fencer Courtney Hurley posted a video showing the room she shares at the Olympic Village with sister and fellow Team USA fencer Kelley Hurley, pointing out how the their sides of the room&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@thishurleygurrl/video/6988762823237192965?_d=secCgYIASAHKAESMgow3JB%2F9buF7YtzxqYOACq90UfMLtmWk6%2BQ4q8vRbXcV6TCfeQb%2FAzDaErU93ho0IwIGgA%3D&amp;checksum=01b42ed0de7c93acb9da248aecaa7862df3b2a58271dd3de2d43a5a8bcc1535d&amp;language=en&amp;preview_pb=0&amp;sec_user_id=MS4wLjABAAAAawoof_42mR5wsC_7K-cVTbyU_yuD_TYlZTWRUr1ihRZB__7r6cvd2kPiri1djYbt&amp;share_app_id=1233&amp;share_item_id=6987706776510565637&amp;share_link_id=B7CB069C-0530-49AE-AF70-FBAE97B56E8D&amp;source=h5_m&amp;timestamp=1627213849&amp;tt_from=copy&amp;u_code=d8gk1d6c01khe4&amp;user_id=6743866028382520325&amp;utm_campaign=client_share&amp;utm_medium=ios&amp;utm_source=copy&amp;_r=1&amp;is_copy_url=1&amp;is_from_webapp=v1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">differ in neatness</a>.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-tiktok wp-block-embed-tiktok"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="tiktok-embed" cite="https://www.tiktok.com/@thishurleygurrl/video/6988762823237192965" data-video-id="6988762823237192965" data-embed-from="oembed" style="max-width:605px; min-width:325px;"> <section> <a target="_blank" title="@thishurleygurrl" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@thishurleygurrl?refer=embed">@thishurleygurrl</a> This will be our third Olympics together&#8230;I&#8217;m not getting any better🥲<a title="olympicgames" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/olympicgames?refer=embed">#olympicgames</a> <a title="olympics" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/olympics?refer=embed">#olympics</a> <a title="olympicspirit" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/olympicspirit?refer=embed">#olympicspirit</a> <a title="foryoupage" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/foryoupage?refer=embed">#foryoupage</a> <a title="fyp" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/fyp?refer=embed">#fyp</a> <a title="teamusa" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/teamusa?refer=embed">#teamusa</a> <a title="tokyoolympics" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/tokyoolympics?refer=embed">#tokyoolympics</a> <a target="_blank" title="♬ original sound - N." href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-6807611482092751621?refer=embed">♬ original sound &#8211; N.</a> </section> </blockquote> <script async src="https://www.tiktok.com/embed.js"></script>
</div></figure>



American swimmer Regan Smith and several teammates used a spare moment during practice at a Tokyo pool to <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@regansmith40/video/6988345232916090117?_d=secCgYIASAHKAESMgowGG4HT8HB%2F4q6UjX4zzBaGsds6d1SfVwApvin%2BmEHazHHh%2F4xGCOwTmlZT8cx21gpGgA%3D&amp;checksum=7ab48b0191c49a5b3e39fd5076a853649bb0b9beba207a68efce6a6c77cd3a20&amp;language=en&amp;preview_pb=0&amp;sec_user_id=MS4wLjABAAAAawoof_42mR5wsC_7K-cVTbyU_yuD_TYlZTWRUr1ihRZB__7r6cvd2kPiri1djYbt&amp;share_app_id=1233&amp;share_item_id=6988345232916090117&amp;share_link_id=0C9786E2-1B37-45C8-862C-14A34CC973C9&amp;source=h5_m&amp;timestamp=1627137510&amp;tt_from=copy&amp;u_code=d8gk1d6c01khe4&amp;user_id=6743866028382520325&amp;utm_campaign=client_share&amp;utm_medium=ios&amp;utm_source=copy&amp;_r=1&amp;is_copy_url=1&amp;is_from_webapp=v1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">jokingly recreate</a> a video that went viral last year of a baby being <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/davidmack/viral-tiktok-of-baby-being-thrown-into-pool" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tossed into a pool</a> during an infant swimming lesson.



Australian water polo player Tilly Kearns responded to a video from Australian rugby player Kennedy Cherrington about athlete hairstyles,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@tillykearns/video/6985395534529940742?_d=secCgYIASAHKAESMgowZyYjpAP7r6LlAhiEvfdKQ4iPXh9D8fgCLM8yJsXnPHpGek3d4ve2IUBzEVO%2F5M2OGgA%3D&amp;checksum=a8c3128e6c627a8c52d2a021d69185bca4f8867769f2544ad6d0e04953877c38&amp;language=en&amp;preview_pb=0&amp;sec_user_id=MS4wLjABAAAAawoof_42mR5wsC_7K-cVTbyU_yuD_TYlZTWRUr1ihRZB__7r6cvd2kPiri1djYbt&amp;share_app_id=1233&amp;share_item_id=6985395534529940742&amp;share_link_id=F0A272D2-F24D-48D2-A5C5-3A6B796B9108&amp;source=h5_m&amp;timestamp=1627215155&amp;tt_from=copy&amp;u_code=d8gk1d6c01khe4&amp;user_id=6743866028382520325&amp;utm_campaign=client_share&amp;utm_medium=ios&amp;utm_source=copy&amp;_r=1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">poking fun</a>&nbsp;at the tight swim caps water sport competitors wear.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



Olympian TikTok videos give viewers an inside look at the Olympic Village during an unprecedented Games. With host city Tokyo reporting an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tommybeer/2021/07/22/tokyo-reports-its-highest-covid-case-count-since-january-on-eve-of-olympic-games/?sh=18e18b307e06">increase in new cases</a>, athletes undergo regular testing and follow strict protocol to prevent new infections. According to organizers,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2021/07/25/top-golfer-jon-rahm-the-latest-to-pull-out-of-tokyo-olympics-due-to-covid---heres-the-full-list/?sh=2c142c9e2a27">137 people</a>&nbsp;had tested positive in relation to the Olympics on Sunday. Most recently, top golfers Jon Rahm from Spain and Bryson DeChambeau from the U.S were&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2021/07/25/top-golfer-jon-rahm-the-latest-to-pull-out-of-tokyo-olympics-due-to-covid---heres-the-full-list/?sh=2c142c9e2a27">pulled from the Games</a>&nbsp;after being diagnosed with coronavirus.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2021/07/25/top-golfer-jon-rahm-the-latest-to-pull-out-of-tokyo-olympics-due-to-covid---heres-the-full-list/?sh=2c142c9e2a27">Top Golfer Jon Rahm The Latest To Pull Out Of Tokyo Olympics Due To Covid — Here’s The Full List</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2021/07/23/at-least-100-us-athletes-unvaccinated-as-tokyo-2020-olympic-games-kick-off/?sh=1a860519617a">At Least 100 U.S. Athletes Unvaccinated As Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Kick Off</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2021/07/19/did-olympic-athletes-need-to-be-vaccinated-no---and-now-more-are-testing-positive-for-covid-19/?sh=6fb0b9244db7">Did Olympic Athletes Need To Be Vaccinated? No — And Now More Are Testing Positive For Covid-19.</a> (Forbes)



By Carlie Porterfield, Forbes Staff

Opening Ceremony – Olympics: Day 0

Olympians Go Viral On TikTok For Showing Behind-The-Scenes Of Tokyo Olympics

As the Fourth of July drew to a close, Ziggi Tyler, 23, of Chicago, decided to use his holiday downtime to update his bio on TikTok’s Creator Marketplace, a new part of the app where influencers like Tyler connect with brands to strike sponsorship deals. Tyler is a Black influencer who&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@ziggityler?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">uses TikTok</a>&nbsp;and other platforms to post comedy vlogs, and he wanted to highlight his background to marketers who might want to launch racial justice campaigns or ads featuring more diverse talent. But when he went to include words and phrases like “Black,” “Black Lives Matter” and “Black support,” he made an uncomfortable discovery: The app wouldn’t allow him to include them, flagging the words as inappropriate content and making it impossible for him to publish the new bio.



“It’s very odd, it’s very strange—it’s very frustrating,” says Tyler.



TikTok doesn’t deny that this happened to Tyler. It says the content moderation algorithm within the Creator Marketplace, launched in mid 2020, is a work in progress. The problem stretched into Wednesday afternoon—at that time, TikTok placed a block on anyone updating their marketplace bios. The company says it has since corrected the faulty AI, though any changes to the bios still cannot go through.



TikTok says the algorithm flagged the phrases because Tyler had also written the word “audience” in his bio, and the AI had been taught to flag bios that included the word “die,” which is contained within the word “audience,” and things like “Black” and “Black Lives Matter” as possible hate speech.



“Our TikTok Creator Marketplace protections, which flag phrases typically associated with hate speech, were erroneously set to flag phrases without respect to word order,” a TikTok spokesperson said in a statement. “We recognize and apologize for how frustrating this was to experience.”



For his part, Tyler finds TikTok’s explanation specious. “I could write out ‘neo nazi’ and ‘white supremacy’ no problem, and that’s cool,” he says. “But I just went in 30 minutes ago and tried to add ‘Black Lives Matter’ again, and it wasn’t allowed.” While TikTok had an explanation for why Tyler couldn’t fill out his bio with those phrases, the company didn’t offer one for something else: Tyler’s videos for now can’t be as easily shared on TikTok as videos from most other influencers. The Stitch and Duet functions, two common features that allow users to republish another person’s TikToks, have been disabled on Tyler’s account, making it harder for his videos to go viral. (TikTok denies turning off these features, saying only a user can do so. Tyler, in turn, says he didn’t mute them either.) Nonetheless, his videos talking about his experience over the past few days have done nearly 2.5 million views.  



<figure class="wp-block-embed"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-6981541023633771269?refer=embed
</div></figure>



There’s been a growing tension between TikTok and the Black community on its app. During last year’s Black Lives Matter protests, several Black creators&nbsp;<a href="https://time.com/5863350/tiktok-black-creators/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">alleged</a>&nbsp;that TikTok was suppressing content about the protests and George Floyd’s death, something the company has denied doing. TikTok did admit a “technical glitch” affected the view counts around hashtags like #BlackLivesMatter and #GeorgeFloyd, making it seem that they had received zero or very few views when in fact they’d been watched millions of times. Most recently, some Black influencers staged what they called&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2021/06/25/heres-why-black-dancers-are-protesting-against-tiktok/">a virtual strike</a>, going silent on the app to protest an unfair bias among advertisers on the app that favors white creators.&nbsp;



Moreover, TikTok has struggled at points to grow from an app featuring dances and stunts into a social network where politics and other weighty issues are discussed—even as its user base has ballooned to more than 700 million users worldwide, complicating that calculus. As recently as late 2019, the company’s top executives&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/2021/05/05/tiktok-trump-bytedance/">were actively weighing</a>&nbsp;whether they should find ways to tamp down content about politics, going as far as to consider turning off its key algorithmic feed during elections, including the 2020 presidential contest in America.&nbsp;



Tyler, bearded and habitually clad in a knit cap, joined TikTok back in February 2020 and established a niche for himself with humorous videos, talking about topics like his apperance, sex and white influencers. He has since accumulated 368,000 followers, and in October, he joined TikTok’s Creator Fund, which pays out to creators who create popular enough videos. Tyler, a recent Southern Illinois University graduate, joined the Creator Marketplace the following January. He hasn’t struck any brand deals yet—rejecting a few overtures from companies he found less than reputable—but hopes to in the coming months.



“I’m genuinely just here to make people laugh, feel good about themselves, feel confident, feel sexy,” Tyler says. “I just want people to love themselves and have a good time. Because there&#8217;s so much hate in the world.”

Trump Approves TikTok Takeover By Oracle And Walmart

TikTok Blocked Creators From Adding ‘Black’ And ‘Black Lives Matter’ To Bios

Amazon, Facebook, TikTok and a growing number of venture-backed startups are all seeking to replicate QVC&#8217;s success selling stuff via live demos and time-pressured promotions. But the original home shopping is still way ahead &#8211; for now.



In March, a year into the pandemic, QVC is pitching a predictably eclectic assortment of items. A set of three collapsible storage boxes for $33, perfect for the springtime ritual of clearing away clutter — 28,000 sold! A pink amaryllis bulb for Easter – yours for three payments of $10.89! An “ingenious” planter in the shape of a frog — only 500 left!



Hardly the essentials needed to endure a lockdown, but it’s made for brisk business for QVC and its sister channel HSN, which now reach into 380 million homes worldwide and continue to find a massive audience for its hokey sales pitches that push everything from mattresses and mops to cooking supplies and jewelry.



Last year, the two channels — plus a handful of smaller clothing and home décor brands — delivered revenue of $11.4 billion for publicly-traded Qurate Retail. QVC has been around for 35 years but has suddenly become the company to beat in the industry’s new fervor for live shopping. Amazon, Facebook and TikTok are in hot pursuit, along with a number of venture-backed startups. Walmart wants in too, as do Macy’s, Nordstrom, Urban Outfitters, Wayfair, Estee Lauder, Tommy Hilfiger and Levi Strauss, all of whom have begun to experiment with the approach as a way of reaching shoppers who are staying at home — and may never come back.



“They are more relevant now than ever,” says Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail, of the two channels born at the dawn of the cable TV era.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/GettyImages-1180313883-683x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-50467" width="175" height="262" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/GettyImages-1180313883-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/GettyImages-1180313883-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/GettyImages-1180313883-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/GettyImages-1180313883-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/GettyImages-1180313883-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/GettyImages-1180313883-scaled.jpg 1707w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 175px) 100vw, 175px" /><figcaption>Qurate Retail Group CEO Mike George . (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Fashion Footwear Charitable Foundation )</figcaption></figure></div>



Livestream shopping, the internet-era name given to programming that leans heavily on lively demos, time-pressured promotions and real-time interactions with shoppers, is set to grow four-fold to $25 billion in the U.S. in the next two years, according to Coresight Research. And that’s nothing compared to what’s happening in China, where data firm iResearch expects consumers to spend $300 billion on livestream purchases this year, about 15% of the country’s total online sales. Qurate, with 22 million active customers, is the largest in the U.S. by far and still growing, adding 7.6 million new shoppers during 2020. Shares of Qurate, which is controlled by cable billionaire John Malone, have delivered total returns of 300% in the past 12 months.



“The world is shifting to what we do,” says Qurate CEO Mike George, who is set to retire at the end of the year. “As we see others copy what we do, it motivates us to move that much faster to expand our leadership.”



While most livestreamers are still fumbling for footing, QVC is a well-oiled machine that has already won over millions of bargain-hunting, middle-aged women, who buy an average of 26 items every year at a cost of $1,335, an enviable advantage. Big tech is still in the trial and error phase. Amazon’s first effort, “Style Code Live,&#8221; was cancelled in 2017 after a year. The online behemoth has since revamped the strategy to allow brands and influencers to host their own livestreams, which run throughout the day on the Amazon Live page. Last year, Facebook&nbsp;<a href="https://about.fb.com/news/2020/05/introducing-facebook-shops/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">began making it easier</a>&nbsp;for small businesses to sell products during livestream sessions, while TikTok is running tests with Walmart. A pilot event in December attracted seven times more viewers than it anticipated, prompting&nbsp;<a href="https://corporate.walmart.com/newsroom/2021/03/09/walmart-doubles-down-on-tiktok-shopping-hosts-all-new-live-stream-shopping-event" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a second livestream earlier this month</a>.



A rash of copycats has also emerged, with ambitions of overtaking the incumbent with a slicker, more digitally savvy version geared toward young shoppers. “I love it,” says George, who keeps a thick file of stories about companies purporting to be the ‘new QVC,’ most of them failed. “It’s good to be talked about.”



If any of them do gain traction, they could threaten the value of that 380-million home reach. That’s why George has embraced streaming services like YouTube TV, the company&#8217;s own branded websites and mobile apps, as well as social media. He’s now testing 15-second spots on TikTok and on-demand content like a 30-minute show where celebrity chef Curtis Stone travels to far-flung destinations to sample local cuisine. A new app, currently in beta in the U.K., will let users themselves livestream content, the same kind of user-generated content approach that has boomed in China.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">The world is shifting to what we do. As we see others copy what we do, it motivates us to move that much faster to expand our leadership.<cite>-Mike George, CEO of Qurate Retail</cite></blockquote>



George won’t disclose how many orders still start with a customer tuning in through their television, and instead points out that QVC and HSN are now mostly digital businesses, with about 60% of their revenue coming from online sales and two-thirds of those purchases made from mobile devices. Still, sales rose just 5% in 2020, hardly the numbers posted by a game-changing growth business.



The 59-year-old retail veteran began running QVC in 2005, shortly after cable giant Comcast sold its stake in the business to Malone’s Liberty Media Corp. in 2003, and oversaw the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/06/business/dealbook/qvc-home-shopping-network-merger.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">2017 acquisition</a>&nbsp;of its main rival, HSN. Before he took the job, he was put off by what felt like a dated concept even then, but was won over by its connection with customers and the way it sent units flying out the door. The son of a carpenter who learned as a kid he was no good with his hands, George&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/jobs/21boss.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">became convinced that QVC’s “best days were yet to come.”</a>



“The people that watch QVC and HSN and buy stuff on there woke up that morning and didn’t know they needed a pan or makeup or whatever it is,” says Evercore ISI retail analyst Oliver Wintermantel. Its biggest problem? An aging audience.



That’s what led him&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/qvc-to-acquire-online-shopping-site-zulily-for-2-4-billion-1439813202" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">to pay $2.4 billion for flash sales site Zulily</a>&nbsp;in 2015, giving him a brand that also relies on time-pressured promotions but is popular among moms with young children. He also ramped up the marketing budget for QVC and HSN to $170 million last year, with a focus on social media ads and partnerships with influencers.



George says he’s got the problem in hand, but not because he believes that youth is the future. Gen Z shoppers lack the disposable income, hobbies and life experience to be interested in what he’s selling. “We’ve never worried a whole lot about being cool,” he says. Instead, he sees plenty of runway left for his core audience of women 35 and older.



His bigger worry is becoming a showroom for Amazon. That’s led to exclusive merchandise deals, both with emerging entrepreneurs like IT Cosmetics founder Jamie Kern Lima and celebrities like Katy Perry, Martha Stewart, Jaime Foxx and HGTV’s Property Brothers, who are drawn to the company’s massive reach.&nbsp;



One of those lines was with plus-sized model Hunter McGrady, the curviest woman ever featured on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, who watched QVC with her mom growing up and debuted a clothing line with the channel last year. She worked with the in-house design team to create a line of hoodies, joggers and cardigans in sizes XXS to 5x, then began going on-air to walk customers through the story behind each piece. Doing it live she can demonstrate how the clothing moves on her body. On one segment, the 27-year-old explained how she created a ruched tank top because she could never find one that sufficiently covered her backside. She has sold 155,000 units since launching last April, most to customers she never would have reached on her Instagram page.&nbsp;



“I think what a lot of livestream shopping folks miss is they’re trying to sell you something in the moment with technology, a flashy influencer and slick production values,” says George, who says his viewers often watch hours and hours of programming before springing for a purchase. “They’re not establishing any connection, relationship or intimacy with you. They’re not enticing you to come back tomorrow to discover something new. That is the magic of what we try and do.” 



-by Lauren Debter,Forbes Staff

Teleshopping

Where QVC Is Still Way Ahead Of Amazon

The Pakistani government has banned TikTok, claiming that it has received a number of complaints against “immoral/indecent” content on the video-sharing app, a move that comes a few months after the platform received a “final warning” on the issue.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">KEY FACTS</h3>



The ban was&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/PTAofficialpk/status/1314536530325762048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1314536532791963649%7Ctwgr%5Eshare_3&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.medianama.com%2F2020%2F10%2F223-tiktok-ban-pakistan%2F" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">issued</a>&nbsp;by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) which said in a press release that it had given TikTok “considerable time” to develop an “effective mechanism for proactive moderation of unlawful online content,” but the platform failed to do so.



The regulator, however, left the door open to review its decision if TikTok manages to create a “satisfactory mechanism” to moderate content.



While issuing TikTok a warning in July, Pakistan had&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/PTAofficialpk/status/1285287980370931712" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">banned</a>&nbsp;a Chinese-owned live-streaming app Bigo for similar reasons.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">CHIEF CRITIC</h3>



Pakistan-based digital and women&#8217;s rights lawyer Nighat Dad told&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;that the ban is being seen as unconstitutional and a violation of people’s fundamental rights. “The lack of transparency around the PTA’s decision means that one authority can choose to ban anything by calling it immoral,” she said. “TikTok offered breathing space for people who consider themselves as minorities in the country, and the platform enabled them to enjoy the freedom that they did not find in public spaces.”



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">BIG NUMBER</h3>



43 million. That’s the total number of times the TikTok app has been downloaded in Pakistan, according to data shared by mobile app intelligence firm Sensor Tower. Prior to the ban Pakistan was TikTok’s 12th largest market.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">TANGENT</h3>



In June, Pakistan’s neighbor India had&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2020/06/29/india-bans-tiktok-58-other-chinese-apps-citing-security-concerns/#3054d1157e60">banned</a>&nbsp;the Chinese-owned video-sharing app claiming that it was stealing users’ personal data. India’s Ministry of Electronics &amp; IT said it had taken the decision after receiving “many complaints” of TikTok and other Chinese-owned apps “stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users’ data in an unauthorized manner to servers which have locations outside India.” The video-sharing platform has also been threatened with a ban in the U.S. by the Trump administration over a similar allegation of sharing user data with the Chinese government, something TikTok vehemently denies.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">KEY BACKGROUND</h3>



Internet platforms have regularly run afoul of Pakistan’s laws on morality and objectionable content. YouTube, which has borne the brunt of such actions so far, was banned for more than three years between September 2012 and January 2016. The video-sharing platform was only&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pakistan-youtube-idUSKCN0UW1ER" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reinstated</a>&nbsp;after it launched a local version that allows the government to demand the removal of material it considers offensive. In August this year, the Pakistani telecom regulator&nbsp;<a href="https://www.medianama.com/2020/08/223-pakistan-youtube-objetionable-videos/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">asked</a>&nbsp;YouTube to “immediately block vulgar, indecent, immoral, nude and hate speech content” in the country. In September, the country had&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/PTAofficialpk/status/1300778356288425984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1300778356288425984%7Ctwgr%5Eshare_3&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.medianama.com%2F2020%2F09%2F223-pakistan-bans-tinder-grindr%2F" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">banned</a>&nbsp;dating apps Tinder and Grindr calling them “immoral or indecent.”



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">FURTHER READING</h4>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2020/06/29/india-bans-tiktok-58-other-chinese-apps-citing-security-concerns/#3054d1157e60">India Bans TikTok, 58 Other Chinese Apps, Citing Security Concerns</a> (Forbes)



-By Siladitya Ray, Forbes Staff

Pakistan Bans TikTok For Allowing ‘Immoral/Indecent’ Content

As TikTok and Oracle&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/oracle" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ORCL</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/oracle">-0.3%</a>&nbsp;work out&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2020/08/27/walmart-joins-microsofts-bid-to-acquire-tiktoks-us-business/">an acquisition deal</a>, the social media company is also thinking about who will be its next CEO after its last chief, Kevin Mayer,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2020/08/27/tiktok-ceo-kevin-mayer-exits-as-company-faces-threat-of-ban-in-us/#794266db114c">departed&nbsp;</a>after only a few months.



One of the people in the running for the job is Instagram billionaire Kevin Systrom, who left Facebook in 2018,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/17/technology/tiktok-deal-revisions-trump-review.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according to</a>&nbsp;a&nbsp;New York Times&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/new-york-times" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NYT</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/new-york-times">-1.2%</a>&nbsp;story. The discussions between Systrom and Tiktok are only in the early stages, the&nbsp;Times&nbsp;reports. TikTok could not be reached to comment for this story. A spokesperson for Systrom declined to comment.



TikTok’s divestiture from its Chinese-owned parent company ByteDance very much remains a work in progress.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-17/oracle-bytedance-said-to-accept-new-treasury-terms-on-tiktok" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bloomberg&nbsp;</a>reported this afternoon that the U.S. Treasury department has tentatively approved a deal that would leave TikTok’s U.S. operations largely in the hands of American stakeholders, including Oracle. ByteDance still needs to get approval from President Trump by Sunday, the day when a Trump-issued executive order goes into effect that would effectively ban TikTok in the U.S.



Mayer&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/2020/05/20/inside-the-hunt-for-tiktoks-new-ceo-and-whats-next-for-the-worlds-hottest-app/#711472b5abb4">was seen</a>&nbsp;as a strong choice when his hiring was announced in May. He had spent years at Disney&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/walt-disney" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">DIS</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/walt-disney">-0.1%</a>&nbsp;overseeing its M&amp;A deals and working on the launch of its streaming service, Disney+. But Mayer unexpectedly departed last month, saying he had not expected to be caught up in tensions between the U.S. government and China. Vanessa Pappas, TikTok’s general manager, has been serving as TikTok’s interim chief.



In Systrom, TikTok would get someone who has already created one social media giant—and someone immensely familiar with one of TikTok’s main rivals: Mark Zuckerberg. Systrom sold Instagram to Zuckerberg and Facebook in 2012 for almost $1 billion and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2016/08/01/instagram-the-50-billion-grand-slam-driving-facebooks-future-the-forbes-cover-story/#3fdf40ee278f">then built it up</a>&nbsp;to over a half-billion users before leaving.



Zuckerberg and Facebook clearly see TikTok as a threat already. Instagram has rolled out a number of new features that copy TikTok, including&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/2020/08/05/instagram-intensifies-battle-with-tiktok-as-influencers-ponder-their-options/">a short-form-video editing tool</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/2020/08/19/instagram-reaches-for-more-of-tiktoks-magic-with-a-change-to-its-main-feed/">changed its main feed</a>&nbsp;to make it more like TikTok. In Washington, Zuckerberg&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-ceo-mark-zuckerberg-stoked-washingtons-fears-about-tiktok-11598223133" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reportedly</a>&nbsp;stressed to politicians that TikTok was a threat to American users; Trump and other Republicans have expressed worry that TikTok may mishandle user data to satisfy the Chinese government.



Add Systrom to the mix, and the battle between TikTok and Facebook becomes one of the most intriguing rivalries in the corporate world.



By Abram Brown,Forbes Staff

2019 SXSW Conference And Festival – Day 4

TikTok Reportedly Considering Instagram Billionaire Kevin Systrom For Vacant CEO Role

Next to the familiar content from family and friends in Instagram’s main feed will now be something else: photos and videos from accounts you don’t already follow. The introduction of these algorithmically chosen “Suggested Posts” is a significant change to the app and a response to the technology that has allowed TikTok to establish itself as a surging rival.



Starting today, Instagram will include the Suggested Posts at the bottom of the Home feed, which users will reach only after scrolling through all the new content from the accounts they follow. Suggested Posts are picked based on what the app thinks interests you, and it gleans this from a number of factors, including analyzing what content you liked and shared and the accounts that you follow.



“So if you’re typically excited about specifics interests—like for me, food and interior design—you would hopefully see more content that would have loved to have seen,” says Instagram’s Robby Stein, the executive responsible for the new feature. “We saw an opportunity to actually help bring some of the best of Instagram to you&#8230;instead of relying entirely on you to find all of the best content on Instagram.”Recommended For You



This is a departure point for Instagram. Instagram’s Home feed, the app’s default starting point, has been a place only for content that you’ve knowingly told Instagram to put there. TikTok works in the opposite way. TikTok’s For You page is its starting point and displays content based entirely through an algorithm, surfacing content from accounts you don’t know and from ones that have interested you in the past.



TikTok’s For You page has enabled content to more easily go viral than on Instagram and for more influencers to amass bigger followings. It has become a beloved hallmark of TikTok: Users like it because they find more things. Influencers like having the greater shot at fame (and possibly&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/2020/08/06/tiktoks-highest-earning-stars-teen-queens-addison-rae-and-charli-damelio-rule/#4bbb5e245087">the money</a>&nbsp;that can follow with that).



By mimicking TiKTok, Instagram is indicating how far it’ll go to beat back its new competitor, including changes to core real estate on its app. Instagram displayed similar behavior earlier this month when&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/2020/08/05/instagram-intensifies-battle-with-tiktok-as-influencers-ponder-their-options/#4dacb30c67a2">it debuted</a>&nbsp;its own short-form video editing function, Reels, a product meant to directly compete with TikTok. In the past, Instagram’s parent company Facebook&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/facebook" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">FB</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/facebook">+2.4%</a>&nbsp;has been widely criticized for its copy-cat tendencies as have many other large tech companies.



For now, Suggested Posts is tucked away in an innocuous place on Instagram. It’s not clear whether many users regularly get to the bottom of their Home feeds. But Instagram says it will be refining Suggested Posts in the future and wouldn’t comment on whether these posts could later appear higher in a user’s feed or whether they might eventually include content from Reels.



Suggested Posts are similar to what Instagram already displays in its algorithmically driven Explore page. The company declined to give details about how the content selected for Suggested Posts will differ from what would already appear in Explore.



Instagram’s Home feed hasn’t been altered much in past years. In 2016, Instagram changed how it displayed posts, switching from chronologically displaying them to an algorithmic method that prioritizes content from the accounts you interact with the most. Before this, the Home tab was changed in 2013 when Instagram began including ads there.



TikTok’s future, of course, remains a mystery. President Trump has given its Chinese-based parent company, ByteDance, until November to sell off the app’s U.S. operations out of concerns that ByteDance may be improperly handling user data. ByteDance has maintained that it does not.



-Abram Brown, Forbes Staff

Social Media Logos

Instagram Reaches For More Of TikTok’s Magic With A Change To Its Main Feed

TikTok will begin financing emerging creators on its short-form video platform with a $200 million fund that it announced today, an unusual move by a social media company and one that comes after several weeks of concerns about TikTok’s future.



The company, which is owned by China-based ByteDance, didn’t provide many specific details about how it will give out that money or who may qualify for it. It may be directed toward users from minority groups—with the press release about the fund’s debut singling out creators like Boman Martinez-Reid, a LGBTQ comedian who has signed with CAA, and Tabitha Brown, who’s become famous for her videos about family life and veganism.



TikTok is in a multi-front battle right now. The Trump Administration is considering banning the app over concerns it may share data with the Chinese government, and the users who flocked to TikTok over the past year have been exploring other platforms for their content. In the past few weeks, TikTokers have posted videos urging their fans to also follower them on apps like Instagram, while others have turned to rival music-and-video apps such as Dubsmash and Byte to produce work.



The best way to keep them on TikTok is to offer a clear path toward earning money. Instagram and other social platforms have struggled to do that, and YouTube’s ad-sharing scheme—based on the views generated by someone’s videos—remains the quickest and simplest monetization for influencers. Companies such as Chipotle and E.L.F. cosmetics are already paying for sponsored content on TikTok, where influencers post videos advertising these companies for a fee, as much as six figures now for the top stars. But those deals are typically hashed out between the brands and the influencers without the social media companies getting involved.



TikTok’s $200 million fund is a different step, something neither Instagram nor YouTube have done. It theoretically would allow more creators to flourish as they start out and begin searching for commercial work, such as the sponsored content posts.



&#8211; <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/">Abram Brown</a>, Forbes Staff, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/business">Business</a>

gettyimages-1133793965-594×594

TikTok Launches $200 Million Fund To Finance Up-And-Coming Stars

Like any self-respecting cult, the Stepchickens follow a strict code of conduct as dictated by their absolute leader, Mother Hen, a comedian named Melissa who posts on TikTok as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@chunkysdead" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">@chunkysdead</a>. Mother Hen&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@chunkysdead/video/6827103874424376582?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">has widely preached</a>&nbsp;a message of peace, telling her 1.7 million TikTok followers: “We do not rule by being cruel, we shine by being kind.” Further, she has asked all Stepchickens to make themselves easily identifiable and make her photo their TikTok profile picture.



Mother Hen has created TikTok’s first “cult.” (Her word.) Boiled down, she is a social media influencer, and the Stepchickens are her fans, just as more famous TikTok influencers—Charli D’Amelio,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@addisonre?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Addison Rae</a>&nbsp;and the like—all have their fanbases. But Mother Hen’s presence and style is quite singular, particularly in the way she communicates with her followers, what she asks them to do and how the Stepchickens respond to her. After all, not every member of the Charli hive use her image as their profile pictures.



“These influencers are looking for a way to build community and figure out how to monetize their community. That&#8217;s the No. 1 most important thing for a creator or an influencer,” says&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/tiffany-zhong/">Tiffany Zhong</a>, cofounder of ZebraIQ, a community and trends platform. “It&#8217;s become a positive for Gen Z, where you&#8217;re proud to be part of this cult—part of this community. They are dying to be part of a community. So it&#8217;s easy to get sucked in.”



Mother Hen, who didn’t return a request to comment for this story, already had a popular comedy vlog-style TikTok account on May 6&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@chunkysdead/video/6823732594560027910?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">when she asked</a>&nbsp;her followers to send suggestions for what they could name their cult. From the ideas offered up, she chose Stepchickens, and in the 19 days since, her following has more than doubled. (It was around 700,000 back at the beginning of this month.) She has posted videos&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@chunkysdead/video/6825025000567753989?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">about taking edibles</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@chunkysdead/video/6826138962034232582?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">her celebrity lookalikes</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@chunkysdead/video/6825303907648965893?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">her relationship status</a>&nbsp;(“all this cult power, still no boyfriend”). And perhaps in violation of her first-do-no-harm credo, Mother Hen has implored her followers to embark on “battles” and “raids,” where Stepchickens comment bomb other influencers’ videos, posting messages en masse. She has become the mother of millions: TikTok videos with #stepchickens have generated 102 million views on the app, and her own videos have received 54.6 million likes.



Mother Hen is now concentrating on feathering her nest. She has launched&nbsp;<a href="https://www.stepchickens.com/shop" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a large range of merch</a>: smartphone cases ($24), hoodies ($44), t-shirts ($28) and beanies ($28). Corporate sponsorships seem within reach, too. TikTok accounts for the Houston Rockets, Tampa Bay Rays and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@chunkysdead/video/6826826102409809158" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">one for the</a>&nbsp;Chicago Bulls mascot, Benny, all changed their profile picture to the image distributed by Mother Hen. The Rays sent her a box of swag, addressing the package to “Mother Hen,” of course. She dressed up in the gear (two hats, a fanny pack, a tank top) and recorded herself wearing it&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@chunkysdead/video/6830515719269141765" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">in a TikTok</a>, a common move by influencers to express gratitude and signal that they’re open to business sponsorship opportunities. Mother Hen has launched a YouTube channel, too, where she’ll earn ad revenue based on the views that her 43,000 subscribers generate by watching her content.



PROMOTEDBusiness Reporter&nbsp;BRANDVOICE&nbsp;| Paid Program<a>Planet Positive: Business Leadership Today Means Sustainability Leadership [Video]</a>Civic Nation&nbsp;BRANDVOICE&nbsp;| Paid Program<a>The Journey To College In The Age Of COVID-19</a>Grads of Life&nbsp;BRANDVOICE&nbsp;| Paid Program<a>5 Things Managers Can Do To Help Opportunity Talent Thrive In A Remote Work Environment</a>



Then there is the Stepchickens app available on Apple devices. This digital roost is a thriving message feed—it resembles a Slack channel or a Discord server—where Stepchickens congregate, chat and coordinate their raids. They can also use it to create videos, ones “to glorify mother hen,” the app’s instructions read.



The app launched last Monday and has already attracted more than 100,000 users, a benchmark that most apps do not ever see and the best reach within months of starting. Since its debut, it has ranked as high as the ninth most popular social media app in the world on the download charts and in the Top 75 most downloaded across all types of apps. The Stepchickens have traded 135,000 messages, and the app’s most devoted users are spending as long as 10 hours a day on it, says Sam Mueller, the cofounder and CEO of Blink Labs who built the Stepchickens app.



“There&#8217;s this emergence of a more active—a more dedicated—fan base and following. A lot of the influencers on TikTok are kind of dancing around, doing some very broadcast-y type content. Their followers might not mobilize nearly as much as” the Stepchickens, says Mueller. Mother Hen’s flock, by contrast, “feel like they&#8217;re part of something, feel like they&#8217;re connected. They can have fun and be together for something bigger than what they&#8217;re doing right now, which is kind of being at home bored and lonely. There&#8217;s untapped value here.”



&#8211;

gettyimages-1133793983-594×594

Birds Of A Feather: The Stepchickens Cult On TikTok Is The Next Evolution Of The Influencer Business

TikTok, the ultra-popular short-form video app, has hired a top Walt Disney&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/walt-disney" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">DIS</a>&nbsp;Co. executive to be its new CEO.



Kevin Mayer, who ran Disney’s video-streaming business, will also serve as the chief operating officer of ByteDance, the Chinese-owned parent company of TikTok. Mayer was seen as a favorite to get the top job at Disney but was passed over to replace Bob Iger in favor of Bob Chapek earlier this year.



“Kevin has had an extraordinary impact on our company over the years,” Chapek <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://v/" target="_blank">said in a statement</a>. “Having worked alongside Kevin for many years on the senior management team, I am enormously grateful to him for his support and friendship.”



Disney has been badly damaged by the pandemic as Covid-19 forced it to close its lucrative parks and cruise line businesses. Iger has taken back some control over the company—he remains the executive chairman—while Disney rushed to assemble a $6 billion debt offering in March. It has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2020/04/22/disney-furloughs-100000-workers-while-top-executives-will-still-get-big-bonuses/">furloughed workers and cut pay</a>&nbsp;with Chapek agreeing to halve his salary and Iger agreeing to forgo one entirely.



Mayer could not be leaving for a more different environment. TikTok was already a big hit before lockdown—and has seen its popularity soar since. It was downloaded more than 315 million times in the first quarter, according to data from SensorTower, which tracks app downloads. That figure represents the most downloads in a single quarter that SensorTower has ever counted up.



Mayer&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dawnchmielewski/2020/02/27/did-bob-chapek-win-disneys-latest-game-of-thrones---or-is-it-just-starting/#3738a7f17251">was the deals guy</a>&nbsp;at Disney, acquiring Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm and Fox. And there was nothing more important to Disney recently than the expansion of its streaming business, which&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/travisbean/2020/04/08/report-disney-overtakes-netflix-as-top-streaming-app-in-2020/#2d35cc817aa6">has proven a success</a>. Disney+ launched last year and was downloaded 14.1 times in 2019, more than even Netflix&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/netflix" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NFLX</a>&nbsp;(11.9 million) or Hulu (8.1 million). Disney said it&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dawnchmielewski/2019/11/12/disney-plus-launches-capstone-bob-iger-tenure/#27a9432b2dd1">would spend $1 billion in the first year</a>&nbsp;alone on original content for the streaming service, building out a line-up that already includes the Star Wars series&nbsp;The Mandalorian&nbsp;and soon a recorded version of the musical&nbsp;Hamilton.



Mayer will face some challenges ahead at TikTok. It has become an off-and-on-again target of criticism that its Chinese ownership makes it a security risk. And a group of 20 advocacy groups last week&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/2020/05/14/tiktok-isnt-keeping-its-promises-to-better-protect-kids-critic-groups-say/">filed an FTC complaint</a>&nbsp;that it hadn’t lived up to a deal reached with regulators last year to better protect children using its app.



He replaces Alex Zhu, one of the founders of Music.ly, the China-based app that ByteDance <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2017/11/10/lip-syncing-video-app-musical-ly-has-been-sold-possibly-for-1-billion/#48312e1a1443">bought in 2017</a> and turned into TikTok. Zhu had made efforts to do what Mayer will now have to do: convince America that TikTok isn’t a threat.



&#8211;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/">Abram Brown</a>, Forbes Staff, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/business">Business</a>

Tag: TikTok

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA