TikTok

In a new filing, DOJ says it’s “not trying to litigate in secret,” but that the court should be able to review classified information that led Congress to determine the divest-or-ban bill was necessary. In its own filing, TikTok says the government’s arguments for the bill are riddled with errors and omissions.

You can pay to see if your partner will respond to a stranger’s flirty DM — and TikTok has turned this into a thriving subculture.

“On one hand, it’s like, fuck yeah, we got this guy,” Monzon told me. “But on the other hand, it’s like, ‘Fuck.’ This girl’s life is…she’s heartbroken now.”

A placard at Seattle’s Museum of Pop Culture used the internet-speak term “un-alive” to describe Cobain’s suicide, according to Billboard. The museum elsewhere reportedly said it used it as a “gesture of respect.”

People use terms like “un-alive” online to try to get around moderation algorithms that they believe may suppress or remove their content. MoPOP didn’t immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment.

The Wall Street Journal delves into a loose network of TikTok accounts churning out videos with AI-generated voiceovers making ridiculous claims — both positive and negative — about Donald Trump. A political motive is possible, but it sounds likely they’re less a coordinated operation than a bunch of people ripping each other’s content off for views, and Trump is simply the best engagement-bait around.

Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign page quickly shared a video of her newly-selected running mate Tim Walz on TikTok, showcasing his ability to produce viral soundbites. The Harris campaign’s use of TikTok underscores why it’s so hard for politicians to quit, even as both parties overwhelmingly passed a bill that could end up banning it.

Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign announced its running mate pick Tim Walz mostly in a typical press flurry — except on TikTok, where the Kamala HQ account shared a purposely glitchy montage of Walz’s public appearances. It’s another example of the Harris campaign very deliberately tapping into trends, memes, and formats on the platform.

The program, which paid users around 38 cents a day to engage with videos, was already suspended in the region after the bloc opened an investigation in April.

A separate EU Commission probe into TikTok’s allegedly addictive design, and its content moderation rules for minors remains open.

Moments after winning gold in the women’s team gymnastics final, Simone Biles and Sunisa Lee were thinking ahead... about what TikTok video they should make.

“I wanna do the one that says, ‘Imagine what you would do if you didn’t win,’” Lee says, referencing a viral sound bite from a Kanye West award show speech. They made the TikTok, obviously.

A month after TikTok made its First Amendment case against a potential ban, lawyers for the government responded Friday. The partially redacted filings (available in full here) include their arguments that the Chinese government could use data collected by the app or manipulate its algorithm to influence US elections.

One example pointed to search tools for the company’s internal Lark messaging tool, shown below.

As the fervor among Democrats surrounding her still-new presidential campaign continues, Vice President Kamala Harris has now joined TikTok.

“I’ve heard that recently I’ve been on the For You page, so I thought I would get on here myself,” she says in the clip.

Harris has previously expressed national security concerns about TikTok parent company ByteDance, but also said the Biden administration has “no intention to ban TikTok.”

Bullying works: after TikTok users complained about Chipotle’s inconsistent portion sizes, the company announced this week it is “doubling down” on training to ensure customers get “correct and generous portions.” It will cost the company $50 million, executives told analysts.

The EU’s General Court has ruled that TikTok parent company ByteDance meets the required user threshold to be a “gatekeeper” under the Digital Markets Act.

TikTok has claimed it wasn’t valuable enough, and failed to obtain interim measures to avoid having to comply with DMA rules while it appealed the designation. The decision can still be appealed to the European Court of Justice.

In a wide-ranging interview with Bloomberg, the former president once again expressed support for the Chinese-owned juggernaut facing a ban in the US:

“Now [that] I’m thinking about it, I’m for TikTok, because you need competition. If you don’t have TikTok, you have Facebook and Instagram — and that’s, you know, that’s Zuckerberg.”

Bloomberg says he’s still stung by Facebook’s ban after the events on January 6th, 2021. “All of a sudden, I went from number 1 to having nobody,” said Trump, without feeling it necessary to challenge Zuck to a cage fight.

Casey Newton shines a light on the increasingly common social media scam that primarily targets teen boys in his most recent Platformer newsletter:

But when a terrifying scam comes along that has led to at least 20 confirmed deaths in the past two years, a whole stack of investigations can’t seem to get a conversation going. [...] Perhaps the surgeon general, instead of his new ham-fisted campaign against every risk that social media presents, could warn parents about this one.

TikTok, like other social platforms, has become part of the political fabric: politicians campaign on TikTok and groups attempt to spread propaganda via influence campaigns.

In the lead up to the UK general election, TikTok is surfacing videos from journalists and fact checkers. It’s also sharing tips for spotting fake news and definitions for things like disinformation.

This time from the Department of Justice, after the Federal Trade Commission said it was referring a complaint to the agency based on an investigation involving a children’s privacy law. The FTC said it doesn’t usually make this kind of referral public, but believed it in the public interest. TikTok said it “strongly disagree[s]” with the allegations and said many of them are outdated.

According to Forbes, TikTok accounts for Paris Hilton and CNN have been hijacked recently by a “zero-day” attack in the app’s DMs that could be activated simply by opening the message.

TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek sent us this statement:

Our security team is aware of a potential exploit targeting a number of brand and celebrity accounts. We have taken measures to stop this attack and prevent it from happening in the future. We’re working directly with affected account owners to restore access, if needed.

The former President, who once attempted to ban the platform, posted his first video to it yesterday under his usual handle of @realdonaldtrump.

As Politico notes, Trump reversed his stance earlier this year after momentum behind the ban abruptly rekindled and President Biden signed it into law.

Oral arguments in its case against the federal divest-or-ban bill will be scheduled for this September, according to an order from the DC Circuit Court. That’s just months before the initial January 19th deadline its Chinese owner ByteDance has to sell the app or face a ban. The clock keeps running unless the court says otherwise.

Creators can edit and manage content, access post analytics, and view their monetization in the TikTok Studio app, the company announced today. A web version of the platform is already live.