WEEKLY WHEATIES #2504
TikTok, Samsung, Cord Cutting, Sports
In this newsletter:
📝 Post: Dancing Around the Ban: The Fight Over TikTok and Beyond
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Samsung Unpacked
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Cord Cutting Price Hikes
😎 Pick of the Week: Sports Picks
📦 Featured Product: Electric Blanket
📝 Dancing Around the Ban: The Fight Over TikTok and Beyond
With TikTok’s fate still up in the air (at least for the next couple of months), other social media platforms are trying to benefit as it and other apps from parent company ByteDance are removed from the App Stores. We’ve seen Instagram announce an app called Edits to compete with CapCut. Instagram is also reportedly trying to attract TikTok creators with large bonuses. We’ve seen X roll out a dedicated vertical video feed to fill TikTok’s void. Amazon has already been utilizing Haul to compete with Temu and the TikTok Shop. So, what’s next?
Well, TikTok probably won’t be available for download anytime soon. Regardless of what either President has said about potentially fining Apple or Google, it appears neither are taking a chance leaving it in their App Stores. If fined, it would cost them $5,000 per user. 9to5Mac estimates that could total $850 billion, but it’s not clear if the charge is per download of the app after the date, per access of the app after the date, or if it also includes downloads before the date.
All that said, there seems to be a much bigger debate on the grounds for the app's dismissal, though. First, let’s recap based on the timeline from Axios. Towards the end of his first term, President Trump tried to ban TikTok through an Executive Order. Shortly thereafter, ByteDance announced “Project Texas,” which would move personalized identifiers (email, birthdates, and more) onto US-based servers through a deal with Oracle.
During President Biden’s first two years, TikTok started routing traffic through these US-based infrastructure setups (including moderating the algorithm). After hearings in and out of court, the government assumingly was still not happy with the security issues. A bipartisan bill was then passed, forcing the sale of TikTok over national security concerns while also banning it from Governmental devices.
To be clear, national security concerns stem from information being collected from US citizens, along with violations of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule. TikTok's predecessor, Musical.ly, was fined for violating COPPA, and the ‘new’ version doesn’t appear to make any concessions if their $368 million fine in Europe is any indication. But depending on how you look at it, TikTok collects a lot of data that could be argued as a huge security risk - including keylogging. Arguably, data could be culminated to help China push or pull preferred content or propaganda with larger future repercussions, too.
Regardless, Bytedance sued the US, arguing the bill was unconstitutional. However, the Supreme Court upheld the bill, and TikTok is slated to be banned if the company doesn’t sell a 50% stake to a US holding company. This dives a bit deeper into part of the premise…
If TikTok wants to be viewed as a US-based company that benefits from US laws and protections, TikTok should be a US-based company. They can’t claim First Amendment rights if they are not a US-based company. Like it or not, TikTok should either sell a majority share of their company or be banned from the US for violating our law.
Now, the next question or concern revolves around how the law is written and/or applied to all social media companies, not just TikTok. I absolutely agree there is room for improvement, but I think there’s a much bigger problem here. Put simply - most of the politicians responsible for these laws don’t fully understand the social media landscape.
Don’t believe me? Watch any of the preceding from when the social media executives were questioned.
Because they don’t necessarily use these apps, nor are they the target audience, their opinions and views may be a bit skewed. Like it or not, though, both sides of the aisle agreed on banning TikTok over national security concerns. Which tells me, they were at least told something to the extent of what’s happening. However, that also means much more should be done on many other social media platforms.
Which is where lies another problem. Does the First Amendment and free speech have a limit? Where’s the line on what I can or can’t say on a digital platform? I would argue if I can legally say it in person (with regard to slander, libel, and defamation), I should be able to legally say it online. But I don’t have the right for anyone or everyone to hear it, either. In a world where anything and everything can go viral, everyone should remember that anything and everything you say can and will come back to you.
To extrapolate this, minors are generally limited in what they can say (think school) and hear/see (think movie and music ratings). The COPPA law mentioned above limits them in their online presence, but that comes with other issues. In order for some laws to protect a certain set of classes, other liberties and freedoms must be limited for others. Meaning that adults can’t (I guess or shouldn’t) post adult-themed content or information that may be publically accessible to minors. But that can minimize adults’ free speech online…
Which then leads to another discussion: fact-checking or community notes?
We’ve seen how Meta is ending its fact-checking program in favor of community notes, to follow X and the like from Reddit and Wikipedia. Research is still mixed, showing they may provide higher quality but may be too slow to provide timely responses. Either way, there are pros and cons to each, and neither is perfect. Proven by your answer to the following question: Under either scenario, can all misinformation and ‘fake news’ be accounted for 100%? Of course not.
I mentioned Mark Zuckerberg’s appearance on the Joe Rogan Podcast a few weeks ago, but he made a really good point regarding moderating at scale. The system (whether sorted by humans or AI) will never get 100% of the posts that should be removed or checked. Do you set the system to be 80% confident? What about 95% confidence? Well, then the system will automatically remove things that shouldn’t be. So, where’s the line? Arguably, ‘you cannot satisfy all of the people all the time’ regardless of the decision made, so someone will not be happy with either result.
I think Meta (among others) chose the community notes option over having third-party fact-checkers for one main reason. It’s exponentially cheaper. If community notes ‘works’ elsewhere, and essentially doesn’t cost anything compared to hiring a moderation team, in what world would that be a good business decision? Remember, AI moderation will still cost money, and Meta wants to use their AI computing power to help move the needle in other areas of tech - not to fight an ever-losing battle.
We’ll see how the next few months play out with TikTok, then see if any moves happen more broadly in the social media platform space…. I don’t have all the answers, nor do I know what the exact correct next steps should be - only that something needs to happen.
🗞️ ICYMI: Samsung Unpacked
Last week, Samsung announced their new mobile phone lineup: the Galaxy S25, S25 Ultra, and the S25 Edge (well, a prototype). Each model has better battery life, better glass protection, upgraded camera hardware and software, and upgraded AI features, including natural language integrated AI agents that can function across the device and perform tasks (at least within the Google and Samsung set of apps). Check out the Galaxy Unpacked Official Replay on YouTube.
🗞️ ICYMI: Cord Cutting Price Hikes
If last week’s post didn’t convince you to do a cable audit, I suggest doing something sooner rather than later. Netflix is raising prices again, as the standard plan goes up to $17.99. Fubu, a live-streaming option, also raised their monthly price by $10 to follow YouTube TV’s price hike last month and the Disney/Hulu Bundle late last year. At some point prices may even out, but it appears they’re still flirting with the sweet spot on pricing for the number of users they have.
😎 POTW: Sports Picks
With the Superbowl coming up on February 10, I wanted to share some interesting sports picks:
📦 Featured Product
With the winter storm coming through most of the south (and with it actually being cold in most of the rest of the US), perhaps you’d appreciate an electric blanket? It also has a bit of heft to it, perhaps bringing in the benefits of other weighted blankets. It is also fairly large and is machine washable!
