Entertainment Weekly’s Post

Pass the popcorn 🍿... this drama's heating up! The Republican-led US House of Representatives passed a bill on Wednesday that would require TikTok owner ByteDance to sell the social media platform or face a total ban in the United States. This bill now goes to the Democrat-led Senate, and many are hopeful the bill won't get past the Senate. TikTok has already stepped up the lobbying efforts and is undoubtedly planning a legal rebuttal, should Senate approve the bill. If #TikTok gets banned in the USA, the effects could significantly harm a number of US businesses, and probably quite a few UK firms that rely on the platform to drive business. The hashtag #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt has driven 12.4 billion video views in a single month (April, 2022) and more than 50% of branded hashtag challenges recording more than $5 return on ad spend in the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) industry. Beauty brands have reported as much as an 85% jump in monthly sales after going viral with that hashtag. https://lnkd.in/du8ffxQP

Despite the cacophony of fearmongering and catastrophic predictions in the media about the TikTok ban, the probability of TikTok going away in the 🇺🇸United States is precisely 𝐙𝐄𝐑𝐎. There is little doubt that the CCP has used #TikTok for nefarious purposes. However, it's merely a more sophisticated version of what governments and companies regularly do on other social platforms. This ban has been pushed through with record speed by the least productive and slowest Congress ever. It's an unprecedented bipartisan political theater to galvanize voter attention during an election year. TickTok is a safe enemy both parties can target with limited political blowback. What's worse is all the commentary from so-called #social #marketing experts fomenting fear amongst #advertisers and creators by suggesting that their businesses face existential threats from a TikTok ban. While Congress screams National Security and China retorts with Anti-competitiveness, some numbers tell the real story.   💰 TikTok (ByteDance) is NOT majority owned by the CCP. In fact, the majority (60% or $150 billion) of equity is held by powerful US-based investment firms like KKR, Fidelity Sequoia, General Atlantic, Carlyle, and others.   💰 A further 20% of equity is in the hands of employees…. 7000 of whom are US citizens.   💰 TikTok contributed $24 billion to the US GDP last year, drove $15 billion in small-business owners’ revenue, and supported over 220,000 US jobs, primarily in the key election states of California, Texas, Florida, New York, and Illinois.   💰 The TikTok economy contributed over $3 billion in federal and $2 billion in state taxes last year While countries like India have already banned TikTok and others are exploring bans, the US has the most financial exposure to TikTok. What Congress passed is not a ban. It is a directive for China to sell its minority stake. There is zero chance that Congress, the president, or the courts will wipe out this amount of economic value. A TikTok ban would lead to a retaliatory ban of US media properties in China that would absolutely devastate some of America's biggest companies. ⚖️ Of course, this doesn't even consider the constitutional, legal, and antitrust implications of what Congress just passed. The bill still needs to pass the Senate and then get signed by the president… not to mention clear what will likely be a tsunami of lawsuits. Even then, the law will merely start a 6-month clock for ByteDance to find a buyer. Antitrust laws may put any possible transaction on hold for a very long time and require even more televised congressional hearings. Therefore, I can confidently say that your favorite dance videos and fashion influencers are safe.   Anyone disagree? The bill: https://lnkd.in/eJaYUd8b #NationalSecurity #TechGovernance 

The TikTok debate heats up as the US House preps for a crucial vote on a crackdown bill. This potential ban brings to light the ever-evolving dynamics of the social media ecosystem and its regulatory environment. Reflecting on my past engagements, notably with a sports resell brand leveraging TikTok for vibrant youth engagement, the importance of adaptability in our digital strategies has never been more apparent. We must stay informed and ready to pivot, ensuring our content strategies remain robust and responsive to such legislative shifts. #TikTokBan #SocialMediaLegislation #DigitalStrategy https://lnkd.in/gS9K929z

Looks like things are heating up to another face off in the USA with Chinese-owned video streaming platform TikTok. Despite being one of the fastest growing social media platforms out there, with a major portion of users in the key 18-35 demographic, TikTok has been on rickety footing since last year's congressional hearings and inquest. If TikTok gets pulled from the USA over it's owner's likely refusal to divest its assets and holdings, it looks like there could be a major opening in the video streaming space. The obvious winners would be Instagram and YouTube (and maybe Snap too). This could have major ramifications on how advertisers are allocating their digital marketing budgets. We'll have to see how things play out. https://lnkd.in/dqbYViKu

Hold up, scroll masters! The House just voted to shake things up with TikTok. But before you ditch your dance routines, let's see what's next! We'll break down what this means and what COULD happen next. Stay tuned for the updates. #tiktok2024 #tiktokbanned #tiktokban #socialmedia #usa Check out the latest news on TikTok and its potential ban in the US. What could this mean for social media and its users? Please keep us updated with our updates. Link: https://rb.gy/jmu5wx

Tick Tock, TikTok? What do you think of the latest news regarding the potential ban of TikTok? 📆 Worst case scenario is probably months away. 💸 How will a potential sale/new ownership affect privacy settings and subsequent ad revenue for brands? 😉 No worries, TikTok is for 15-yr-olds. https://lnkd.in/e_ZY9Ys8 #tiktok #marketing #contentmarketing #digitalmarketing #socialmedia

US congressmen back bill on potential TikTok ban The initiative aims to sever the platform's ties with any "China-controlled entity," including ByteDance WASHINGTON DC/ The US House of Representatives has backed a bill on a potential ban of the TikTok social network, according to a C-SPAN TV broadcast. The initiative aims to sever the platform's ties with any "China-controlled entity," including ByteDance, which now owns TikTok. A total of 352 members of the lower house of the US Congress supported the bill, while 65 members opposed it. The lawmakers propose giving ByteDance six months to sell the social network. In case the company fails to do so, TikTok could be banned in the US. The lower house of the US Congress also considers imposing the same restrictions on any "application controlled by adversaries" in the future. The bill will now go to the US Senate for consideration. US President Joe Biden has previously said that he would sign the bill if lawmakers approved it. The TikTok social network, which allows users to upload short videos, was launched globally in August 2018. Previously, US administration representatives said that the Chinese social network was a threat to the US that needed to be eliminated one way or another. According to Washington, Chinese authorities and intelligence services can use TikTok to collect information, including in the United States. #business #finance #financialservices

365 congress members have passed a bill that could potentially shut down TikTok in the US! ❌ TikTok owner Shou Zi Chew must sell the platform or face a total ban in the United States. 🌎 If you're TikTok addicts like us, then you're not going to lose out on your fix anytime soon. Even if this ban goes ahead it will only be in the US, so here in the UK we'll still be able to get our daily fix of entertainment.. But with a platform that has entertained BILLIONS of us globally and, as the US themselves have said, has not caused any security threat, why the need to have a ban at all? The ban will affect many people lives, including creators and small business who have built careers and incomes on the platform. However, the ban will make other platforms, like Facebook (made in the US), financially better off. Or, if TikTok is sold to a US owner, well… the US will be seeing billions of dollars coming their way. Read more here 👇

A heated Senate hearing, #UGM taking down thousands of songs, and now a potential ban? #TikTok can’t catch a break! 🙅 National security concerns led Congress to draft a bill that would effectively ban TikTok in the U.S. #Marketers — while nothing’s for sure, it’s never a bad time to review your strategy and see if there are other viable video platforms where you could repurpose your TikTok content. And don’t forget to save and download your video files, just in case! #MarketingTips #VideoContent #ContentStrategy https://hubs.li/Q02p7gbt0

Talking head on TV today: "Youngsters don't care about national security - they just know what they like...and don't want TikTok banned." What I just heard is a TV anchor admitting they don't do a good job explaining the issues of the day. Forcing TikTok to divest of ByteDance in a year (or be banned in the US) isn't about the platform's content. It's about Communist China's ownership. Period. That's the same CCP that programs TikTok's algorithm to gorge U.S. users on dance moves and divisive political posts (i.e., Osama bin Laden made some good points) while restricting Chinese users to "educational" content. Still...the content (and the algo serving it up) isn't driving the ban. The CCP's data ownership in the AI Age is. If "youngsters" (and the Rest of Us who desperately wish someone would refer to us as young) understood how easy it is to manipulate the content they're watching, and how deep today's Cold War with China runs, I bet they'd feel differently about the bill Congress just passed. That's YOUR job, Mr. and Ms. Journalist. Make a compelling argument that doesn't hail from Soundbite City. Do other platforms, knowingly or not, serve manipulated and divisive content? Of course. But those platforms aren't run on server farms in Beijing. That's the real issue. All of the First Amendment lawsuits being drafted as I type are just Kabuki theater. Let's see where this goes... #tiktok #tiktokban #firstamendment #algorithm #socialmedia #politics #journalism #communication #influencers