Steve Dent Contributor
Steve Dent is an associate editor at Engadget.
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A TikTok moderator has sued the social media platform and its...
Jon Caramanica / New York Times:
A look at attempts by TikTok's biggest stars to expand onto other platforms, including Charli D'Amelio's Hulu docuseries, often with mixed results — This year, the app's biggest stars — Charli and Dixie D'Amelio, Noah Beck, Addison Rae and others — leapt from...
Short video app Triller is set to go public via a reverse merger with video-tech company SeaChange International, the two companies announced on Wednesday. The combined entity will be valued at approximately $5 billion. The boards of both companies have approved the proposed merger and the deal...
Gillian Tan / Bloomberg:
LA-based Triller agrees to merge with SeaChange, taking the TikTok rival public at a $5B valuation, up from $1.25B in a recent round — Triller, a social-video platform, agreed to a merger with Seachange International Inc. in a move that will take the smaller rival to...
Washington Post:
Survey of 1,058 US internet users: 72% distrust Facebook, 63% TikTok, 60% Instagram, 53% WhatsApp, and 53% YouTube; 53% trust Amazon, 48% Google, and 44% Apple — You'll find all the usual technology suspects inside Mary Veselka's Pearland, Tex., home. There's her iPhone …
The Cloudflare Blog:
TikTok.com was the most popular domain globally between August and December 2021, after surpassing Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon during 2021 — Loading... Sofia Cardita — The years come and go, Internet traffic continues to grow (at least so far and with...
Janko Roettgers / Protocol:
TikTok faces allegations that it copied code from broadcast app OBS Studio and other open source projects for Live Studio without adhering to licensing terms — TikTok's latest video production tool is said to be violating open source licenses: The company's new Live...
A new forecast has dubbed TikTok as the world’s third-largest social network, just behind Facebook and Instagram. In its inaugural forecast on TikTok’s global install base, Insider Intelligence — the firm previously known as eMarketer — predicts that TikTok will reach 755.0 million monthly users...
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Spotify, Meta, and Netflix find Gen Z elusive in a way TikTok never has; Spotify says its Blend playlist feature is mostly used by Gen Z — Good afternoon from Puerto Rico. Hope you all are staying safe out there. Hollywood is celebrating the good news of a...
Wall Street Journal:
Investigation: a dozen automated TikTok accounts, registered as 13-year-olds, were shown tens of thousands of weight-loss videos within a few weeks of joining — The app's algorithm can send users down rabbit holes of narrow interest, resulting in potentially dangerous...
TikTok is preparing to launch a new service that will turn its viral food videos into meals you can actually order and enjoy. The social app is partnering with Virtual Dining Concepts to launch “TikTok Kitchen”-branded delivery-only restaurants across the United States next year, as first...
Kate Krader / Bloomberg:
TikTok partners with Virtual Dining Concepts to launch TikTok Kitchen, a food delivery service based on viral trends, starting with 300 US locations in March — The video platform is teaming up with Virtual Dining Concepts to deliver those viral foods across the...
Make it go viral. | Virtual Dining Concepts
TikTok Kitchen will bring the internet’s most viral recipes to your door
On the day that TikTok is making headlines for uhh other reasons, the platform has also announced that you no longer have to cook feta pasta yourself. The video-sharing platform...
A proliferation of ominous, non-specific TikTok rumors suggested that schools across the U.S. faced threats of violence on Friday, December 17. While a number of schools responded to the trend by closing their doors, many local law enforcement agencies and at least one federal one have weighed...
Kim Lyons / The Verge:
TikTok says it is removing “alarmist warnings” about a supposed day of school violence that prompted some US districts to cancel classes on Friday — It hasn't found any videos threatening school violence on Friday, the company said — TikTok said Friday that it's...
Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
TikTok launches a Discord server with five moderators, as brands use the messaging tool to forge a sense of community, including Wendy's with 60K+ Discord users — Many brands are using the messaging app Discord to forge a sense of community among their fans.
Many brands are using the messaging app Discord to forge a sense of community among their fans. If the fast-food chain Wendy’s can have a Discord with over 60,000 members, why not a viral platform like TikTok?
TikTok teased on Twitter that it was making a Discord server, but then confirmed the...
In addition to announcing coming changes to its For You feed, TikTok today announced a handful of updates to its lineup of camera and editing tools, including new features for its popular Green Screen effect tool, as well as other updates to video enhancements and sound effects.
Among the...
TikTok announced this morning it’s taking a new approach to its “For You” feed — the short-form video app’s main feed, powered by its algorithmic recommendations. The company already detailed how its algorithm works to suggest videos based on users’ engagement patterns within its app, but admits...
Liza Lin / Wall Street Journal:
TikTok says it will adjust its recommendation algorithm to avoid negative reinforcement and protect mental well-being — The app says it is working to diversify the content it pushes to individual users in order to protect their mental well-being — Popular...