TikTok

Andrew Pincus, the attorney representing TikTok and ByteDance in an appeals court hearing today, didn’t outright mention the DOJ’s attempt to introduce classified evidence. But he did suggest there’s no public rationale for the potential ban.

The DC Circuit Court of Appeals has just started its morning session, where TikTok and the US Government will be fighting over the divest-or-ban law passed earlier this year. There’s one brief argument in another case before it starts.

The Department of Justice filed a very redacted transcript of the classified briefing House lawmakers received before passing the bill that could ban TikTok unless it spins out from its Chinese owner. If you squint around the blocks of blacked-out text, you can kind of start to see how the DOJ will likely defend the bill in oral arguments on September 16th.

I’ve always wondered, and Lucas Zelnik has a shockingly simple and good answer:

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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

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:

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

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.

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.