Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg leaves the federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles after defending the company in a landmark social media addiction trial, Feb. 19, 2026. Jon Putman | Anadolu | Getty Images Meta‘s watershed social media trial just wrapped up in California, but now attention is shifting to the wider industry with TikTok, YouTube…
tiktok is Introduction An ad-free subscription plan in the UK that costs £3.99 (about $5.44 USD) per month. The new offering is rolling out in the coming months and will be available to users 18 years of age and older. Users who sign up for the plan will not see ads on TikTok and their…
TikTok will not offer end-to-end encryption for direct messages (DMs) on its platform, according to a new report. BBC. The social media giant says end-to-end encryption will make users less secure, as it believes the technology will prevent police and security teams from accessing messages unless necessary. TikTok told the outlet that this is a…
Signage at a ByteDance offices in Beijing, China, on June 30, 2023. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images Chinese tech giant ByteDance has said it will strengthen safeguards on a new artificial intelligence video-making tool, following complaints of copyright theft from entertainment giants. The tool, Seedance 2.0, enables users to create realistic videos based on…
The TikTok Inc. sign in front of the building on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026 in Culver City, CA. Kayla Bartkowski | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images TikTok’s U.S. joint venture seems to have survived a turbulent rollout with minimal change in usership, as early narratives of a mass user exodus prompted by service outages…
When I was in college, in between my English and creative writing classes, I would race a few blocks downtown to volunteer at an animal shelter on the east side of Manhattan. Getting lost in books and spending time with shelter dogs were the twin pillars that held together the chaos of my twenties, and…
Latin America’s media landscape is being reshaped by a new suite of entertainment producers, as short drama platforms, often with business ties to China, command an increasingly large share of the region’s video streaming market. According to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower‘s State of Mobile 2026 report published last week, demand for short dramas is…
Self-Driving Truck Startup Waabi’s billion-dollar fundraise It’s not just about trucks. The deal, combined with a $750 million upfront deal from Uber plus $250 million tied to deployment milestones, marks a major expansion into robotaxis for the company founded by former Uber AI chief Raquel Urtasun. It also feels like Uber has another chip on…
tiktok settle down A high-profile lawsuit took place Monday evening alleging that social media companies intentionally make their products addictive, causing harm to users. snap The case settled last week, but Meta and YouTube – the other defendants – are now headed to trial, where jury selection will begin on Tuesday. The case, centered on…
TikTok’s parent company is ByteDance signed an agreement The deal to form a majority US-owned joint venture with a group of non-Chinese investors to keep the social app operating in the US ends a six-year-long political saga that began in 2020 when President Donald Trump tried to ban the app over national security concerns during…
