According to Oscar Wilde, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. If that’s true, then TikTok must be the most flattered app out there. Everyone wants to be it or beat it or both — and Facebook just made another move to do just that. On Wednesday, Facebook announced the newest TikTok-ification of its site … Read more
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This is Hot Pod, The Verge’s newsletter about podcasting and the audio industry. Sign up here for more. The common wisdom goes that video is the key to podcast discovery: you take the juiciest clips from your show, hope one goes viral every now and then on TikTok, and then that wider (and younger) audience becomes your new listeners. … Read more
As music from Universal Music Group artists started to disappear from TikTok recently, a different kind of earworm got stuck in my head. Even though it’s not a song, I sang it in the shower and whispered it in my sleep: “You have been promoted! You are now one of my elite employees!” I was … Read more
Reesa Teesa’s ex is telling his side of a viral TikTok saga that’s taken the internet by storm — and while he’s been painted one way, he’s got a different story … which might end in court. Jerome McCoy — who goes by “Legion” on Reesa’s now-infamous ‘Who TF Did I Marry?’ video series, which … Read more
TikTok’s latest viral superstar is Reesa Teesa, a Georgia woman who posted 50 videos — just under 10 minutes long apiece — chronicling her tumultuous relationship with her ex-husband. That’s over six hours of content, all about a stranger’s experience living with a compulsive liar. But millions of viewers are eating it up, clinging to … Read more
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TikTok’s attempt to stall the EU from designating it as a “gatekeeper” — companies with platforms powerful enough that they must follow strict Digital Markets Act (DMA) antitrust rules — has been rejected by a court. Bloomberg reports that the EU’s General Court has dismissed owner ByteDance’s request for an interim measure that would effectively … Read more
Inspiration is everywhere and this week, folks on TikTok have found it in a rodent. No, not that rodent. This rodent, Punxsutawney Phil — the groundhog who pops his head out every winter to predict whether spring will come sooner or later. Phil has had the same gig for more than 100 years, even though … Read more
Valentine’s Day will be here next week, and the deals have started rolling in to make the hunt for last-minute gifts a lot easier. Whether you’re shopping for your beauty-obsessed wife, girlfriend, mom, or Galentine, thoughtful skincare gifts from COSRX are now majorly on sale at Amazon. Korean skincare brand COSRX just launched a huge Valentine’s … Read more
#SwiftTok had a rough day. Early Thursday, after Universal Music Group and TikTok failed to reach an agreement on licensing music from UMG artists on the app, sounds from those artists—including Taylor Swift, Drake, and others—went silent. “Some of my most viewed videos are ones talking about Taylor Swift that have Taylor Swift songs in … Read more
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Today’s hearing on child safety was — mostly — an unusually focused affair. The Senate Judiciary Committee called up the CEOs of X, Meta, Snap, TikTok, and Discord and grilled them for four hours on the potential dangers their services posed for children. Many of the lawmakers emphasized emotional impact, playing to an audience filled … Read more