Red, White, And TikTok

PRESENTED BY MOOD

Happy Tuesday, TFP. If you’ve been laid off in recent months due to innovations in AI, Xbox Games Studio chief Matt Turnbull recently shared some advice on LinkedIn: maybe use AI to help you process your emotions — and then have it revise your resume. Wait, what? Yeah, the advice didn’t go over well (especially with the 9,100 employees who were recently laid off at Xbox parent Microsoft), and Turnbull ended up deleting the post… but it just goes to show how AI is truly rewiring workplace culture.

TikTok is reportedly building an American version of the company’s namesake app as it finally prepares for a deal with a US buyer.

The Big Picture: TikTok was supposed to be banned in the US in January, but Donald Trump has pushed back the deadline on the bipartisan law three separate times. Why? Because actually getting rid of TikTok is proving very unpopular (despite all the risks)… hence the need to build an American version that satisfies all the parties involved.

Behind the Code: Americans will soon need to log out of the old TikTok to log into the new TikTok.

Final Test: The Information reports that it’s unclear whether the creation of a US-centric version was something the Trump administration required for a potential deal to go through, or if the company was simply trying to get ahead of things. Either way, word out of the White House is that a consortium of buyers — including Oracle — for this new app has been lined up and will be announced. Now, all eyes are on Beijing to see if they approve the deal.

Prediction: If the Chinese government still doesn’t approve the deal, it could really be game over for TikTok in the US.

Mood’s new rapid-onset THC gummies deliver gentle body relaxation with a strong but balanced, clear-headed euphoria — all in as little as five minutes.

Plus, Mood gummies are USA-grown and tested by third-party labs to ensure they meet federal legal and health standards.

Get 20% off your order for a limited time with the code FIRST20.

Soham Parekh, a software engineer living in India, has sparked a frenzy in the tech world after it was uncovered that he’s been moonlighting for three or four companies simultaneously over the past several years.

Why It Hits: Silicon Valley is a secretive place, so working full-time for multiple companies — which some overly ambitious people have started doing in recent years — really flies in the face of the various non-compete agreements employees have to sign when joining a firm. But Parekh shows just how easily the system can be manipulated in 2025.

Between the Roles: Does anyone have an application success rate as high as Parekh’s?

The Future: Despite what many think, Parekh told TechCrunch that he didn't use AI tools or an army of junior engineers to carry his unsustainable workload. Instead, he says he’s a workaholic who logs 140 hours a week (unlikely) and needed the various jobs to get out of “financial jeopardy.” However, many founders say he negotiated for more equity rather than a higher salary in his compensation packages, which contradicts his claims. They believe it’s likely Parekh is actually in the business of stealing company secrets or IP more than anything else.

Clearly, it doesn’t matter: Parekh already has another job, now working at Darwin Studios.

Prediction: In this day and age, expect more people to get gutsy and use AI tools to forge multiple identities, allowing them to hold jobs at various companies simultaneously.

Bad audio? We wouldn’t wish it on our worst enemy.

So, we’re fixing that for one lucky winner with a fresh pair of Apple AirPods Pro 2!

All you have to do is drop your personal referral link: {{ rp_refer_url }}, get your friends to subscribe to TheFutureParty newsletter, and you’re in.

Remember: The more referrals you have, the more chances you have to win.

The giveaway ends on July 18th. Don’t sleep on this!

43.1% of you voted Yes in yesterday’s poll: Have you ever personally received an inheritance?

“I received my father’s diamond ring, and my three siblings were not happy. I believe if I had received a chair, they each would have wanted one leg of it.”

“A check for $10,000 unexpectedly arrived after my babysitter died. She was childless. My mother had reconnected with her late in life, and we had visited each other quite a bit.”

“My parents and I don’t really talk about money, even though they’re pushing 80. I’ve always assumed I’d get a sizable inheritance since I grew up comfortably, and I’ve made decisions — like delaying my own career to travel and going to grad school without their support — based on the assumption of that safety net. But now, every time I go home, there are so many new ‘toys’ and Amazon packages that I’m unsure what their financial situation really is. They also live in a high fire-risk area, and their insurance just dropped them, so I don’t even know what their property value is anymore.”

“I have — and I would, in a heartbeat, give it all back to have my dad back.”

Let’s keep the conversation going. Join our Poll Of The Day newsletter, so your opinions can shine. Discover how your views line up with your peers’, check out cool insights, and have some fun. It’s data with personality.

🦖 Jurassic World Rebirth nabbed the biggest global box-office debut of the year with $322.6 million in ticket sales.

🏈 Fantasy Life, the fantasy sports and gaming platform launched by NBC Sports personality Matthew Berry, has raised $7 million from investors like SpringHill and Redbird.

📺 Netflix reports that over half of its subscribers now watch anime.

📱 Twitter founder and Block CEO Jack Dorsey is working on a Bluetooth-messaging app called Bitchat.

🚗 GM’s Cruise robotaxis are back on the road in California, Michigan, and Texas… but this time, they’re focused on driving R&D instead of ride-hailing.

📈 Threads now has almost as many daily active users as X.

👔 LVMH Fashion Group head Michael Burke has been elevated to lead LVMH Americas… likely to sort out all the tariff drama.

📦 Adobe predicts that Amazon Prime Day will drive ecommerce sales to $23.8 billion during the 96-hour sale.

👟 Stella McCartney partnered with materials-science startup Balena to make an entirely compostable shoe.