TikTok’s Last Stand

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What a week it’s been, TFP. If you’re one of our many readers affected by the LA fires, here’s a good (growing) list of restaurants that are providing food to people who have lost their homes or were displaced by evacuation orders. Stay safe out there — the city’s not out of the woods yet.

TikTok started making its case against the US government’s divest-or-ban law in front of the Supreme Court on Friday… and so far, it seems that the Justices are siding with upholding the law. That means TikTok could really be gone on January 19th when the law takes effect.

Why It Hits: We don’t need to make the case for how much of a cultural juggernaut TikTok has become over the past five years — 170 million American users, billions in advertising dollars, and social media dominance. But it’s safe to say a ban that takes the platform offline in the US would create unprecedented waves across the economy and digital media ecosystem.

Behind the Arguments: So, what happens if the Supreme Court rules in favor of the divest-or-ban law?

Final Ruling: So, how’s everyone reacting to this fast-approaching reality? A little panicky and a little in disbelief. Advertising dollars are still flowing to TikTok in the hopes of seeing every marketing moment squeezed for as long as they’re available. But creators are pushing users to follow them on other platforms, migrating content to other apps, and reconfiguring contracts to allow TikTok deals to be transferred to Insta or Shorts if the platform goes offline.

As for TikTok itself, some parties are already making official bids for the US operations without its world-famous algorithm. But parent company ByteDance has put cold water on those offers by saying China would never allow the company to sell the platform in any iteration. C’est la vie.

Go Deeper: So, what do you think will be the next TikTok?

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At CES 2025, Honda unveiled its new electric 0 Series, which, among other innovations, comes with an AI chatbot embedded in the vehicles.

The Big Picture: Chatbots truly are all the rage these days. Putting the tech in personal vehicles could make cars truly hands-free, ease the transition to autonomous driving, and maybe give them some extra personality.

Behind the Vehicle: You might soon become friends with your car.

The Future: Honda released a video of Saloon in action, and it is… fascinating. On top of being a helpful tool, it essentially wants to take over the concept of calling your friend or family member in the car to kill some time. It could serve as a test case for how open people really are to conversing with chatbots instead of humans to ease the loneliness of their commutes — a direct competition to podcasts, radio stations, and check-ins with mom.

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66.8% of you voted No in Friday’s poll: Have you ever used Watch Duty’s app?

“A friend told me about this valuable app. I just sent a small donation. As a resident of Southern California, every amount of information is critical to me.”

“I live in a fire zone in California. It is essential to have a good fire app along with having your ‘go bag’ by the front door.”

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“I hadn’t before the Palisades Fire, but it quickly became my go-to app. I was at the CES Conference in Vegas this week, and Watch Duty was my only real-time way to monitor what was happening near my home in LA and know whether I needed to fly back early to gather my things for an evacuation.”

“We’ve heard more timely and accurate information from Watch Duty than from our elected officials.”

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.

⚾ Never mind: the Venu Sports streamer has been cancelled.

🎸 Live Nation is putting on a benefit concert for the survivors of the LA fires on January 30th.

🎙️ Timothée Chalamet will be both the host and musical guest for an episode of SNL.

🗣️ AI firm ElevenLabs is branching out to provide dubbing services for indie films.

🤖 Meta trained its AI on a notorious digital library of pirated copyrighted material.

🏎️ Red Bull and Ford are creating a new type of F1 engine using cloud computing.

👕 Prada could be looking into acquiring Versace.

🥸 Birkenstock wants to ensure that there’s no such thing as a “Birk knockoff.”

🛒 Amazon is becoming an ad-tech software provider for other ecommerce companies.