Social Media

TikTok has a simple exit from US ban maze

4 Feb 2025

Attempts to force a sale of the social media app keep getting stuck. One solution: spin most of it out to existing owners of parent ByteDance, with new investors taking a stake. It would mean ceding founder control, but at least capture some of the implied $100 bln value.

RedNote TikTok influx is more curse than blessing

20 Jan 2025

More than 3 mln Americans joined the Tencent- and Alibaba-backed Chinese social media platform as its bigger rival's ban neared. The refugees are sparking cross-cultural repartee but also pushing up RedNote's costs and causing security concerns, complicating its path to an IPO.

TikTok is a cautionary tale of early detection

17 Jan 2025

The top US court upheld a law forcing owner ByteDance to sell or face a ban. Both the outgoing administration and President-elect Trump are scrambling to avoid cutting off 170 mln users. Yet the issue could have been nixed before it began. Uncle Sam keeps making the same mistake.

Wild TikTok dance adds clumsy Beijing shuffle-step

14 Jan 2025

As the top US court weighs a ban of the popular app, China may be open to letting owner ByteDance sell it to Elon Musk. It’s probably worth some $100 bln, but even with other suitors such as Oracle in the mix, a discount is likely. It also will take more than two to tango here.

Fact-check: Meta fights for money, not speech

9 Jan 2025

Boss Mark Zuckerberg said 'free expression' motivated the decision to stop moderating Facebook and Instagram posts. Left unsaid was that it also should help alleviate MAGA pressure. It’s more of a tactical business move, especially with TikTok advertisers hanging in the balance.

AI will become a Madison Avenue sensation in 2025

2 Jan 2025

Google and Facebook leveraged hefty brand-building budgets. Netflix and Amazon are also now running more commercials. Machine-learning business models will be similarly built. The cutthroat battle for a $900 bln bonanza, per Breakingviews calculations, is about to kick off.

Adland’s main post-M&A tussle is for second place

19 Dec 2024

Omnicom and IPG are creating the world’s largest agency, but Publicis’ superior growth profile should keep it in pole position. UK group WPP risks winding up in third place. Yet that hinges on whether advertising’s big merger fast-tracks AI investment, or impedes it.

Brick phones will ring in an unlikely revival

19 Dec 2024

Nokia handsets of the early 2000s are appealing to a generation seeking a digital detox. The market, which is only 2% of US devices, is growing fast having doubled in a year. With the likes of Australia banning social media for under-16s, Apple and Samsung may pivot or lose out.

Berlin can curb but not stop a Romania-TikTok mess

12 Dec 2024

The app is under scrutiny for enabling meddling in Bucharest’s elections. Given a blanket TikTok ban is beyond the EU’s remit, Germany’s February poll may go the same way. Yet Berlin could also coordinate better with tech platforms ahead of time – which Romania didn’t.

Social media’s youthful glow is going up in smoke

11 Dec 2024

An Australian law banning kids under 16 from using TikTok and Instagram signals growing fear that such apps hurt developing brains. Tech titans can weather any immediate hit, but it’ll be harder if restrictions spread. As Big Tobacco learned, longer-term effects are what burn.

Trade warriors are on a TikTok collision course

6 Dec 2024

A US court upheld the video app’s ban unless it’s sold by Chinese owner ByteDance. A looming deadline pits national security opinion against the political cost of cutting off 170 mln users. Europe is on guard too. It’s a test of whether hard things are possible in the trade war.

Telegram and X expose tech platforms’ new reality

12 Sep 2024

The arrest of Pavel Durov, founder of the controversial messaging app, and the ban of X in Brazil shows state officials are not afraid to intervene in Big Tech. In this Viewsroom podcast, Breakingviews columnists debate what it means and how CEOs should manage the threat.

Telegram’s route to profitability looks dubious

3 Sep 2024

The troubled app’s CEO Pavel Durov runs a lossmaking enterprise. The easiest path to profitability is to echo Facebook, but content moderation costs would further hit Telegram’s finances. The main alternative is to be a messaging app, but WhatsApp implies that’s hard to monetise.

Oasis-style mega-gigs may increasingly slide away

30 Aug 2024

The 1990s UK rock titans’ tour next year could generate 400 mln pounds in sales. Oasis can bank on older fans’ nostalgia, and younger ones’ interest in the superstars of yesteryear. Yet the streaming era’s fragmented tastes imply events on the same scale will get less common.

Telegram CEO arrest is fuzzy warning to Big Tech

28 Aug 2024

Paris prosecutors detained Pavel Durov as part of a probe into illicit activity on the app. The specifics of the case and French law have little read across for rivals like Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk. Yet a global scandal will heap pressure on platforms to clean up content.

Elon Musk’s best move in EU fight may be an eXit

21 Aug 2024

The billionaire has different views on content moderation from the European Commission, which is investigating his social-media site. It’s hard to imagine a compromise. Rather than risking fines of 6% of sales, it might be easier for X to simply block users in the region.

Meta joins corporate ‘profit-to-fines’ club

1 Aug 2024

The $1.2 trln social media firm grew sales 22% last quarter, aided more by monetization of its users than adding new ones. Thing is, pushing the boundaries draws costly scrutiny. A sequence of legal penalties could build to a bigger risk for Mark Zuckerberg’s company.

Musk wants to help Trump? Try an X-Truth tie-up

29 Jul 2024

The Tesla boss pledged his support for the Republican nominee’s presidential bid. But a marriage between former-Twitter and Donald Trump’s Truth Social could help them both. It would give Truth financial viability, X a crystallized valuation, and both owners a potential exit.

Meta AI strategy: give something to get something

25 Jul 2024

As tech firms invest hand over fist in artificial intelligence, the Facebook owner’s plan to let developers tweak and freely use its models sounds like a giveaway. CEO Mark Zuckerberg hopes Meta will be long-term richer for it. Google’s Android success suggests he might be right.

Snap may want to disappear from the public markets

22 Jul 2024

The $24 bln social media firm is staking its future in augmented reality with see-through glasses. Taking Snap private would allow breathing room. Even if insider Tencent and boss Evan Spiegel rolled shares, it would require a large check. But potential returns are worth it.