TOGETHER WITH

It’s Monday and Bluesky might be a young buck in the social media world, but Microsoft’s first post on the platform has a slightly older backdate: April 4, 1975.

Today’s News

COURT OF LAW

A D.C. Court of Appeals has upheld the U.S. TikTok ban. Will the Supreme Court agree?

The ruling: For months now, TikTok has been fighting tooth-and-nail to derail the enforcement of a U.S. law that would force either a ban or divestiture of the platform. A new ruling could throw a major wrench in those efforts.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has determined that the ban-or-divest law is constitutional, with three judges denying TikTok’s claims that it violates Americans’ Bill of Rights protections. That decision sets up a probable appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which could decide to take up the case and temporarily stay the ban ahead of its January 19 start date.

Both TikTok and the U.S. Department of Justice have already called for the official Appeals Court decision to be fast-tracked so the Supreme Court will have time to decide if it’s going to rule before the law’s January enforcement deadline.

The context: TikTok and its parent company, Bytedance, began challenging the divest-or-ban law shortly after President Biden enacted it in April. The platform’s suit argued that the “obviously unconstitutional” decree was “simply not possible” to comply with, since a divestiture would complicate the storage of TikTok’s source code.

The future: Will the Supreme Court uphold the appeals court’s ruling? The likely answer is ‘yes,’ especially since this latest decision calls TikTok’s constitution-based argument into question. But one factor could still tip the scales in TikTok’s favor: the reelection of Donald Trump. The president-elect has been clear that he wants to overturn the divest-or-ban law, and TikTok (which cozied up to conservative elites ahead of Trump’s 2024 reelection) seems confident that the decree will be blocked.

If the law is upheld, however, ByteDance has been adamant that it will not divest TikTok to a U.S.-based buyer—meaning an all-out ban would be the next step.

🔆 SPONSORED 🔆

The 1B Pitches competition just got a $13.6 million injection of funding 

A groundbreaking new creator competition just scored $13.6 million in funding. 

1 Billion Followers Summit has joined forces with investment firm Shorooq to back 1B Pitches: a unique competition that offers startups and creators the opportunity to pitch to leading investors for a chance to secure potential funding and mentorship. 

Shorooq—a leading investment firm based in Abu Dhabi—will contribute over $8 million to the competition, while the 1 Billion Followers Summit will contribute nearly $5.5 million. The winners of the 1B Pitches competition will be announced at the Summit, which will take place in Dubai from January 11-13 under the theme "Content for Good." 

Attendees will have the opportunity to vote for the winner—if they can tear themselves away from the Summit’s 100+ expert-led creator economy panels, networking events, workshops, and more.

Hit the link below to find out more and snag your ticket to the 1 Billion Followers Summit:

Explore the Summit → 

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• Brands running ads on TikTok will now get official Nielsen performance data thanks to a new partnership between the platform and audience measurement firm. (Tubefilter)
  
  

• Spotify will revamp creator monetization for video podcasters with the launch of its Spotify Partner Program in January 2025. (Tubefilter)
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• Senators Richard Blumenthal and Marsha Blackburn collaborated directly with X to “strengthen” the Kids Online Safety Act “while safeguarding free speech online and ensuring it is not used to stifle expression.” (Engadget)
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• According to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Meta AI now has nearly 600 million monthly active users. (Engadget)

HAVE YOU HEARD? 👀

Squid Game hits the Champs Elysees, Hawk Tuah has a crypto problem, and creators take on Hollywood

The column: Every week, we hunt down some of the hottest headlines in the creator economy. December’s first roundup includes some unexpected moves from major creators—including an alleged Hawk Tuah crypto scheme and a livestreamed wedding.

The biz: Hawk Tuah girl Hailey Welsh has received harsh criticism in the aftermath of her $Hawk memecoin’s rapid nosedive. We already knew she could “spit on that thang”—now, it looks like she might also be able to “pump and dump that thang,” too.

The promo: The second season of Squid Game is almost here. To promote the next installment of Netflix’s dystopian hit, French creators like Inoxtag recreated the show’s first challenge in the middle of Paris on the Champs Elysees.

The big screen: A year after her meteoric rise to prominence, podcaster Bobbi Althoff has been cast opposite SNL cast member Chloe Fineman in a romantic comedy called Love Language—and she’s not the only creator taking on Hollywood. TikTok heartthrob and soccer star Noah Beck recently made his own acting debut in Sidelined: The QB and Me, a teen romance available on Tubi.

The romance: Creators are feeling the love on-stream—and on streaming services. Fortnite star Typical Gamer gave fans a virtual invite to his big day by livestreaming his wedding as he said “I do” to partner Samara. Meanwhile, creators in a very different phase of their romantic lives starred in the third season of Netflix’s get-engaged-or-get-lost reality series, The Ultimatum.

TOUGH COMPETITION

Meta wants to compete with Roblox—so it recruited the king of Hollywood blockbusters

The context: When Facebook changed its name to Meta, it was with the intention of dominating the metaverse—but Roblox quickly stole its thunder. A few years later, Roblox is the main platform through which Americans experience the metaverse. It’s attracted investments and marketing spends from Hollywood studios like Warner Bros. and Lionsgate, too.

The partnership: Now, Meta is looking to tap into that movie marketing buzz. As studios increasingly dedicate promotional budgets to creation platforms like Roblox and Fortnite, Meta has announced a multi-year partnership that will see James Cameron‘s Lightstorm Vision produce interactive experiences for distribution across Meta Quest devices. According to a Meta blog post, that pact will lead to the creation of “world-class 3D entertainment experiences” with “big-name IP” tie-ins across fields like live sports, concerts, film, and TV.

Ultimately, the two companies aim to democratize access to 3D creation, distribution, and consumption resources, with Lightstorm’s proprietary tools laying the groundwork for that initiative. Cameron has high hopes for that partnership: the man responsible for Terminator, Aliens, Titanic, and Avatar described his deal with Meta as a chance to “revolutionize all visual media.”

Ironically, Roblox itself could help Lightstorm’s “revolutionary” experiences reach a broader array of users. Meta recognized the platform’s cultural import when it brought it to Quest devices last year. Now, the inclusion of Roblox could help convince metaverse enthusiasts to shell out $500 for a Meta Quest 3 headset.

LISTEN UP 🎙️

This week on the podcast…

The monetization era: Creator Upload hosts Josh Cohen and Lauren Schnipper returned to the studio this week to regale viewers with tales of Black Friday shenanigans—including the story of one TikTok Shop creator who made six figures in a single stream. Also on the agenda: diving into Cameo’s efforts to cozy up to creators and Beast Games’ Roblox-centric PR push.

It’s all right here on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

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Today's newsletter is from: Emily Burton, Drew Baldwin, Sam Gutelle, and Josh Cohen.