TOGETHER WITH
It's Wednesday and if you don’t have enough AI in your life already, we have good news. OpenAI reportedly plans to release a ChatGPT phone as early as 2027.
Today’s News
🏬 TikTok brings ads to billboards
🎙️ Twitch makes an update
💸 Dropout raises $1.5M
🔎 Meta debuts new verification tech
👋 A creator departs Smosh
MONEY MOVES
Out of Phone is the new Out of Home.
TikTok is letting brands “reformat and reimagine” ads for billboards
The billboards: TikTok is inviting advertisers to go beyond the For You Page. The app is extending its partnership with Vistar Media to bring custom creative to digital billboards.
In TikTok’s parlance, billboard ads and other real-world spots are known as “Out Of Phone” campaigns. The platform’s advertising partners have had access to that format since 2023, when TikTok first brought its ads to locations like airports, gas stations, and movie theaters.
Out of Phone campaigns, however, come with unique challenges. TikTok encourages ad partners to tailor their spots to the vertical orientation of the For You Page. So, what happens when those ads need to be ported over to a horizontal screen like a digital billboard?
The partnership: That’s where Vistar Media comes in. The out-of-home tech company—which has been a TikTok partner since 2024—offers a Creative Studio that allows advertisers to tailor campaigns for out-of-home presentation. Vistar then delivers the refitted ads at scale across a variety of real-world locations.
“When agencies or brands are creating really compelling campaigns on platform, they are vertical. We need great partners to be able to reformat and reimagine these TikTok ads for screens of all different shapes and sizes.”
According to TikTok Global Head of Media and Licensing Partnerships Dan Page, the platform currently works with a limited pool of advertising partners on its Out Of Phone campaigns. Creators love to see themselves on billboards, so it makes sense that social media-savvy brands would be eager to take advantage of TikTok’s new ad format.
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HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰
Twitch is making it easier for you to stream. (Photo by George Chan/Getty Images)
Thanks to an update to Twitch’s Community Guidelines, creators can now stream content from randomized video chat sites like Omegle. (Dextero)
Meta began rolling out direct messaging on the desktop version of Threads yesterday, allowing users to access both group chats and one-on-one conversations via web. (TechCrunch)
Major publishers Hachette, Macmillan, McGraw-Hill, Elsevier, and Cengage have joined a class-action lawsuit that accuses Meta of using copyrighted material to train its AI models. (Engadget)
YouTube TV has renewed its carriage deal with Byron Allen‘s Allen Media Group, securing ongoing access to Comedy.TV, Justice Central, Recipe.TV, and The Weather Channel. (The Hollywood Reporter)
GAME ON
It’s Dropout, but IRL and in your living room.
Dropout has raised $1.5M (and counting) to develop a Game Changer board game
The show: Dropout is taking its flagship game show to the next level—and into fans’ living rooms.
Game Changer already routinely snags millions of views on YouTube thanks to its addictive format, which centers on Dropout CEO Sam Reich coming up with new rules that contestants have to puzzle out before the end of each episode. Dropout has submitted the show for Emmy consideration, some of its contestants have had cameos on TV, and even Saturday Night Live has reached into the Dropout talent pool.
The board game: Now, the media company that succeeded CollegeHumor has launched a Kickstarter campaign for Game Changer: Home Edition, a board game that brings three different Game Changer formats to the masses. Those formats include a play on Bingo that resembles Codenames, a betting game that asks players to “Name a Number,” and a take on Simon Says called “Sam Says.”
Backers who pledge at least $39 can take home the basic edition of the game, and additional rewards are available at pledge tiers that go as high as $1,000. From now until June 5, fans can also unlock additional rewards for everyone by completing eclectic missions (like leaving comments about ferrets and taking pictures with a cardboard cutout of Reich). Once the crowdfunding campaign is complete, Dropout expects to deliver copies of the Home Edition in March 2027.
The company initially set a $40,000 pledge goal for Game Changer: Home Edition, but it took less than a day for enthusiastic fans to blow that number out of the water. Within 12 hours, the company’s Kickstarter campaign had already raked in $1.5 million.
TECH TIME
Can an adolescent outsmart Meta’s age-verification system? (Photo illustration by Ezra Acayan/Getty Images)
Meta says its new age verification tech isn’t facial recognition. Can it outsmart kids?
The tech: Days after E.U. regulators concluded that Meta has not done enough to keep kids off its platforms, the Facebook parent has unveiled a new layer of protection for users under 18.
That announcement was delivered via a company blog post, which notes that Meta’s current suite of safety solutions does not include facial recognition technology. Instead, its AI-powered tools scan for telltale signs of a user’s age, such as mentions of school grades or birthday parties. Certain bone structures in posted photos can also be analyzed, although Meta’s AI does not identify the specific persons depicted in those images.
“By combining these visual insights with our analysis of text and interactions, we can significantly increase the number of underage accounts we identify and remove.”
The context: By eschewing facial recognition, Meta likely hopes to sidestep data privacy concerns. Age verification systems can appease government officials, protect underage users, and even enable new forms of advertising, but they’re also inherently invasive. As companies like YouTube and Roblox have adopted their own forms of age verification, some critics have argued that the associated protections aren’t worth the drawbacks.
Meta’s latest approach could solve that issue—if the company can outsmart tech-savvy kiddos. Under-18s have already found plenty of ways to get around national social media bans. Now, they’ll try to apply those evasive maneuvers to Meta’s platforms.
WATCH THIS 👀
Smosh alums could be part of the next wave of high profile creators.
After 4.5 years, Erin Dougal is saying goodbye to Smosh
The farewell: Almost a half-decade ago, Erin Dougal began working for Smosh as an assistant—but it didn’t take long for her to begin participating in, and then leading, writers’ rooms. Flash forward to May 2026, and Dougal is leaving Smosh after serving as an associate producer on its main YouTube channel and as a co-host of Lunchtime with Smosh: The Podcast.
Dougal announced her departure—and her next steps as a solo YouTube creator—in a farewell video that doubled as a love letter to Smosh.
“I am so grateful and lucky to have been given the opportunity that I received while I was there. And I truly would not have a career or be where I am without Smosh. And I will never forget that and I will never take that for granted.”
Check out the full “I Left Smosh” video here to find out more about Dougal’s career and discover what she has planned for her YouTube channel.
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Today's newsletter is from: Emily Burton, Drew Baldwin, Sam Gutelle, James Hale, and Josh Cohen.