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Today’s News

TIKTOK TALK

Which version of TikTok will the world use?

The context: If President Trump and his allies are to be believed, a newly-completed deal will soon avert the upcoming TikTok ban by establishing American ownership of a new U.S. version of the app (aka M2). So far, the general plan seems to be that the current iteration of TikTok will remain available across the world, while the ownership group involved in the deal will take control of M2. That American-owned app will feature technology licensed from TikTok parent ByteDance and data guardianship courtesy of Oracle.

Recent reports have characterized M2 as an app that will cater exclusively to Americans—but what exactly are the implications of that restricted user base? Would U.S. viewers still have access to content from international icons like Khaby Lame? And what of the inverse?

The global question: Some foreign politicians have already begun asking if TikTokers outside the U.S. will be stuck with the original app, or if they’ll have the chance to move over to M2. In Australia, for instance, legislators have positioned M2 as a possible solution to the data privacy issues plaguing Bytedance:

Given rumors that the Australian Murdoch family is set to join Trump’s TikTok deal through News Corp, Down Under denizens could have a logical in for access. But the situation isn’t quite so simple, since some digital rights watchdogs have argued that M2 users will still be subjected to “constant and intrusive surveillance of the user base.” Here’s hoping the final terms of the deal will provide more clarity.

🌟 SPONSORED 🌟

Will you join the world’s top creators at VidSummit 2025?

As the creator economy grows and evolves, one thing remains the same: tickets to VidSummit sell out every year.

Since 2014, the top 1% of creators and digital industry leaders have converged in Dallas to share the keys to their success in a rapidly evolving ecosystem. 

At VidSummit 2025, panels, workshops, and sessions will cover everything from exclusive audience-building strategies to the AI revolution in a space reserved entirely for industry pros. 

Because VidSummit 2025 is designed to elevate you and your career—not to facilitate fan meet-and-greets.

Here’s a sneak peek at this year’s VidSummit agenda:

• Find out why Jordan Matter describes YouTube as “the new Hollywood” 

• Explore YouTube audience-building with Mia Maples

• Attend Jon Youshaei’s YouTube Insider Masterclass

• Delve into the science of calculated risk with Linus Sebastian of Linus Tech Tips

• Learn how Dzung Lewis turned a dying channel into 2B views

Check out the website for more details on speakers, expert programming, and more. Tickets are on sale now:

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• Advertising Week New York will return from October 6-9 with 1,200+ speakers and 28 content tracks designed for creators, marketers, and other industry pros. (Tubefilter - Partner Story)
  
  

• The latest Precise Advertiser Report offers two major takeaways: YouTube is still kids’ favorite choice for watching content, and its efforts to diversify the formats on its platform are paying off. (Tubefilter)
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• A new “Hide” button will allow YouTube users to avoid seeing pop-up recommendations at the end of videos. (TechCrunch)
  
  

• According to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Instagram has officially reached 3 billion monthly active users. (The Verge)

MONEY MOVES

Should MrBeast be worried about the FTC?

The report: The Federal Trade Commission has strict disclosure guidelines for creators who upload sponsored content—especially when they aim to appeal to kids. YouTube’s biggest star, MrBeast, certainly qualifies as a kid-friendly entertainer. But is he following the FTC’s rules?

The Children’s Advertising Review Unit (aka CARU, an independent agency that exists within the nonprofit BBB National Programs) tackled that question in a report that accuses MrBeast of providing insufficient disclosures related to sponsorships and sweepstakes:

CARU’s press release specifically called out instances related to MrBeast’s Feastables brand, including a 2024 Halloween sweepstakes for which the method of free entry (i.e. entries that did not require the purchase of Feastables products) was improperly disclosed. The agency noted that “one of the rules was that minors can enter with parental consent, but the parental consent was not obtained before collecting personal information.”

The response: CARU’s press release also includes a joint statement from the MrBeast and Feastables teams, which expressed appreciation for “CARU’s mission,” but argued that “a variety of the issues raised by CARU relate to practices long since revised and/or discontinued.”

Even if MrBeast has addressed CARU’s concerns, however, the creator’s team should still keep a lookout for the FTC. Franklin Graves, an attorney researching and writing about law and policy at Creator Economy Law, told Tubefilter that “it is not uncommon” for CARU investigations to lead to further action from the FTC—meaning additional probes and class action lawsuits could still be on the table.

PLATFORM HEADLINES

YouTube is fine with creators spreading misinformation, actually

The reversal: YouTube is the latest platform to capitulate to the Trump administration. In a letter to the House Judiciary Committee, YouTube parent Alphabet said it’ll reinstate channels/accounts that were banned for spreading misinformation about COVID and the 2020 election.

The platform’s previous policies against COVID misinformation resulted in it taking down or suspending channels belonging to creators and organizations like the Children’s Health Defense Fund, a group affiliated with current Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy and Republican Senator Ron Johnson. It’s not clear yet how YouTube plans to implement the reversal of those bans, but we suspect account holders/creators will have to apply for restoration.

The letter: Alphabet’s letter was a direct response to an investigation by Republicans into whether the Biden White House pressured platforms to remove certain types of content. Across its four years, the previous administration did urge platforms and creators to ensure they were sharing accurate information and help stop the spread of conspiracy theories about topics like vaccines and medical treatments—including at the White House’s first-ever creator summit, where Biden himself gave a speech telling creators misinformation on the internet had “never been this bad before.”

YouTube itself, however, had already begun relaxing its policies around election misinformation by June 2023 (when Biden was still in office) by deciding to allow videos that outright lied about the results of the 2020 election.

With this letter, the platform is going one step further—and blaming the Biden administration for its earlier moderation efforts:

WATCH THIS

2024’s “Pokémon-with-guns” game is getting a spin-off

The original: Palworld made a controversial entry into the gaming world last year. After selling 5 million copies in just three days, the game (which quickly earned the nickname “Pokémon-with-guns”) faced a wave of scandals, with players arguing over its similarities to Pokémon, whether or not its developers had used genAI, and the ethics of being able to capture and sell in-game characters.

The spin-off: 19 months later, Palworld is still fighting a patent infringement lawsuit from Nintendo—but that hasn’t stopped its publisher, Pocketpair, from forging ahead. On September 22, the company dropped a trailer for a new Palworld spin-off called Palworld: Palfarm.

The game (which is described on its Steam page as a “brand new creature-collecting farming sim”) is unlikely to do Pocketpair any favors in its battle against Nintendo. But if you’re a Stardew Valley fan with a penchant for on-screen violence, Palfarm might be just the entertainment you’re looking for.

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