TikTok must cut ties to Chinese ownership

Mergers and acquisitions of big-name tech and social media companies are never exactly smooth, seamless transitions. But for TikTok’s latest saga, the U.S. government has taken the usual scrutiny and backroom dealings and turned it up to 11.

President Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have been playing up alleged security issues with the app and its Chinese owners ByteDance for weeks. Recently, it reached a boiling point. Aboard Air Force One, Trump announced to reporters that the TikTok ban was imminent. Creators on the app scrambled, while analysts pondered whether it would even be legally feasible. A subsequent executive order gives potential buyers Microsoft (and Twitter, according to rumors) less than two months to close the deal. Until then, we’ll keep Tok’ing.

Facebook launches TikTok rival app, Reels

While all the TikTok uncertainty floats around, Facebook has taken the opportunity to launch its competitor to TikTok, Reels. It’s built directly into Instagram, which some are saying makes the app even more cluttered. TikTok replied to the cloned product on Twitter:

Congress questions digital leaders again

It had been a while since Congress has gotten the Big Four (Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google) CEOs in the room – and while this time they weren’t physically in the room, it was a chance for marketers to get an insight into the tech giants that impact so much of what we do digitally these days.

And while the U.S. government started asking more questions, the Australian government took another look at Google and Facebook’s role in siphoning money away from news publishers. These companies could now have to pay news organizations some cash.

The pandemic’s impact on digital advertising is becoming more clear, following Google’s Q2 advertising revenue report. Google’s ad platform saw a slight dip in revenue last quarter as marketers held back on spending. But don’t worry – they’ll be just alright, with that 8% decline in the quarter, that earnings report still gets to boast nearly $30 billion in revenue.

The Lessing-Flynn team is here to keep you in-the-loop date on the latest marketing and digital news. Read all the latest Digital Download articles here.