Social Media Giants Fuel AI Advancements
State of Play: Reddit and Tumblr have both made deals to sell data to companies seeking to train their AI. Google has struck a deal worth $60 million per year in exchange for real-time access to Reddit’s data API, which will provide more efficient ways to train models. The partnership will allow Reddit content to be displayed in new ways across Google products, particularly in a “Forums” filter in Google search results that lets you browse through results from sites with human discussion. The owner of Tumblr and WordPress is also in talks to provide AI companies Midjourney and OpenAI with training data sourced from all users’ public posts from 2014 through 2023. Tumblr plans to launch a new setting that will allow users to opt out of data sharing with third parties, exclusive of the data dump of content between 2014 and 2023.
Why it Matters: Companies are toeing the line between experimenting with new AI tools to profit off their data and satisfying users’ data and privacy concerns. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is currently investigating Reddit's plans to license its user-generated content for AI training, as revealed in a recent securities filing by Reddit ahead of its IPO. While Reddit maintains that it does not believe its actions violate consumer protection laws, loyal Reddit users are quick to express discontent and concern, fearing that their privacy is being compromised for corporate profit without clear consent.
Regulators Crack Down on TikTok Internationally
State of Play: The United States and the EU could potentially be tightening regulations on TikTok, for different reasons. A panel in the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously approved a bipartisan bill that would ban TikTok if it doesn’t cut ties with its Chinese parent company, ByteDance. Prior to the bill being announced, the EU Commission opened several investigations into TikTok over its alleged failures to protect children and privacy under the Digital Services Act, the EU’s content moderation rulebook. The issues lie in TikTok’s addictive design, screentime limits, user age verification systems, and default privacy settings.
Why it Matters: Regulatory bodies are becoming increasingly inclined to enact protections against the major societal harms of social media, like the spread of disinformation and mental health risks for minors. The U.S. legislation would allow the executive branch to prohibit other apps that pose a national security threat. In the EU, TikTok could have to pay a fine of up to 6% of its global revenue based on the way the laws are pushing for policing of social media. This is the second investigation the European Commission has launched since probing X in December over the spread of illegal and harmful content following the Israel-Hamas war.
Tony's Chocolonely Turns Mondelēz Legal Action into Campaign
State of Play: Global snack brand Mondelēz International issued a lawsuit against rival Tony’s Chocolonely to protect the purple packaging on its Milka chocolate bars. The independent chocolate brand began mimicking the purple packaging in a campaign to highlight child labor practices within cocoa farming. Tony’s Chocolonely responded to the lawsuit in a LinkedIn post, announcing a switch to gray packaging with a tongue-in-cheek label of “clearly not purple.”
Why it Matters: While the Mondelēz lawsuit stopped Tony’s Chocolonely from copying its packaging in its demonstrative stunt, it only made way for Tony’s to add more fuel to the PR fire. Tony’s capitalized on the conflict to bring even more visibility to their cause, “raising awareness around the biggest problems in cocoa, which include lack of living income, child exploitation and deforestation.”
Lapse App, Transforming Your Phone into Retro Camera, Secures $30M Investment
State of Play: Lapse is a new wave, invite-only social media app that allows users to take photos that they have to wait to see developed, with no chance of editing or retaking, before sharing with a select group of friends. It has gained millions of users and consistently ranks in the app store’s top 10 U.S. photographic apps. Greylock (early investor in Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn) along with DST Global Partners led a recent $30 million funding for the app, adding to the $12.4 million raised in seed and pre-seed funding in 2021. The app is valued at $150 million.
Why it Matters: Platforms like BeReal and Lapse are ushering in the popularization of a new type of social media – the kind that is unfiltered, unrehearsed, casual and a major change of pace from the relentless commercialization and monetization that social media has become so accustomed to. These apps cater to the noticeable shift of user behavior from public posting to more private interactions, such as sharing pictures in direct messages and group chats, indicating a trend towards more offline engagement. It will be important to pay attention to the lasting effects, if any, that these trends will have on the social media ecosystem.
'Who TF did I marry?' TikTok Series Redefines Storytelling with Unprecedented Virality
State of Play: In a TikTok series that spans over 50+ videos, creator Reesa Teesa tells the story of meeting, marrying and divorcing a man who lied to her throughout their entire relationship. In total, the story is over six hours long and has garnered nearly 500 million views on TikTok since it was first posted last month. Given TikTok monetizes creators with a certain follower count, one would expect Reesa Teesa to have profited handsomely from her virality. She claims, however, that she hasn’t been paid by TikTok since she didn’t qualify for the creator fund for the first half of the videos and has since been banned from it for deleting and reuploading some of the videos, blocking her from payment for a 30-day period. Since the series blew up, Reesa Teesa has been interviewed on Good Morning America and signed on as talent at Creative Arts Agency (CAA). She has almost 4 million followers on TikTok.
Why it Matters: The series reached an unexpected level of virality given the platform it was shared on; the long-form nature of the content goes directly against the short video style that is associated with TikTok. Viewers of the series have even admitted to putting their phones away while letting Reesa Teesa’s playlist of the videos autoplay into one another, listening as if it were a podcast or audiobook rather than TikToks. The news of Reesa Teesa’s lack of monetization on TikTok is something to consider, given that we know TikTok suspended the Creator Fund last year and recently launched a new version that they claim has increased total creator revenue by over 250% and prioritizes longer form content.
