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Happy 2025! I had originally planned to send out a newsletter last week, but with the Supreme Court hearing TikTok’s arguments on Friday, it felt pertinent to push back a few days, with my reaction below on what this all means for the likes of us. Spoiler alert: I might as well have sent this out on Friday.

I should be back in your inboxes every Thursday now for the foreseeable future. With that said, let’s get to it!

US Supreme Court reportedly leaning towards TikTok ban

TikTok made its arguments to the Supreme Court on Friday, but the news doesn’t look positive for ByteDance. The key question that the conversation kept returning to was around national security and potential Chinese interference, and it appears that the Supreme Court is inclined to uphold the proposed law.

It’s important to note that, as the BBC puts it, “the legislation does not forbid use of the app, but would require tech giants such as Apple and Google to stop offering it and inhibit updates, which analysts suggest would kill it over time.”

Donald Trump has stated a decision should be delayed until he takes office, however, as things stand, unless ByteDance sell up in the US (they’ve said they won’t), the app is due to “go dark” in the US from January 19 (i.e. this coming Sunday).

Presumably if you already have a major stake in this as a marketer, you’re already looking at alternative options in the US. Reuters have put together a useful article on what would happen next, speculating that brands might try to spend money event after January 19. It’s a rapidly evolving situation and hopefully I’ll have some clearer advice when I next send a newsletter in a few days time!

What does Meta’s 180-turn on fact checking mean for us?

Last week we also saw the headline news that Meta will be switching to a community-based fact checking approach, effectively reversing its previous policies on content moderation.

If it feels like a knee-jerk reaction following Donald Trump’s re-election, that’s because it is. There have definitely been mistakes – the time Facebook suppressed a New York Post story about Hunter Biden which turned out to be true, for instance – but standing back and allowing the spread of misinformation feels like A Bad Thing. Though for the sake of balance, The Economist have put together an interesting retort to that opinion.

We’re not here for my own views however – what does it mean for marketing? For the time-being, I don’t see this having a huge impact on Meta’s ad offerings, but much in the same way as we’ve seen brands spooked by ads appearing next to inappropriate content on X, I fully expect that we’ll start to see these cases surface over the next 12 months.

For all his detractors, Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t cut as divisive a figure as Elon Musk, so I’d be surprised if we saw an advertiser boycott on the same scale – but it wouldn’t shock me to see some brands turning away.

Further Reading

Google’s VP of global search ads has said that they are making a massive AI push in 2025. Users of the platform won’t be surprised by this development, but worth noting nonetheless.

Amazon is opening up its ad tech to other retailers, who’ll be able to use their targeting/placement functionalities.

X has noted that an upcoming algorithm update will focus even further on ‘entertaining’ content. Though if the idea of making content which entertains on some level is devastating, you’re probably in the wrong line of work.

The UK Government is due to announce on Monday how it plans to use AI to revolutionise services in the coming months and years.

That’s it! If you found this interesting, I would appreciate it if you shared it with your friends and colleagues.

If you’re feeling particularly generous, I won’t stop you from buying me a coffee. Otherwise, I’ll be back with more on Thursday. See you then!

For the last time in 2024, hello! It’s been an eventful year, but at least on my side things are starting to wind down, and this has also been reflected in the paucity of updates from the world of digital marketing as well.

The main news this week is the fallout from a US Federal Court upholding a ruling that means TikTok could be banned on January 19. Owners ByteDance are obviously pulling out all the stops to try and prevent this.

Elsewhere, global ad revenue has topped $1 trillion for the first time, and there’s a few updates around BlueSky – but it doesn’t feel controversial to say that the pendulum hasn’t exactly swung their way yet.

Before we get going, I just wanted to say thanks for reading through this year. Pulling together these updates is a genuine weekly highlight. If you’re feeling generous at this time of festive cheer, then you’re very welcome to buy me a Christmas coffee. Otherwise, you can also check out my views on the trends likely to shape digital in 2025.

With that said – let’s get to it!

TikTok requests emergency injunction

The big news at the tail end of last week was that a US Federal Court upheld a ruling meaning that ByteDance either needs to divest TikTok, or face a ban for the platform from January 19. It should be noted that ByteDance has a right to appeal, and has asked for an emergency injunction, so there’s a little way for this story to go yet.

In the meantime, Donald Trump has been reluctant to engage on the issue (he’s previously made noises that would indicate he would row back on any ban, but that was before the election). He seems to be of the view that ByteDance should sell up.

And what about us digital marketers trying to make sense of it all? Well if TikTok in the key pillar of your US-based activity, then this is the perfect time to look at Snap, Instagram, or even possibly Reddit – now’s the perfect time to diversify and explore. If it forms more of a secondary part of your ad spend, then now might be a good time to reassess your ad spend and potentially move to other platforms in preparation for the ban.

That said, I’d probably look to wait – if possible – until we find out the ruling on the emergency injunction, with the picture on whether it will be banned on Jan 19 at least likely to clear up over the next few weeks.

Further Reading

The global advertising market is set to exceed $1 trillion in revenue for the first time in 2024, driven by digital platforms.

The Guardian reported this week that X has lost 2.7 million active users over the last couple of months, while BlueSky has picked up 2.5 million. These sound like huge numbers – but they aren’t the critical mass that BlueSky needs to become a major player. It’ll be interesting to see what, if anything, has changed by the time I next write an update. It’s safe to say that subscriptions alone will not be enough to drive sufficient revenue with this current user base.

Meta endured a major outage earlier this week, though it does seem to have recovered now.

Instagram is experimenting with ‘trial reels’ that enable Creators to road-test content without it necessarily forming part of their grid. Like a focus-group, if you will.

That’s it for now! I’ll be taking a break from this newsletter for a few weeks, and plan to be back in mid-January. If you found this interesting, I would appreciate it if you shared it with your friends and colleagues.

If you’re feeling particularly generous, I won’t stop you from buying me a coffee. Have a great Christmas, and a wonderful 2025!

After a seismic few weeks and months in the world of digital marketing, I have to admit that it feels ever so slightly like we’re now in the winding down period ahead of the festive season. Nevertheless, there is a potentially major ruling on TikTok’s future due in the US this week, and a few other bits and pieces going on elsewhere involving the major players.

I’m planning on continuing with these updates next week and possibly the week after before taking some time out until we have some meaningful news to look at, probably later on in January. In the meantime – what do we need to know from this week?

ICYMI: I looked at the upcoming 2025 trends

Will TikTok be banned this week?

We’re expecting to hear this week on whether a federal court in the US will uphold the ban on TikTok, with both sides asking for a ruling by Friday before the law is scheduled to take effect in January.

You know the story by now; the US Government wants to effectively ban TikTok in the US unless its divested by ByteDance. TikTok in turn has opened up a lawsuit against the federal government, aiming to nullify this law. There are various obvious reasons for this, but the stated ones are “technological”, “commercial” and “legal”.

The ban is due to take effect from January 19, which with the holidays factored in is barely any time at all – hence the request for a ruling so that there’s time to appeal, or put in place the steps necessary to comply with the ruling. This is important – whatever is decided this week isn’t necessarily final. Inevitably, my sending out this newsletter will mean the ruling will be about half an hour after I write this, because that’s how life seems to work in digital marketing.

The latest in the world of microblogging/tweeting/skeeting

Verification and authenticity seem to be the buzzwords in this week’s dispatch from the land-grab.

• Bluesky has an impersonation problem, and its looking to crack down on unverified/parody accounts.
• Similarly, having removed verified checkmarks (i.e. to see which accounts are real), X is now cracking down and trying to ensure ‘fake’ accounts state that they are parodies or impersonations. All of that fuss, to effectively be back at the start.
• Bluesky is now delivering more referral traffic than X for publishers; proof, if needed, that it is treating posts with links differently to X and other platforms.

Meta moderating “too much”

Meta has mistakenly removed too many posts, it revealed this week. This was shortly followed by a declaration that less than 1% of election misinformation was generated by its AI tools (which is still too much, in my view, but whatever).

Meta are taking the perhaps not unreasonable view that removing too much is better than removing too little, and are apparently working hard to ensure people are no longer “penalized unfairly.” It’ll be interesting to see if this has any material effect on the ads platform, where I’ve seen ads disapproved for some truly bizarre reasons. Fingers crossed!

Further Reading

It’s not just me – some other voices are piping up that Reddit is an underrated digital marketing platform. Happy days!

TikTok has implemented some new protections for young EU users (the most tangible one being the removal of certain filters for under-18s, among other features). This comes hot off the heels of the ban in Australia, and a lot of recent chatter around Instagram’s “teen accounts”.

Related to this – The Guardian took a good look earlier this week at why and how the Australia ban is driving concern among firms in Silicon Valley, that I recommend taking in with a cup of tea/coffee later on today.

That’s it for now! If you found this interesting, I would appreciate it if you shared it with your friends and colleagues.

If you’re feeling particularly generous, I won’t stop you from buying me a coffee. Have a great weekend, and I’ll see you next week!