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!