by Tod Maffin
Follow Tod on: Bluesky, Threads, LinkedIn, and others
All in all, it’s just another brick in the wall.
An American federal appeals court has upheld a law that could lead to TikTok being banned in the country next month.
The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., this morning ruled unanimously that the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA) can remain in effect, citing national security concerns about the Chinese-owned app.
The law requires TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell its U.S. operations to a non-Chinese company by January 19 or its app must be blocked from app stores in the country.
TikTok argues that this law unfairly targets the platform and violates the First Amendment, which protects free speech.
Decisions for Trump ahead
This decision poses challenges for President-elect Donald Trump, who previously tried to ban TikTok.
Recently, though, he’s been on TikTok’s side after saying he didn’t want to help Meta, which he felt suppressed his ability to communicate with the electorate.
The ban is set to take effect one day before his inauguration.
While he can’t cancel the law, he can use an executive order to have the Justice Department not prioritize enforcement.
Most likely going to the Supreme Court
A succulent Chinese deal?
While all this consumes the news cycle, at least two American investors are trying to put together a deal with TikTok’s Chinese owners to buy TikTok, potentially allowing it to continue operating in the U.S.
Marketing without TikTok
Truth is, Meta and YouTube both copied TikTok’s popular vertical format so early and so well, that the impact on the marketing community could be less than previously thought.
But…
If a whole lot of advertisers suddenly have to move their media spend to those two platforms, the increased competition could have an upward impact on prices.
TikTok’s “Shop” has been a huge success, and with catalogs, CAPIs, pixels, and other technical pipes delicately connected, replicating that setup on another social media platform’s commerce system would not be an easy task.
🎯 How This Affects You
For marketers, it’s a reminder to keep your content and ad strategy diversified. In particular:
1. Ensure you’ve got a brand presence on the “competing” apps — Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts.
2. Identify and collaborate with influencers who have a substantial presence across multiple platforms to maintain campaign continuity.
3. Prepare for a possible uplift in ad prices, if TikTok buyers suddenly flee to Meta and other platforms.
The Top Three
The industry’s most important stories today.
🥇 META ADVERTISING
An excellent longread about how health and wellness brands face uncertainty with Meta’s upcoming new restrictions on advertising. This is definitely worth your time if you’re in one of the affected business categories. more
🥈 CLICK TO CANCEL
Industry groups asked a U.S. federal court to block FTC rules requiring companies to make online subscription cancellations as easy as signing up, arguing the regulations will cost businesses. They’re not wrong, but that’s the point… more
🥉 ADS ON BLUESKY?
Bluesky‘s CEO now says the platform might, indeed, have to introduce ads in the future, reversing a previous position. She says the ads will try to avoid traditional intrusive models. more
Today’s Other News ☑︎
Everything else that matters.
Advertising and Ad-tech 📣
The livestreaming platform Twitch says political streamers are losing ad revenue as major brands like AT&T and Dunkin' pull advertisements over content concerns. It’s almost as if gamers don’t want to hear about politics… More.
Mediaocean has launched a partner program with IPG, Omnicom, and WPP, giving these agencies a small stake in exchange for deeper integration of its ad-tech solutions more.
MRI-Simmons has released an ebook about data enrichment. “With privacy regulations and walled gardens hindering marketers, first-party data enrichment is now essential for optimizing campaigns.” more.
Amazon‘s NFL Black Friday game drew 13.51 million viewers, boosted advertiser engagement with interactive ads, and saw a 41% audience increase from last year's more.
AI ✨
Meta released Llama 3.3, a new AI model that it says is easier to run. It plans to launch Llama 4 next year. Despite having a much larger training database behind it, Llama’s not used in the marketing space nearly as much as its competitors. more.
Here come the enterprise plans… OpenAI launches ChatGPT Pro at $200 monthly, offering unlimited access to o1 model, GPT-4o, and Advanced Voice mode with exclusive features more.
Search 🔍
Little and late… Google completed its November 2024 core update on December 5. Originally, it had expected the rollout to take two weeks. Google no longer says what’s in the update, but SERoundtable says it doesn’t contain any penalties; rather, it promotes or rewards “great web pages.” more.
Social Media 📱
More X metrics locked behind a paywall… X can now show how many followers versus non-followers engage with your brand’s posts. Many other platforms (notably YouTube) do this. The difference is that X makes you subscribe to its Premium plan to see this data. more.
YouTube is rolling out the ability for more users to upload 3-minute Shorts directly in the app.
Facebook added a new “auto-clipping” feature for landscape videos. It automatically cuts long videos into playlists of Reels.
Instagram added for Instagram DMs two new animated chat themes, “Cats” and “Rustles”.
I’m sorry… HOW many?! A new study by Ravineo reveals that 80% of sponsored Instagram posts in November did not properly disclose their advertising status, potentially violating FTC guidelines. More.
Threads is testing individual post analytics, allowing users to see detailed performance metrics like views, likes, and follower interactions to help creators understand their content's reach. Price: Zero. more.
People are saying Spotify Wrapped and TikTok's year-end reviews feel flat and predictable. Do the algorithms actually know less about us than we thought they did? more
Just buy a new phone, already… WhatsApp will stop supporting iPhone 5s, 6, and 6 Plus starting May 5, 2025, requiring users to upgrade their devices to continue using the app more.
Commerce 🛒
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s your underwear… Amazon has successfully tested its first drone delivery in Italy. It plans to launch Prime Air commercially in 2025, pending regulatory approval. Then again, it’s been trying for years to do this and it keeps getting pushed back. more.
Jobs 🏢
Meta Canada is hiring for a “Business Engineer” who will work with marketers to use Meta's ad tools. Not going to lie, this would be a clever way to finally get support for your ad campaigns — get a job on the support desk! 🤣 more
WTF 😳
A once-beloved Muppet fan account crumbles under sexual harassment accusations, shocking its massive online following. More.
Marketing Tool of the Day 🔨
Best kept secrets of the digital marketing world1
Social algorithms prevent your brand’s organic content from reaching your targets.
The way to bypass this: Having real people share your content.
Quuu Promote drives real shares from real people across social media to boost social signals, engagement, and domain authority.
Choose from over 500 interest categories
Connect to your social channels and start tracking social mentions
✅ We have used this tool at our agency for years, and it’s legit and works surprisingly well.
💰 No monthly subscription — pay once, use forever
🏅 No-questions-asked money-back guarantee
Today’s Trivia Question 🧠
Tap your guess and you could win!
🎁 Everyone who guesses will be entered in our monthly draw for a full year of our Premium Newsletter free! Congratulations to Beth B. who won this months’s draw!
Upgrade Your Media Buying Skills:¹ | Tools We Use and Recommend:¹ ¹ Some links provide affiliate revenue |
