Brand Management: TikTok ban is uncertain, meta moving away from third party fact checkers
Meta
• Social Networking Service: Meta is moving away from third party fact checkers on Instagram and Facebook. They plan to replace them with community notes similar to X, which leaves fact checking to users. In a Meta blog post, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said the change was due to the third party moderators being, “too politically biased.” The change comes after president Donald Trump claimed Meta’s policy was censoring right-wing voices. In the blog post Zuckerberg admitted that the risk of the changing moderation would be that less “bad stuff” would be caught, but he also stated that it would reduce the number of innocent people’s posts being taken down. In a press conference after the new policy was announced Trump said he was impressed by the decision.
Instagram has extended reel length to a Maximum of three minutes. The previous length was 90 seconds, making the updated maximum double the time. The decision was made due to creator feedback, allowing creators more freedom in their content. Instagram has also changed its profile layout, introducing a new tall grid format. The change came as most of the content on Instagram is in a vertical format.
X has launched a Video Tab for US users, and has replaced the Communities section in the app’s navigation bar. The change comes as X has seen a 40% increase in video engagement year-over-year.
Patreon will be migrating all creators to subscription billing by November 2025. Creators not currently on subscription billing will be able to migrate any time before November 2025. New paid members will be charged on the date they join, and the recurring payments will happen on the same date monthly.
Tiktok
• Online Video Platform: Around 12 hours after Tiktok was shut down in the United States, the app was made available once more. Users were welcomed with a banner attributing the return to President Donald Trump. Trump said that he plans to extend the time before the ban goes into effect. The delay is in order to give TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance more time to find an American owner. However, the app has still not become available for download.
Xiaohongshu, or Red Note, has gained popularity as a replacement for Tiktok. The app is one of China’s fastest growing platforms. Many users joined out of spite, as they were frustrated with the TikTok ban.
YouTube
• Industry: Despite TikTok’s return in availability for US users, the future remains unclear. On Tuesday, January 21, 2025 Trump signed an executive order to delay the enforcement of the TikTok ban for 75 days. In the order he instructed the Attorney General to not enforce the ban, as the administration looks for a solution. However, with Trump facing pushback from other Republicans it might be hard for him to fight the TikTok ban.
Meta, YouTube, and other tech companies have agreed to do more against Hate Speech, after the EU tech rules had an updated code of conduct. The companies pledged to allow not-for-profit or public entities to monitor how they respond to hate speech notices.
