Creators

This time from the Department of Justice, after the Federal Trade Commission said it was referring a complaint to the agency based on an investigation involving a children’s privacy law. The FTC said it doesn’t usually make this kind of referral public, but believed it in the public interest. TikTok said it “strongly disagree[s]” with the allegations and said many of them are outdated.

A deep dive by Rolling Stone tracked the deaths of children who died after taking fake drugs they bought on the app. Parents and law enforcement officials blame, in part, the disappearing messages feature that made Snapchat popular in the first place.

Un Kyu Lee’s Micro Journal Rev.6 is a purpose-built writing tool that trades the polish of Astrohaus’ Freewright devices for a cheaper price tag. The $169 kit pairs a hot-swappable keyboard with a monochromatic LCD display, a 30-hour battery, and wireless Google Drive syncing. The design files are also available through GitHub, eventually letting anyone 3D print and build their own.

Prices are rising as Shein eyes IPOs in the UK and the US. The average price of a dress is up 28 percent in the US compared to a year ago, for example.

Despite labor violations and the overall secrecy of the company, business is booming for the fast fashion brand. We’ll see if shoppers mind the slightly higher prices.

We don’t know exactly how often AI Overviews will appear in search, but early observations point to trouble for publishers.

A Press Gazette experiment found that AI Overviews appeared on nearly a quarter of top news-related Google searches, pushing down organic results. Some publishers are bracing for their Google traffic to trickle to zero. Others say it’s already happened.

That’s according to internal company messages obtained by Business Insider, regarding frustration among staffers over how Adobe handled the controversy surrounding a recent Terms of Service update.

Adobe has since released a blog to address concerns about AI training and content ownership, but its employees reportedly think greater transparency is needed.

“If our goal is truly to prioritize our users’ best interests (which, to be honest, I sometimes question), it’s astonishing how poor our communication can be.”

YouTube is experimenting with the ability to search for videos via Google Lens, with a “small percentage” of Android users being enrolled to test the feature.

The description says tapping the Lens button in the YouTube search bar will retrieve videos based on the picture you snap — which doesn’t sound particularly useful but might provide some entertainment value.

Starting this week, Twitch is going to let you add message effects and “gigantify” emotes with Twitch’s Bits currency. The effects promise make chats a little livelier, and I’m excited to see

In addition to announcing wider availability of its thumbnail testing tool, YouTube is launching its skip feature it started testing last month. You can learn more details on that and a few other features (including creator QR codes) in this video.

Shein, the Chinese fast fashion company popular in the US, recorded $32.2 billion in sales. To give you a sense of scale, Zara’s sales came in at $28 billion, and H&M’s at $22 billion.

Under EU regulations, Shein will face more scrutiny alongside companies like Amazon. Shein is expected to go public in the US this year.

The video “We Schooled Hundreds of Teachers” was funded in part by Stand Together, an organization founded by right-wing billionaire Charles Koch, reports Fast Company.

The video profiles Ron Clark Academy, a private school in Atlanta. For decades, the Koch family has worked to undermine public schools. “Education alternatives” are one of Stand Together’s key issues.

The platform’s “tag” feature is different than traditional hashtags — users can tag phrases, not just words, and the # symbol disappears once the tag is added.

App researcher Alessandro Paluzzi reports Meta is experimenting with displaying the # symbol. It’s a small change, but could potentially help when crossposting to the fediverse, which currently breaks the added Threads tag.

Elgato loves to reveal new hardware in its software updates, and today it’s time for an early look at the new Light Strip Pro. This particular light strip will have 120 individually addressable RGB LEDs, and it comes equipped with adhesive backing and magnets for mounting on your desk. The Light Strip Pro should appear on Elgato’s store soon (link not working yet).

According to Forbes, TikTok accounts for Paris Hilton and CNN have been hijacked recently by a “zero-day” attack in the app’s DMs that could be activated simply by opening the message.

TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek sent us this statement:

Our security team is aware of a potential exploit targeting a number of brand and celebrity accounts. We have taken measures to stop this attack and prevent it from happening in the future. We’re working directly with affected account owners to restore access, if needed.

Handmade marketplace Etsy is fighting for customers as shoppers turn instead of ultra cheap retailers, The Information reports. One problem is that Temu products are often listed for more money on Etsy.

Etsy sellers have long complained about drop shipped items infiltrating the site. It was a key issue in the 2022 seller strike and subsequent organizing efforts.

The former President, who once attempted to ban the platform, posted his first video to it yesterday under his usual handle of @realdonaldtrump.

As Politico notes, Trump reversed his stance earlier this year after momentum behind the ban abruptly rekindled and President Biden signed it into law.

And yet, Matty Benedetto has amassed millions of subscribers with his Unnecessary Inventions. Tune into my new video series, Full Frame: Creators, where I spend a day with a creator to see how they have found success on the internet.