#TikTokMadeMeBuyIt… TikTok really wants #ForYou to shop. The app is reportedly opening live studios for creators to film QVC-style livestreams and testing a feature that could make any post shoppable. It’s estimated that TikTok Shop, launched in September, lost $500M+ last year. But parent co ByteDance said TikTok’s ecomm biz could become as big as Chinese sister app Douyin’s, which raked in $208B in 2022. Social shopping has failed to take off in the US the way it has in China (Meta’s tried), and TikTokers’ initial reaction has been * bombastic side-eye *.
A heated hearing… Bipartisan lawmakers blasted the CEOs of Meta, TikTok, X, Snap, and Discord during a hearing on child safety online. Senators condemned them for not doing enough to prevent child sexual exploitation and contributing to a mental-health crisis. Sen. Lindsey Graham told the CEOs: “You have blood on your hands.” Last year, tech companies flagged a record 36M+ instances of child sexual abuse content. Despite lawsuits, holding social platforms legally accountable is tough because of protections that give them immunity from being liable for users’ posts.