Every Platform Tries to Capitalize on the Manufactured Chaos of the TikTok Ban

Hello all! I hope you've all been keeping grounded in what has already been a remarkably exhausting year. Unlike in many previous weeks, this week was defined by the TikTok ban. Every platform, including Instagram, Bluesky, Twitch, and TwitterX, focused on siphoning displaced users. Unfortunately, the ban was over in about half a day as TikTok bent the knee while praising the new king of America for saving their app–an obvious example of manufactured chaos. But perhaps it is a perfect start to the years ahead! For creators, the takeaway is clear: diversify. You cannot trust TikTok any more than Twitch, Instagram, YouTube, or Twitter, to continue to exist as you've known them. Things can change at any point through their own actions, that of a government or a third party, and you're left without recourse.

And with that cheery note, let's get into this week's news.

Platform Updates

🟪 TWITCH

• Twitch is experimenting with prompting Adblock users to turn it off or pay for Turbo.
• The upcoming TikTok Gifts clone may be called one of the following: Outbursts, Super Streaks, Gifts, Rallies, Combos, or Reacts.
• In an effort to attract TikTokers, Twitch has changed its logo to look more like TikTok on the Android app store.
• Over 66% of Twitch's revenue comes from Subscriptions alone.
• Bill Young, Twitch's Head of Games and goon squad member launched four new ad-based Fortnite maps.
• Twitch's London office shared its new front desk design.
• Advertisers can now see if their Amazon or Twitch ads drove sales at Walmart, Best Buy, and Target.
• Another Drops Fest runs from today until next week, with drops for 17 different games.
• Twitch Rivals faced severe criticism for the latest event featuring Marvel Rivals. Creators were removed, teams were unbalanced, and communication was poor.

⬛ TIKTOK

• The Supreme Court rejected TikTok's appeal to delay the ban, scheduled to go into effect on January 19th.
• In response to the TikTok ban, Americans did one of the most hilariously spiteful things: They downloaded the Chinese app RedNote (Xiaohungshu), which quickly rose to the top of app stores in America.
• On January 18th, around 11 PM EST, ByteDance preemptively shut down all of its services to Americans, including TikTok, CapCut, Lemon8, Marvel Snap, Hypic, Lark, Melolo, Fizzo, Gauth, and Tokopedia.
• TikTok was restored half a day later after incoming President Donald Trump said an executive order would delay the ban. As it was being restored, TikTok welcomed users back with a message thanking Trump directly. This was manufactured chaos and meets the definition of a psyop(#2).

🟦 TWITTER X

• Twitter/X is adding a dedicated, scrollable video feed.

⏹️ DISCORD

• Discord is adding Animated AVIF support.
• There will soon be new activity privacy settings.

🔲 OTHERS

• Substack has launched livestreaming for all users in the app.
• TeamSpeak is launching Screen + Camera sharing.
• Fifty million accounts have been created on Kick.