Latest news with #TikTok
Refinery29
34 minutes ago
- Health
- Refinery29
There's A Bigger Problem With The Viral ‘Propaganda I'm Not Falling For' Trend
TW: This article discusses disordered eating. Videos with the text 'Propaganda I'm not falling for' and a list that might include diet culture, something about the rise of conservatism and alternative milk choices — to name a few — have been dominating our social feeds of late. The videos seem to suggest that if you can spot a "trend" or the 'problem', then you can choose whether to participate in it or not. But in a world where we seem to be at the behest of the algorithm, and with social media increasingly becoming an avenue for mental health support, how much agency do we have in choosing whether or not we participate? Let's start with the algorithm, which, despite what we're sometimes led to believe, is not inherently evil. It can actually be great, showing us content and advertisements that we find engaging based on specific signals, such as what posts we like, comment on, and share, how much time we spend viewing a post, and what similarities we have with users we interact with. However, when social media platforms use them to further their cause, algorithms can lead us to content we didn't necessarily choose. For example, in 2018, Facebook saw a decline in engagement and reconfigured its recommendation algorithms. A 2021 study says that the reconfiguration increased the virality of outrageous and sensationalised content. And no, this was not just a coincidence, Facebook's internal documents stated that "Misinformation, toxicity, and violent content are inordinately prevalent among reshares.' Similarly, a 2020 study found YouTube recommendations can lead people to more extremist content. The bigger issue is that even if a user decides to step away from polarising content, a New York Times article reported that viewing 20 widely-shared TikToks sowing doubt about election systems will push more 'election disinformation, polarising content, far-right extremism, QAnon conspiracy theories and false Covid-19 narratives' despite using neutral search terms. In this case, while we click or scroll away, it becomes clear that the algorithm can encroach on our autonomy. Besides misinformation and polarising content, we can't talk about social media algorithms without discussing thinness culture or 'thinspo.' What once existed on Tumblr sites, thinness culture, also known as 'pro-ana' type content, has now made its way to TikTok, claiming its niche as ' SkinnyTok.' This side of TikTok is filled with low-calorie recipe videos, What I Eat In A Days, exercise routines and more which glorify thinness culture and disordered eating, veiled as a "healthy" lifestyle. In June, TikTok "blocked search results for #skinnytok since it has become linked to unhealthy weight loss content." However, how much impact does this have when our algorithms deliver us this content regardless of needing to search for it? Users who are currently diagnosed with an eating disorder are 4137% more likely to have the next video delivered by the TikTok algorithm to be eating disorder-related. Similarly, for those struggling with disordered eating, it is 322% more likely that the next video will be diet-orientated. The recent Butterfly Body Kind Youth survey also found that 57.2% of young people (aged 12-18) report that social media makes them feel dissatisfied with their bodies. At the same time, 73% of young people use social media for mental health support. However, the number of young people using social media for support rather than the mental health care system is worrying when, in June 2025, an investigation by The Guardian found that over half of the top 100 mental health TikToks contain misinformation. From suggesting that everyday experiences are symptoms of borderline personality disorder to misusing therapeutic language, social media has increasingly seen users self-diagnosing based on a 10-second sound bite. As someone who could not access mental health support for a couple of years for an eating disorder, I've experienced the pipeline of content where helpful tips for recovering turn into glorifying low-calorie, high-protein diets and strength training in the name of "health". But as a 16-year-old, it was impossible not to fall for this, and even now, at 22, it can be a battle on worse days, and I have to delete the apps altogether. While we like to think we have full control over what we do or do not 'fall for', our algorithms clearly also have a say in that. But the long-term answer to extremist or thinspo content is not to delete or ban social media. We should all be cautious of what we see on the internet, perhaps take things with a pinch of salt, and do our research, of course — but social media platforms and governments have a role to play in safeguarding us from risks. We need more than just a hashtag ban; we need social media platforms to stop pushing content that leads us down this path in the first place. We need our government to regulate content such as deepfakes and misinformation and, instead of banning social media, implement education on how to use and be safe on it. Funding the mental health system so that fewer people turn to social media for help would also be a great place to start.
Yomiuri Shimbun
38 minutes ago
- Business
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Trump Extends Tiktok Ban Deadline for a Third Time, without Clear Legal Basis
AP file photo The TikTok app logo is shown on an iPhone on Friday, Jan. 17, 2025, in Houston. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to keep TikTok running in the U.S. for another 90 days to give his administration more time to broker a deal to bring the social media platform under American ownership. Trump disclosed the executive order on the Truth Social platform Thursday morning. 'He's making an extension so we can get this deal done,' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Thursday. 'It's wildly popular. He also wants to protect Americans' data and privacy concerns on this app. And he believes we can do both at the same time.' It is the third time Trump has extended the deadline. The first one was through an executive order on Jan. 20, his first day in office, after the platform went dark briefly when a national ban — approved by Congress and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court — took effect. The second was in April when White House officials believed they were nearing a deal to spin off TikTok into a new company with U.S. ownership that fell apart after China backed out following Trump's tariff announcement. It is not clear how many times Trump can — or will — keep extending the ban as the government continues to try to negotiate a deal for TikTok, which is owned by China's ByteDance. While there is no clear legal basis for the extensions, so far there have been no legal challenges to fight them. Trump has amassed more than 15 million followers on TikTok since he joined last year, and he has credited the trendsetting platform with helping him gain traction among young voters. He said in January that he has a 'warm spot for TikTok.' TikTok praised Trump for signing an extension Thursday. 'We are grateful for President Trump's leadership and support in ensuring that TikTok continues to be available for more than 170 million American users and 7.5 million U.S. businesses that rely on the platform as we continue to work with Vice President Vance's Office,' the company said in a statement. As the extensions continue, it appears less and less likely that TikTok will be banned in the U.S. any time soon. The decision to keep TikTok alive through an executive order has received some scrutiny, but it has not faced a legal challenge in court — unlike many of Trump's other executive orders. Jeremy Goldman, analyst at Emarketer, called TikTok's U.S situation a 'deadline purgatory.' The whole thing 'is starting to feel less like a ticking clock and more like a looped ringtone. This political Groundhog Day is starting to resemble the debt ceiling drama: a recurring threat with no real resolution.' That's not stopping TikTok from pushing forward with its platform, Forrester analyst Kelsey Chickering says. 'TikTok's behavior also indicates they're confident in their future, as they rolled out new AI video tools at Cannes this week,' Chickering notes. 'Smaller players, like Snap, will try to steal share during this 'uncertain time,' but they will not succeed because this next round for TikTok isn't uncertain at all.' For now, TikTok continues to function for its 170 million users in the U.S., and tech giants Apple, Google and Oracle were persuaded to continue to offer and support the app, on the promise that Trump's Justice Department would not use the law to seek potentially steep fines against them. Americans are even more closely divided on what to do about TikTok than they were two years ago. A recent Pew Research Center survey found that about one-third of Americans said they supported a TikTok ban, down from 50% in March 2023. Roughly one-third said they would oppose a ban, and a similar percentage said they weren't sure. Among those who said they supported banning the social media platform, about 8 in 10 cited concerns over users' data security being at risk as a major factor in their decision, according to the report. Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the Trump administration is once again 'flouting the law and ignoring its own national security findings about the risks' posed by a China-controlled TikTok. 'An executive order can't sidestep the law, but that's exactly what the president is trying to do,' Warner added.
Yahoo
40 minutes ago
- Business
- Yahoo
"Recession Nails" Are Trending As People Realize They Can No Longer Spend Hundreds Of Dollars On Getting Their Nails Done
Ro Wilson used to spend up to $150 on fresh gel extensions with intricate nail art every month. 'Christmas nails, Halloween nails, spring nails,' she said. 'For the last couple of years, I was very loyal ... the nail that I got always matched the theme of the month.' But this January, the New York-based marketing professional decided to stop and give her weakened nail beds a break ― and she noticed the reprieve her wallet got as well. She now considers her Gel X habit an 'unnecessary spend.' 'Right now, it's more important for me to have a one-bedroom apartment and have less money to spend on beauty than it would be for me to have two, three roommates,' Wilson said about her current priorities. She's dubbed her current bare short nails a 'recession indicator,' a play on the 'recession nail' trend, or 'princess nails' as some more positively call it, that has taken off on TikTok in recent days. According to these TikTokers, short, understated nails are in, and more expensive long coffin nails and gel extensions are out this year. As one TikToker with plain, manicured nails put it, these are 'low-maintenance nails for the recession.' Related: Hairstylists Share The One Thing They'd Never Do To Their Hair But can the state of how you do your nails actually be a sign of where the economy is going? Washington State University economist Christopher Clarke said short, simple nails could possibly be a recession indicator, but beauty trends are a 'noisy' signal of an economic downturn because 'things go in and out of style, and that has nothing to do with the economy, it just has to do with the seasonality of human preferences,' he said. For Clarke, the key recession indicators are a rise in unemployment claims, the overall unemployment rate, and declining investments. But he understands why we want to make TikTok videos with our own interpretation of recession indicators, because humans crave a narrative to explain their anxieties about the future. 'When we feel anxiety about all these changes in the economy ... we need a story to help us frame it, to help us understand what we're going through,' he said. What Nail Artists Think 'Recession Nails' Look Like Related: "Recession Nails" Are Trending As People Realize They Can No Longer Spend Hundreds Of Dollars On Getting Their Nails Done Nail artists themselves are more skeptical, however, about whether short, simple nails are a recession indicator. Long nails 'won't be going anywhere anytime soon,' said Christa Cole, a Pasadena, California-based nail technician. 'My clients love the way they can be creative and express their style with their nails.' Nail artists said the length of the nail doesn't indicate tightening budgets, but how often you come to the salon does. Los Angeles-based nail artist Christina Tran has noticed a trend over the past year, where clients are opting for simpler nail art and stretching out the time between appointments to save money. When clients ask for 'basic and boring,' understated short nails, 'I'm not going to chew her out about it. I'll be like, 'Oh, maybe it's a financial thing, or they have to get out of here in a hurry or something.' But it's like, girl, don't you see what I could do?' Tran said about the simple, short nail look. In Tran's view, the ultimate recession nails are when you no longer have the budget to get your nails done at all. Similarly, Los Angeles-based nail artist Sigourney Nuñez said recession nails are not dependent on length ― they are the nails you do yourself to save money. She believes we'll soon see parallels between what was popular during the 2008 recession and what's trending now. 'Back then, DIY nail art really took off and drugstore polish was super affordable, so people got creative at home,' she said. As one TikToker recently put it, 'Recession core is just gluing the same $5 press-on nails back every time they pop off for two months.' When times are tough, Clarke said people will cut out unnecessary luxury items, citing how budget retailer Walmart's stock price rose during the 2008 recession while Target's fell. However, what makes nail trends difficult to track as recession indicators is that what some consider a luxury, others view as a necessity. Even though gel manicures with nail art can cost more than $100, some customers will never give them up, no matter the cost. 'There will always be those loyal clients who would rather skip eating out than miss their nail appointment,' Nuñez said. Tran said she has clients who will tell her 'how they're struggling, but they'll still come and get their nails done, because it's been so ingrained in their personality.' As for Wilson, she has given up her monthly gel extension habit. But she still plans to reserve elaborate nail art for special occasions in the future. 'I like the idea of growing my own nail out,' Wilson said, 'and just doing designs and getting gel on that, versus paying $120-plus for fake nails that were going to break off anyway.' This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Malay Mail
an hour ago
- Business
- Malay Mail
Trump softens on TikTok, extends US ban deadline to September 17
WASHINGTON, June 20 — President Donald Trump announced yesterday he had given social media platform TikTok another 90 days to find a non-Chinese buyer or be banned in the United States. 'I've just signed the Executive Order extending the Deadline for the TikTok closing for 90 days (September 17, 2025),' Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, putting off the ban for the third time. A federal law requiring TikTok's sale or ban on national security grounds was due to take effect the day before Trump's January inauguration. The Republican, whose 2024 election campaign relied heavily on social media, has previously said he is fond of the video-sharing app. 'I have a little warm spot in my heart for TikTok,' Trump said in an NBC News interview in early May. 'If it needs an extension, I would be willing to give it an extension.' TikTok yesterday welcomed Trump's decision. 'We are grateful for President Trump's leadership and support in ensuring that TikTok continues to be available for more than 170 million American users,' the platform said in a statement. Digital cold war? Motivated by a belief in Washington that TikTok is controlled by the Chinese government, the ban took effect on January 19, one day before Trump's inauguration, with ByteDance having made no attempt to find a suitor. TikTok 'has become a symbol of the US-China tech rivalry; a flashpoint in the new Cold War for digital control,' said Shweta Singh, an assistant professor of information systems at Warwick Business School in Britain. Trump had long supported a ban or divestment, but reversed his position and vowed to defend the platform — which boasts almost two billion global users — after coming to believe it helped him win young voters' support in the November election. The president announced an initial 75-day delay of the ban upon taking office. A second extension pushed the deadline to June 19. He said in May that a group of purchasers was ready to pay TikTok owner ByteDance 'a lot of money' for the video-clip-sharing sensation's US operations. Trump knows that TikTok is 'wildly popular' in the United States, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters yesterday, when asked about the latest extension. 'He also wants to protect Americans' data and privacy concerns on this app, and he believes we can do both things at the same time.' The president is 'just not motivated to do anything about TikTok,' said independent analyst Rob Enderle. 'Unless they get on his bad side, TikTok is probably going to be in pretty good shape.' Tariff turmoil Trump said in April that China would have agreed to a deal on the sale of TikTok if it were not for a dispute over his tariffs on Beijing. ByteDance has confirmed talks with the US government, saying key matters needed to be resolved and that any deal would be 'subject to approval under Chinese law.' Possible solutions reportedly include seeing existing US investors in ByteDance roll over their stakes into a new independent global TikTok company. Additional US investors, including Oracle and private equity firm Blackstone, would be brought on to reduce ByteDance's share in the new TikTok. Much of TikTok's US activity is already housed on Oracle servers, and the company's chairman, Larry Ellison, is a longtime Trump ally. Uncertainty remains, particularly over what would happen to TikTok's valuable algorithm. 'TikTok without its algorithm is like Harry Potter without his wand — it's simply not as powerful,' said Kelsey Chickering, principal analyst at Forrester. Despite the turmoil, TikTok has been continuing with business as usual. The platform on Monday introduced a new 'Symphony' suite of generative artificial intelligence tools for advertisers to turn words or photos into video snippets for the platform. — AFP
Time Magazine
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- Time Magazine
Does And Just Like That Remember What Happened in Sex and the City?
Warning: This post contains spoilers for Episode 4 of And Just Like That Season 3. A few weeks ago there was a video going around of Sarah Jessica Parker appearing to acknowledge that she doesn't remember the episode of Sex and the City that produced the viral "Hungover Miranda" meme. The moment, clipped from a BuzzFeed roundtable interview with Parker and her And Just Like That costars Cynthia Nixon (Miranda), Kristin Davis (Charlotte), and Sarita Choudhury (Seema), resulted in a number of annoyed comments from fans on TikTok pointing out Parker's apparent lack of knowledge surrounding the events of the original series. The reveal also came in the wake of a May interview with E! News in which Parker said she's never seen "most of" Sex and the City and doesn't watch And Just Like That. Despite being an executive producer, Parker is obviously not the only person who has control over the creative direction of And Just Like That. Now in its third season, the sequel series has made some controversial leaps—remember Che Diaz?—while staying more or less true to spirit of the original. But after the events of episode 4, we're beginning to question whether anyone in charge of And Just Like That recalls the show's massively successful predecessor at all. Titled "Apples to Apples," the fourth episode of Season 3 largely takes place in Norfolk, Virginia, at the down-home country farmhouse of one Aidan Shaw (John Corbett). Aidan has moved up in the world since the time he coerced Carrie into spending a weekend at his, let's call it, rustic cabin in the vaguely upstate and aptly-named New York town of Suffern, a 40-minute drive from Manhattan. That little getaway took place in Season 4 of Sex and the City and featured a Carrie we recognized, one who shrieked at squirrels, drove over state lines to get cell service and fast food, and, for some unknowable reason, invited her ex-boyfriend Big (Chris Noth)—the very same one she had previously cheated on Aidan with—to come stay for a night. The country just wasn't for her. As she put it, "I'm what you call a bona fide city girl." This time around, Carrie spends the weekend acting pretty much completely un-Carrie-like. After smuggling in an illicitly-obtained supply of Adderall for Aidan's son Wyatt (Logan Souza)—a favor Aidan was unaware his ex-wife Kathy (Rosemarie DeWitt) had requested of her—Carrie participates in such activities as fishing, driving an ATV, family game night, and wearing outfits obtained from local boutique Daisy's Dress Shop (after her incomprehensible first suggestion of Target turns out to be an hour away). Throughout all this, she delivers barely a sarcastic quip about her distaste for the simple life. No mention of being a "hick town hostage" or how the "silence is deafening" or her desire to instead be out "cocktailing and sample sale-ing." Of course, you can make the argument that it's been 20 years since Sex and the City and Carrie, as people do, may have changed in that time. But who among us is watching And Just Like That to see Carrie mature? Especially if that means her becoming an entirely different person than the Carrie we alternately love, hate, and love to hate. At least part of the reason many Sex and the City fans are tuning in to And Just Like That is out of a inclination to see Carrie continue to live her messy and fabulous life as a pretty egregiously out-of-touch Manhattan socialite. There's a reason (or several) that Carrie and Aidan broke up not once, but twice, in Sex and the City. And despite the fact that Big is no longer around to drive a wedge between them, it still doesn't seem like they're truly a match. And Just Like That is certainly piling onto their problems by throwing over 300 miles of separation, a troubled teen, and incompatible texting styles into the mix. Yet, Episode 4 still ends with Carrie committing to staying in a long-distance relationship with Aidan for the next five years despite his inability to promise her basically anything in return. It's understandable that Aidan needs to prioritize his children's wellbeing, but it seems like the Carrie of old would have taken that as a sign that they maybe aren't meant to be. At least for the time being. As her dear friend Miranda suggested before Carrie's first trip to the country all those years ago, if "you need to pretend to be someone else in order to be in a relationship," perhaps it's not the right fit. We can't help but wonder if And Just Like That will ever take that advice to heart.
