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How To Access TikTok After the Ban In 4 Simple Steps

Is the thought of a TikTok ban giving you separation anxiety? Learn how to evade the embargo in simple steps.

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Updated on January 17, 2025

Since launching in the US market eight years ago, TikTok has been used by millions of Americans to connect with like-minded people, keep up with trends, and escape stress with some light-hearted comic relief.

However, after a long-standing tug-of-war between US politicians and TikTok parent company ByteDance over the app’s shady data collection practices, TikTok is on track to getting banned this week – unless the legislation is overturned or delayed by Congress in the eleventh hour.

Not ready to give up your Sunday night doom scroll? Rest assured, there are ways you can evade the looming ban with a little preparation. We outline how exactly this can be done in simple steps, so you can keep scrolling to your heart’s content if the ban does come into effect.

When Is TikTok Getting Banned In The US?

After a long back-and-forth between US legislators and TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, TikTok is on track to get banned in the US on Sunday, January 19. This is unless the Supreme Court accepts a last-minute legal bid from ByteDance, claiming that the action would be unconstitutional.

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If the ban takes place this weekend, users aren’t legally obliged to stop using the app, nor will it magically vanish from smartphones. However, with rumors circulating that the Byte-Dance-owned company will make the app unavailable to US users the day the ban goes into effect, we recommend taking precautionary measures while you still can.

How To Access TikTok After The Ban

Not ready to say goodbye to your favorite app? Follow the steps below to side-step TikTok’s looming ban:

1. Keep the app downloaded

If the ban goes ahead on January 19, the TikTok app will no longer be available to download from US app stores. Existing users will still be able to use TikTok if it’s already on their smartphones, though.

So, if you want to carry on using TikTok after its potential ban date, all you need to do is keep the app on your phone. However, you should be aware that as the app won’t be receiving regular updates, it will likely become less secure and more buggy over time.

2. Choose a VPN

To access TikTok after the ban, you’ll also need to use a VPN. VPNs are privacy tools that conceal a user’s Internet Protocol (IP) address. Not only does this obfuscation make it harder for cybercriminals to access user data, but it also allows users to bypass geo-restrictions and access content from anywhere in the world.

Lots of free VPNs don’t offer strong security protocols, however, and in some cases can actually leave devices more vulnerable to exploits like malware and DDoS attacks. To stay on the safe side, we recommend using a trusted provider like SurfShark, as it offers in-built security mechanisms and the fastest server speeds of any VPN we tested.

Pure VPN is another option that can help you avoid lag when scrolling through TikTok, or accessing other streaming services due to its fast response times. Check out our guide to the best VPN providers for iPhone for a detailed comparison of our favorite tools.

3. Open the VPN and select a location where TikTok isn’t blocked

Once you’ve downloaded and opened your chosen VPN, simply change your geo-location to a country where TikTok isn’t banned. Your choice will be pretty extensive as only a handful of countries have banned the app outright, including India, Jordan, Afghanistan, and Nepal.

You should bear in mind that using a VPN with TikTok will change what content you see on the app. So we’d suggest only choosing an English-speaking country, like the UK or Canada if you speak English as a first language. If you’re under 16, we’d recommend against using Australian geo-locations, however, due to the country’s age restrictions.

4. Open VPN and scroll TikTok

Once you’ve completed the steps above, you’ll be free to use TikTok as usual.

If, for any reason, you have to delete the short-form video app, it is also possible to download it again by changing the location of the App Store or Google Play to outside of the US. Doing so will also lift update restrictions on TikTok, so it’s worth taking this extra step if you don’t want your experience on the app to deteriorate in the future.

What Are The Best TikTok Alternatives?

TikTok’s unique algorithm is expert in knowing what content to recommend, but if you aren’t interested in using a VPN, or you’ve been considering moving on from the app anyway, other alternatives exist.

Our top recommendation is YouTube Shorts, as the functionality is already built into the YouTube platform, making it easily accessible, and in many cases, preventing users from having to download a separate app. YouTube Shorts takes your viewing history into account as well, helping provide you with more tailored short-form content.

Instagram Reels is another popular alternative, with a similar interface and algorithm to TikTok, and much of the same short-form content. There are lots of emerging lesser-known platforms too, so check out our full guide to the best TikTok alternatives for our full round-up.

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Written by:

Isobel O'Sullivan Writer

Isobel O'Sullivan (BSc) is a senior writer at Tech.co with over four years of experience covering business and technology news. Since studying Digital Anthropology at University College London (UCL), she’s been a regular contributor to Market Finance’s blog and has also worked as a freelance tech researcher. Isobel’s always up to date with the topics in employment and data security and has a specialist focus on POS and VoIP systems.

Google Won’t Comply With EU Fact-Checking Requirements

New EU regulations call for Google to include fact-checking results alongside Google and Youtube searches.

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Updated on January 17, 2025

Google has sent a letter in response to a new EU law requiring fact-checks on its search results and YouTube videos. Their response? Google won’t be adding the checks.

Google has never used fact-checking in its content moderation, despite the massive cultural dominance of its search results and YouTube videos — to say nothing of the hallucinations offered by the AI summaries that Google has been appending to most search engine results pages.

The European Commission’s recent Disinformation Code of Practice aims to combat disinformation online. However, like a lot of tech giants in 2025, Google is signalling a lack of interest in playing along.

The Letter

The news was broken by Axios, which obtained a letter penned by Google’s global affairs president Kent Walker to Renate Nikolay, the deputy director general for the European Commission’s content and technology wing.

In it, Walker states that Google won’t commit to the required fact-checking, saying it “simply isn’t appropriate or effective for our services.”

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Meeting the EU regulations would call for Google to include fact-checking results alongside Google and Youtube searches, as well as incorporating fact-checks into its ranking systems and algorithms themselves.

According to Axios, Walker instead pointed to the “significant potential” of the user-generated contextual notes that YouTube enabled last year, which function similarly to Twitter/X’s Community Notes program.

Google’s Issues With Disinformation

Google’s AI summaries have been dinged for inaccuracies in the recent past ranging from recommending Elmer’s glue in pizza sauce to claiming former US President James Madison graduated from the University of Wisconsin 21 times. Granted, those examples are from last year, but I’ve spoken to colleagues in just the last month who have noted inaccuracies in Google’s summaries.

Needless to say, this isn’t a great look for the most well-known search engine on the planet.

But making the changes required to turn out dependable results consistently would require significant changes to the tech giant’s algorithm. Judging from its new letter, Google either doesn’t have confidence that it can make those changes, or doesn’t think that it can keep profits high enough while doing so.

Google Isn’t the Only Tech Platform That Won’t Moderate

In 2025, it seems that ditching fact-checkers and moderation is a trend for tech giants.

Most recently, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally announced a Meta policy change that will see an end to fact-checks and a reduction in moderation across platforms including Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

But the original source for the current trend might be the years-old Twitter takeover by controversial billionaire Elon Musk, who has presided over a Community Notes program that Meta, and now Google, will be cribbing from.

Whatever the case, tech giants appear to be adapting a “not our problem” approach to the content on their world-reshaping platforms.

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Written by:

Isobel O'Sullivan Writer

Duolingo Mandarin Learners Surge 216% As a TikTok Ban Looms

Can RedNote sustain its rapid rise to success with US users? Even with a TikTok ban and Duolingo boost, it faces headwinds.

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Updated on January 17, 2025

US Duolingo users have started learning Mandarin en masse, as the date for the US ban of the popular social video platform TikTok has neared.

Why has the ban of a global app led to a massive interest in learning a new language? Mostly because of the viral trend for replacing TikTok with another app: Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote.

RedNote’s surging success doesn’t mean that the app’s US popularity will last much longer than the current news cycle, however. It takes a long time for a new social media platform to reach anywhere near the heights that TikTok earned for itself.

Duolingo Weighs in on the Latest Social Platform Kerfuffle

Duolingo’s status as the most well-known US language teaching app makes it a great yardstick for our nation’s shifting cultural interests.

Now, a new post from Duolingo highlights the sharp uptick in US TikTok users in figuring out Mandarin, the biggest branch of East Asian languages and the one language with the most native speakers worldwide.

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According to the post, new Mandarin learners have jumped up by about 216% year-over-year.

Learning Mandarin out of spite? You’re not alone.
We’ve seen a ~216% growth in new Chinese (Mandarin) learners in the US compared to this time last year. https://t.co/9hzwBxfTgD pic.twitter.com/qWM9f5oFYA
— Duolingo (@duolingo) January 15, 2025

How many users will actually stick with the language, however, is a tougher question to answer. As anyone who’s tried Duolingo can tell you, keeping a streak going is a challenge.

The RedNote Hype Cycle Has Kicked Off

Part of the reason why RedNote is such a hit: The enjoyable irony behind a second, far more Chinese app gaining attention from Americans right after the US government has gotten rid of the previous one, whack-a-mole style.

Still, there’s one benefit: The whole ordeal has definitely boosted awareness in the US of the variety of government censorship concerns that often bubble under the news-coverage surface for both China and the United States.

Red Note is doing what they feared Tik Tok would. pic.twitter.com/FhhBRR4HWl
— Jessica (Ka) Burbank (@JessicaLBurbank) January 16, 2025

The conversation has surfaced plenty of xenophobia as well, both from those who think China is inherently evil and those who opt for a “benevolent xenophobia” and decide that China must be inherently good.

Can RedNote Go the Distance?

Although the Chinese app has been positioned as a TikTok-style platform — it even made our list of potential TikTok alternatives — some informed reports are calling it more of a cross between Instagram and Pinterest.

Whatever the case, it’s not clear that the rapid rise of this app can be sustained. Competitors like Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts are well-established, and are backed by tech giants Meta and Google, respectively. Meanwhile, RedNote is designed for Chinese users first, making it a tough sell.

Consider the success story of another primary-color-themed social media upstart: Bluesky has been growing steadily since gaining prominence way back in 2023, and despite the continual struggles of its main competitor, it still has a long way to go. In contrast, RedNote’s US presence is still a blip on the radar.

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Written by:

Isobel O'Sullivan Writer

Study: AI Is Making Us All Dumber

According to a new study, letting AI take over more tasks reduces the type of brain workout that helps people learn.

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Updated on January 17, 2025

Well, it’s official: An increased reliance on artificial intelligence has been linked to diminished critical thinking abilities, a new study has found.

This might not come as much of a surprise to any AI naysayers out there. AI tools are huge timesavers, but they’re also a great way to avoid reading, writing, and other activities that can function as a mental gym.

But are AI tools a complete dead end for human advancement, or do they still have a place within a well-rounded tech diet? Here’s how the new study went about determining the downsides of AI, and the specifics of what it found.

The Problem: AI Tools Trigger ‘Cognitive Offloading’

The study, out this month in Societies, is titled “AI Tools in Society: Impacts on Cognitive Offloading and the Future of Critical Thinking.” It pulls from a mix of surveys and interviews covering 666 UK participants across a range of age groups and educational backgrounds, completed by Michael Gerlich at SBS Swiss Business School.

According to the study, the problems were more of a concern for younger people: “Younger participants exhibited higher dependence on AI tools and lower critical thinking scores compared to older participants.”

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In the end, AI tool reliance was a problem due to cognitive offloading, the term for the action of “delegat[ing] cognitive tasks to external aids, reducing […] engagement in deep, reflective thinking.”

In other words, letting AI take over more tasks reduces the type of brain workout that helps people learn.

The Solution: More “Critical Engagement”

All isn’t lost however, as the study’s findings lead to a simple recommendation to address the problem:

“These results highlight the potential cognitive costs of AI tool reliance, emphasizing the need for educational strategies that promote critical engagement with AI technologies.” – the study

Granted, the solution falls on our overworked educational system, which may not be able to handle yet another pivot in how it educates our youth. However, the answer seems easy enough. We just need to make sure that we’re not losing our ability to critically engage with our work, even if AI tools are serving to complete some of the effort.

This aligns with the warnings that already abound surrounding the use of generative AI chatbots. The biggest one is that they can hallucinate the summaries or answers that they deliver, so all users should take any definitive statements that an LLM offers with a grain of salt.

AI Adoption Isn’t Slowing Down Any Time Soon

The study doesn’t get into the larger implications of AI adoption, but AI tools are currently being rolled out as value-adds to countless software services.

At the same time, C-suite executives everywhere are practically salivating at the idea of cutting their workforces in half under the assumption that the still-unrealized power of AI can make up the difference.

In moderation, a little cognition offloading can be helpful. After all, assistive technology from PCs to smartphones have offered plenty of cognition offloading for decades now. But the potential for overdoing it – according to studies like this new one – remains high.

Like it or not, AI is reshaping the modern world. Let’s hope it’s for the better.

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Written by:

Isobel O'Sullivan Writer

ChatGPT Adds New AI Scheduling Tools for Certain Users

OpenAI takes step closer to independent AI agents with roll-out of scheduling and reminder tool for some ChatGPT users.

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Updated on January 17, 2025

As the battle of words continues between Microsoft and Salesforce over their respective agentic AI offerings, ChatGPT has sneaked in an upgrade that shows it is pushing hard in that area too.

OpenAI is bringing reminder or recurring requests scheduling to its AI assistant as a beta and the roll out will start worldwide this week.

However, the option will just be available for paying customers — those signed up to ChatGPT Plus, Team, and Pro — as the company claws back some funds after its Pro package fails to make money.

What Is the New ChatGPT Beta Feature?

Called Tasks, the feature allows users to set simple reminders using ChatGPT.

These can be reminders for deadlines to pay bills, however, the requests can also be more complex. You could ask ChatGPT to create a plan for your Saturday, for example, taking into account the weather forecast and where you will be.

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Users can engage with the new Tasks option from the dropdown menu in the ChatGPT web app but OpenAI says that users might also see the AI assistant make its own suggestions of tasks based on chats you have with it.

Tasks can be managed by chatting with the AI assistant on any platform. However, they can’t be set through Advanced Voice Mode during the beta testing period, but perhaps this is something we can hope for in the future.

Limited Scheduling Abilities…for the Moment

Reminders are something we now use routinely with Siri and Alexa; and so in that respect, ChatGPT is playing catch up. However, this is the first step and OpenAI says that it will use data from this beta testing period to see how users are working with Tasks.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has been open in his hopes for AI agents and put this into words in a blog posted a week ago. He wrote: “We believe that, in 2025, we may see the first AI agents “join the workforce” and materially change the output of companies.”

According to Bloomberg, one of the first releases could be an agent called Operator, which can book travel and write code.

Innovation for ChatGPT but at What Cost?

With more independent agents, though, comes security concerns. OpenAI’s safeguarding measures have already been put under the spotlight; and continue to be scrutinized.

In particular, both US senators and former OpenAI employees questioned why Altman was a member of the company’s oversight committee. Created to look at company’s creations from a safety angle, this committee’s independence was at stake, critics argued, with Altman on board. He has since stepped down.

However, the creation of formal frameworks for AI technology development continue to prove divisive. While there is support for an AI safety bill, the language of any such legislation is proving hard to get consensus upon.

The last iteration of the AI Safety Bill was blocked by Gavin Newsome, Governor of California, who supports the idea of a bill but said that this version isn’t “…the best approach to protecting the public from real threats posed by the technology”.

The wrangle continues while the technology companies keep pushing the boundaries of what their agentic AI can do; and we know that their innovation is happening far faster than any legislation.

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Written by:

Isobel O'Sullivan Writer

Biden Signs Order To Secure Energy for AI Operations

Biden hopes to bolster AI efforts in the US with a new executive order to support the development of infrastructure.

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Updated on January 17, 2025

In what is being termed an ambitious move, President Biden has signed an executive order to help the infrastructure needed for AI operations to be built fast and at scale.

AI data centers are notoriously power hungry and so this is a bid to ensure that this demand can be met.

Tech giants have been working themselves to ensure power supplies for their own AI efforts, with both Google and Microsoft turning to nuclear power to service their needs.

What Has Biden Promised?

The key promise in Biden’s statement is access to land. Both the departments of Defense and Energy will be asked to put forward at least three sites each that could potentially be developed by private companies into AI data centers. The process will be competitive, Biden added.

The land will be leased to these companies but they will own whatever is created there, the statement explains. Some plots will be reserved for small and medium companies working in the AI sphere so that the larger companies don’t dominate.

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The construction costs will be borne by the private sector and they will need to have enough clean power generation on site to power whatever facilities they build.

However, the Government is promising help with “constructing, financing, facilitating, and planning the upgrade and development of transmission lines around those sites.”

What’s at Stake?

Biden insists that the move is necessary if the US is to maintain its lead in the AI space. He writes that “we cannot take our lead for granted. We will not let America be out-built when it comes to the technology that will define the future, nor should we sacrifice critical environmental standards and our shared efforts to protect clean air and clean water.”

The outgoing president also talked about the benefits of AI for the nation and argued that these are huge reasons for expediency. AI will have “profound implications for national security and enormous potential to improve Americans’ lives if harnessed responsibly, from helping cure disease to keeping communities safe by mitigating the effects of climate change,” he wrote.

Unprecedented Energy Demands

A report published in July (PDF) by the Department of Energy detailed the demand. It explained: “Connection requests for hyperscale facilities of 3001000MW or larger with lead times of 1-3 years are stretching the capacity of local grids to deliver and supply power at that pace.”

It adds: “The scale of the potential growth of both the electricity and the information technology sectors due to AI is extraordinary and represents the leading edge of projected electricity demand growth.”

Another report from the department, quoted by AP News, suggests that the demand for electricity to power data centers has tripled in the past ten years and could do the same by as early as 2028.

Biden is pushing now for infrastructure to be built so that the power networks and data centers can keep up with the projected AI demand. This order is a bid to keep AI innovation pushing ahead and ensure that the US is not dependent on other countries to support this growth.

Written by:

Isobel O'Sullivan Writer

Best TikTok Alternatives

The TikTok ban was narrowly avoided, but many feel the platform isn't the same after the decision.

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Updated on January 17, 2025

There are 170 million US users of TikTok that, by all reports, were going to lose access to their favorite social media app on January 19th.

However, while the app did shut down for a few hours, the TikTok ban in the US was avoided and US users again have the ability to scroll endlessly on vertical videos. Still, many feel like the app isn’t the same after the ban, which is why finding a TikTok alternative has become such a pressing priority.

Fortunately, there are some options out there that will suffice. In this guide, we’ll outline some of the best TikTok alternatives out there, accompanied by unique screenshots from each platform’s video, comments, and discover page interface.

YouTube Shorts

YouTube Shorts is probably going to be your most logical alternative to TikTok. The service is already built into the YouTube platform, so you likely won’t have to download a new app, and the functionality is remarkably similar, with the same vertical scrolling videos and overall interface of TikTok.

The benefit of using YouTube Shorts is that its algorithm likely already has a leg-up on the other alternatives on this list. If you’ve used YouTube in the past, Shorts takes your likes and viewing history into account. Even if you haven’t used YouTube enough for it to get a feel for what you like, Google — the owner of YouTube — certainly has enough resources to figure it out faster than the likes of Snapchat or Lemon8.

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The downside? YouTube Shorts is thoroughly integrated with the rest of the YouTube platform, which can get a bit complicated to use. The Discover page, for example, includes all YouTube videos with merely a small section for Shorts, so you’ll have to get a bit more acclimated to the YouTube platform as a whole, rather than just use a simple alternative.

The Discover page in YouTube Shorts. Source: Tech.co testing

A video in YouTube Shorts. Source: Tech.co testing

The comments section in YouTube Shorts. Source: Tech.co testing

Instagram Reels

If you’d like to reward Mark Zuckerberg for spending millions of dollars lobbying Congress to get TikTok banned in the US, Instagram Reels is the TikTok alternative for you.

Like YouTube Shorts, Reels is a part of Instagram, so there’s a chance you’ve already interacted with it if you use the social media platform on a regular basis. Like all the alternatives on this list, the interface is largely the same, although the Reels in question are both integrated with regular posts, as well as found in the Explore and Reels tabs.

So why are people hesitant to jump on the Reels bandwagon? Well, for starters, Instagram’s parent company Meta is arguably the primary reason for the TikTok ban, encouraging lawmakers to nix the app because of “national security.” Additionally, Instagram Reels is just a lame version of TikTok, offering outdated memes, cringe creators, and a general unfun vibe for users.

The Discover page in Instagram Reels. Source: Tech.co testing

The comments section in Instagram Reels. Source: Tech.co testing

A video in Instagram Reels. Source: Tech.co testing

Lemon8

It isn’t part of a platform you already use; Lemon8 is its own thing. The social media app launched in Japan in 2020, but it’s seen increasing popularity with US users recently given the looming TikTok ban.

To be clear, though, Lemon8 isn’t a general video app. The caters primarily to lifestyle creators, offering a wide range of how-to and walkthrough videos that showcase how people live, rather than the viral sensations you find on TikTok.

Even worse, Lemon8 is also owned by ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, so there is potential for Lemon8 to be included in the current US ban, or subject to a future US ban if it becomes too popular. All that to say, Lemon8 could tragically have the same end as TikTok if too many find it to be a viable alternative.

The Discover page in Lemon8. Source: Tech.co testing

A video in Lemon8. Source: Tech.co testing

The comments section in Lemon8. Source: Tech.co testing

Snapchat Spotlight

Snapchat Spotlight is the way to go when it comes to TikTok alternatives if you’d like to avoid the big tech elephant in the room. Despite many attempts, Snapchat is not owned by Meta, or any other big tech firm, and has been firm in its efforts to stay independent from those kinds of influences.

The Snapchat Spotlight tool is similar to YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels, though, in that it’s merely a part of the Snapchat system, and the interface is the same with vertical scrolling videos, hashtags, comments, likes, and all of that stuff you’ve come to love from TikTok.

The primary difference from Snapchat Spotlight and other options on this list, though, is that it doesn’t offer a dedicated Discover page to find new videos. Snapchat is still firmly committed to its Stories functionality, so the explore feature is all stories, but you can still scroll through new videos from users you don’t follow.

A video in Snapchat Spotlight. Source: Tech.co testing

The "use a sound" feature in Snapchat Spotlight. Source: Tech.co testing

The comments section in Snapchat Spotlight. Source: Tech.co testing

RedNote

If you’re looking for a TikTok alternative that flies in the face of those that sought to ban it, RedNote is a Chinese app with a very similar interface to TikTok. Vertical scrolling videos, likes and comments, and a built-in shop to support creators can all be found on this app.

It’s worth noting, however, that RedNote is not just a Chinese-owned app like TikTok; it’s a full-on Chinese app. As of now, the majority of content is created by Chinese users and the majority of comments and captions are in Mandarin. Granted, that could change with the recent influx of American users, but for now, that’s what you’re signing up for.

On top of that, RedNote users are subject to far stricter terms and conditions, with the app adhering to Chinese regulatory and censorship laws. Subsequently, it’s a lot easier to get banned or suspended from using the app if you don’t follow the rules. Unfortunately, the majority of the terms and conditions are also in Mandarin.

The Discover page in RedNote. Source: Tech.co testing

A video in RedNote. Source: Tech.co testing

The comments section in RedNote. Source: Tech.co testing

Get a VPN

The TikTok ban has been avoided for now, but it’s safe to say that there is always a risk that something like this could happen again. So, is there a way to ensure you’ll always have access to your favorite apps, even if they get banned in your home country?

Your best bet here is using a Virtual Private Network (VPN). These services are generally used to increase security on various devices, but they can also be used to tether your phone to servers in other countries. This means, you’ll be able to convince TikTok that you’re accessing the app from somewhere other than the US.

We’d highly recommend going for a paid VPN, though, as free VPNs are known for shady privacy practices and lax security protocols.

Check out our guide to the best VPNs to learn more

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Social Media

Written by:

Isobel O'Sullivan Writer

SEC Suing Elon Musk Over Questionable Twitter Share Purchase

SEC files case against Elon Musk in the final days of the Biden administration for not reporting Twitter share purchases.

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Updated on January 17, 2025

Donald Trump’s inauguration is right around the corner, and his right-hand man Elon Musk is in hot water with the authorities.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that it’s taking Musk to court over his acquisition of Twitter stock in early 2022.

The SEC claims that Musk did not properly notify the commission of his purchasing of more than 5% of common shares in the company and that he bought these at a low price, due to the turbulence ahead of his purchase.

Timing Is Everything

Timing is playing a central role in this legal unfolding in two key ways. Firstly, the SEC has opted to launch this legal bid in the last few days of the Biden administration.

Would this legal bid be trickier under the next president? Trump and Musk are now self-professed pals, and Musk has been given a role in Trump’s government as co-leader of his government efficiency commission.

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Secondly, the timing of Musk’s notification of the purchase of the shares is under scrutiny by the SEC. The SEC argues that Musk did not give them notice of his purchase within the stipulated window.

“As a result, Musk was able to continue purchasing shares at artificially low prices, allowing him to underpay by at least $150 million for shares he purchased after his beneficial ownership report was due.” – SEC filing

What Will Happen Next?

The SEC alleges that Musk’s actions are a violation of federal security laws and, as such, warrant a lawsuit before a jury. Specifically, Musk bought enough shares to cross a threshold, and carried on buying shares until March 24. This means that he was 11 days late in disclosing the purchases.

However, the big question is whether the case will ever get to court. The current head of the SEC, Gary Gensler, is already in Trump’s crosshairs because of the hardline he takes towards regulation.

Trump is expected to give the role to Paul Atkins, who believes in less regulation – something the Trump-supporting tech bros are obviously keen on.

How Has Musk Responded?

There’s nothing from Musk as yet on X, which is uncharacteristic. However, his lawyer, Alex Spiro, says that the move is politically motivated and even termed it “harassment.”

However, the case comes after years of investigation, including a subpoena and an occasion when the tech billionaire decided not to turn up to a meeting with lawyers as he wanted to go to a SpaceX launch. This means Musk had a part to play in the delays in bringing this case to court. Now it is understandable that the SEC is trying to wrap up its work before the administration changes.

Whoever steps in to the top job at the SEC will find it difficult to push aside what looks like a straight forward violation of SEC rules, though they may have some sway over what punishment Musk faces. There remains the question of whether Musk would even accept a settlement if it was offered or if he would insist of fighting any SEC ruling.

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Written by:

Isobel O'Sullivan Writer

Meta Layoffs Incoming As Zuckerberg Predicts “Intense Year”

Mark Zuckerberg warns that 5% of Meta workforce is going to be cut; and "low performers" will be targeted first.

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Updated on January 17, 2025

It’s been a turbulent few years for Meta and it looks set to continue as its CEO warns “low performers” that their jobs are on the line.

Mark Zuckerberg has announced plans to slash 5% of the company’s worldwide workforce to prepare for what he is warning will be “an intense year”.

The Meta CEO has made some drastic changes to the company’s working practices already this year, getting rid of third-party moderation in a move that pleased Donald Trump and his cronies; but has already fired up the authorities in the EU and UK.

Who Is Losing Their Job at Meta?

The memo detailing the upcoming cuts hasn’t been made public but was sent to staff and has been shared externally by insiders.

Bloomberg News was the first to alert to the cuts. BBC News followed suite and quotes Zuckerberg as writing: “This is going to be an intense year, and I want to make sure we have the best people on our teams.” He added: “I’ve decided to raise the bar on performance management and move out low performers faster.”

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He continued: “We typically manage out people who aren’t meeting expectations over the course of a year, but now we’re going to do more extensive performance-based cuts during this cycle.”

Although there are no details as to which teams will be impacted, the first cuts will be felt in the US, said the memo. Staff whose roles are at stake will be told by 10 February and they are being promised a “generous severance”. He also said that there would be some “backfilling” of roles later in the year.

Why More Cuts at Meta?

Well let’s face it, it’s not just Meta that’s letting people go. There have been hundreds of thousands of jobs lost in the tech industry in recent years.

Meta’s large-scale cuts kicked off in November 2023 with the most dramatic lay-offs in the company’s history. Around 11,000 employees lost their jobs, which amounted to 13% of the workforce; and the C-Suite weren’t finished there with more cuts announced in March 2024.

These latest cuts come as Zuckerberg continues to pump resources into AI technology development and has his eyes firmly fixed on competitors.

In a July 2024 letter, Zuckerberg stated, “This year, Llama 3 is competitive with the most advanced models and leading in some areas. Starting next year, we expect future Llama models to become the most advanced in the industry.” But this comes with huge expense.

Trump’s Rocky Relationship with Meta

These cuts also mark the start of a four year term for a president the Meta CEO has had a notoriously rocky relationship with. Trump was even banned from Facebook after the riots at The Capitol.

Zuckerberg may be on better terms with Donald Trump after his decision on monitoring – oh and the $1 million he made to the inauguration fund – but he is now facing the ire of authorities in the EU. And this might mean fines.

Like many tech companies, he might be slimming down his workforce to cut costs in anticipation of this, to raise funds for R&D but also because the economic climate continues to be rocky.

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Isobel O'Sullivan Writer

Microsoft Announces Second Wave of Layoffs in a Week

Microsoft confirms more cuts are incoming, including to its gaming and security teams, unrelated to last week's layoffs.

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Updated on January 17, 2025

The cuts continue at Microsoft where a yet undisclosed number of jobs are set to be slashed in the security, sales and gaming teams.

The news has broken just six days after the company said it would be losing some personnel due to poor performance. These latest job losses are separate and details are scant at the moment.

Only weeks into the year, and it looks like it could be another tough one for the computing giant, which made nearly 2000 people redundant last January. However, 2023 was a staggeringly awful year for Microsoft employees as around 10,000 workers lost their jobs.

Microsoft Announces More Job Cuts

It was Business Insider, which broke the story, having been tipped off by “two people familiar with the matter”. However, while Microsoft has confirmed that there are to be more cuts, it has not disclosed numbers.

We do know that the job losses mooted will be felt across a large range of businesses including security, sales, gaming, experiences and devices.

The gaming team has already taken a hit after Microsoft bought Activision Blizzard and King. The $68.7 billion deal was given the green light by authorities in the UK in October 2023; and just months later 10% of the combined workforce was cut.

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Microsoft Security Concerns

However, alarm bells are ringing at the mention of the security teams not least because Microsoft has suffered some epic breaches in the past few years.

This time last year, the company was targeted by a state-backed Russian cyber criminal gang. Although Microsoft didn’t publicize it until January, the data breach happened in late 2023 and the data was taken from the company’s corporate systems. The leak included the email accounts of senior leadership.

Microsoft Under Scrutiny

Microsoft was already in the crosshairs of the Department of Homeland Security for a Chinese-sponsored breach that targeted its customers not employees.

In May, perhaps in response to growing pressure from the authorities, Charlie Bell, Executive Vice President at Microsoft Security released a statement saying that the company was expanding its Secure Future Initiative. He said: “Microsoft plays a central role in the world’s digital ecosystem, and this comes with a critical responsibility to earn and maintain trust. We must and will do more. We are making security our top priority at Microsoft, above all else—over all other features.”

News of job cuts in security seem counterintuitive in light of these grand statements. However, we don’t know the scope as yet.

We do know, though, that Microsoft is facing criticism for its AI offerings and is also fighting an antitrust case. The company is facing battles on many fronts and getting lean to be able to fight back is obviously its priority.

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Isobel O'Sullivan Writer

60 Million Students and Teachers Targeted in PowerSchool Data Breach

PowerSchool confirms Social Security numbers and personally identifiable information among information exposed by hack.

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Updated on January 17, 2025

An educational software provider that supports more than 60 million students and teachers across North America has been the victim of a cyberattack that resulted in sensitive information being exposed.

PowerBook, which offers a variety of cloud-based software solutions to K-12 schools and districts, confirmed that it became aware of a cybersecurity incident in the final days of the 2024.

The company further said that the data breach had resulted in stolen names and addresses, with some customers also having more sensitive information exposed, such as Social Security Numbers (SSNs), personally identifiable information, medical information, and grades.

Personal Data Stolen

PowerSchool says that it became aware of the breach – originally reported by BleepingComputer – on December 28th after information was stolen from its system that stores the history of grades, attendance, and other records of the students.

An internal investigation came to the conclusion that the perpetrator had used “compromised credential to access one of our community-focused customer support portals.” which then enabled them to extract database CSV files containing student and teacher data.

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PowerSchool has confirmed that the affected databases included names, addresses, phone numbers, Social Security Numbers, grade point averages, bus stops, passwords, notes, alerts, student IDs, parent information, and medical information. However, not all of that information is held for all of the affected students and teachers.

‘Reasonable Assurances’

PowerBook informed its customers of the incident on January 7th, confirming the “unauthorized access to certain information.”

Unsurprisingly, it appears that the motive behind the breach is money, with the company confirming that it has paid the cyber-attacker an undisclosed sum of money not to release the information that they had stolen.

In return, it has received “reasonable assurances from the threat actor that the data has been deleted and that no additional copies exist” and has seen a video of the deletion.

BeepingComputer reports that the company has attempted to mitigate the ransomware breach by rotating the passwords for all customer support portal accounts and and establishing tighter password policies. It is also monitoring the dark web to see whether any of the data is made available to purchase.

Cyberattacks and Hacks

The BleepingComputer report lists a multitude of school districts in the US and Canada that are known to have been affected by the breach, covering areas as geographically diverse as California to Ontario. Cybersecurity company CrowdStrike is expected to release a final report on the incident later this week.

Ahead of that, the story says, PowerSchool is continuing to notify its contacts at the affected districts and providing them with “a communications package that includes outreach emails, talking points, and FAQs to help inform teachers and families about the incident.”

Despite the prevalence of information about measures businesses can take to ensure their cyber security, stories about major hacks of companies and institutions continue to emerge with disturbing regularity.

Only last week, news emerged of a hacker breaching a UN recruitment database. While recent data breaches at Comcast and Dell affected more than 200,000 and 10,000 victims respectively.

And perhaps most troubling was a story from October when a harmful ransomware attack caused an IT outage at a Texas hospital that resulted in patients being turned away.

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Isobel O'Sullivan Writer

Salesforce CEO Calls Microsoft’s AI ‘a Huge Disaster’

Marc Benioff did not hold back when it came to criticizing Copilot, noting that customers are simply not impressed.

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Updated on January 17, 2025

The CEO of Salesforce has taken aim at Microsoft saying that his company’s clients are decidedly underwhelmed by Copilot, Microsoft’s AI solution.

Marc Benioff didn’t pull any punches as he launched into a tirade against Microsoft’s AI efforts, claiming that Copilot is a huge disappointment while his company’s own AI is delivering magic for its clients.

Poor Copilot has come up short against ChatGPT since its launch, with Microsoft being criticized for delivering the inferior of the two products, despite the fact that they are both built using OpenAI models. A Microsoft spokesperson even got on the defensive and said it was down to bad prompts.

War of Words

The comments from Benioff came during a recent airing of The Bartlett Show. Specifically, the CEO was asked for his response to comments made by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella about the future of software as a service (SaaS) platforms like Salesforce.

“I think the notion that business applications exist, that’s probably where they’ll all collapse, right, in the agent era, because if you think about it right, they are essentially CRUD databases with a bunch of business logic.” – Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft

Benioff was scathing in return, scorning Microsoft for “repackage[ing] OpenAI and dropp[ing] it into Excel” to create Copilot. He added that his customers “barely” use Copilot “and that’s when they don’t have a ChatGPT license or something like that in front of them.”

Not the First Attack

In October last year, Benioff used an appearance on the Rapid Response podcast to give a brutal takedown of Copilot while giving Salesforce’s Agentforce a glowing review. He claimed that customers are so blown away by his company’s offering that they declare it “witchcraft.” He added that it is capable of doing “a couple of trillion AI transactions per week.”

Benioff didn’t stop himself from bordering on petty, describing Copilot as merely “…the new Microsoft Clippy.”

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“When you look at how Copilot has been sold to our customers, it’s disappointing. It doesn’t work. It spews data all over our floors, it doesn’t deliver value. I haven’t found a customer who has transformational work with Copilot.” – Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce

Is Copilot “A Sinking Ship”?

So, do Benioff words have any merit? Well, if you ask Microsoft employees (anonymously), apparently they agree.

In November, just after a huge update to Copilot, a Business Insider report suggested that it had fallen flat. Indeed, the BI team even spoke to Microsoft employees – who remained anonymous – but were absolutely damning of the company’s AI efforts.

One told the title: “I really feel like I’m living in a group delusion here at Microsoft.” The company claims that “AI is going to revolutionize everything,” they added, “but the support isn’t there for AI to do 75% of what Microsoft claims it’ll do.”

If Microsoft employees are underwhelmed, it comes as no surprise that customers are too.

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Isobel O'Sullivan Writer

Google’s AI Showcase Gives Retailers a Glimpse of the Future

Google launches new AI commerce tools as it plans to wow retailers at one of the US's biggest trade gatherings.

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Updated on January 17, 2025

Google is set to give the big sell for AI at one of the US’s biggest gatherings for the retail business, and says that there is a “sense of urgency” for companies to get on board.

The tech giant has released a statement before the event giving details of incoming AI updates. The big claim is that these will help solve some of the retail world’s main issues: Evolving customer expectations, rising costs and supply chain complexities.

Google has been open in shouting about its technology ambitions – even signing a deal to get nuclear power to fire up all the data centers it will need to hit its AI targets – but this event will see it go on the charm offensive with a specific industry where it believes AI uptake could – and should – be faster.

What Are the AI Updates?

The biggest launch is Google Agentspace for retailers. This is what the company calls its “one-stop shop” where retailers can create AI agents, access Gemini, get enterprise data and use Google’s search abilities.

The company says that, for example, it cuts the time that it would take an employee to look through a catalog while a customer is waiting for details of a specific product.

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There has also been a commerce specific update to the Vertex AI Search function. This can be embedded into company’s digital storefronts. The company adds that Bed, Bath & Beyond has already deployed Google’s new Conversational Commerce tool, which is part of the Vertex AI search function. This, it says, engages with customers in “a more natural and human-like conversation” and has booked revenue per visitor by 5% for the body care brand.

Google notes that that it has released a new Gen AI Catalog and Content Enrichment solution, which will deliver better product data. AI, specifically Gemini 1.5 Pro, Gemini 1.5 Flash and Imagen 3, can be deployed to automate filling in fields including attributes, description, copy, and image. “Poor product data leads to unhappy customers, bad search results, and fewer sales,” Google warns retailers.

What Will They Mean for Customers?

In a statement talking about the launches, Carrie Tharp, Vice President of Global Solutions & Industries at Google Cloud, said that AI will means retailers can “operate more efficiently and create more personalized shopping experiences.” Virtual assistants will be able to offer personalized buying advice and answer questions in real-time.

In fact, customers now expect this level of service and companies might quickly lose them if they don’t deliver. A study by the Capgemini Research Institute, conducted in late 2024, revealed that 71% of shoppers want AI integration in their purchasing experiences. The survey took in 12,000 consumers aged 18 plus across 12 countries in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.

Tharp gave a real world example of AI boosting customer engagement. She adds that global eCommerce site, Wayfair, is using Gemini on Vertex AI to speed up its product launches five-fold, as the product tagging and categorization is now automated. For customers, this means a faster turnover of products available but also that the descriptions should be more accurate to help them choose what they want.

Is the Retail World Ready?

From reducing waste to enhancing CX, Google believes that AI will have a massive impact on retail – but is the retail world ready? An IBM survey published last week suggests that executives in this space are already “dramatically shifting their focus toward AI.”

The report revealed that 81% of surveyed executives and 96% of their team are already using AI “to a moderate or significant extent.” Interestingly, the executives also indicated that they want to expand AI usage “to more sophisticated use cases.” These include integrated business planning, where usage will increase by 82% this year.

As Google suggests, customer service is one of the areas in which AI seems likely to make the biggest impact. Compared to last year’s IBM’s survey, this year’s results suggest that AI use in customer service, “particularly for personalized responses and follow-ups,” could grow by 236% in the next 12 months.

Dee Waddell, Global Industry Leader, Consumer, Travel & Transportation Industries at IBM said that the AI is “no longer just a tool; it’s a strategic imperative.” She also echoed Tharp’s statement that the retail world is at a tipping point. For those companies who get onboard now “embedding AI across their operations can help define not just productivity gains, but the future of brand relevance, engagement and trust.”

Implementation won’t be without challenges – historic data management among them – but Google suggests that those retailers who don’t engage meaningfully with AI now could be left behind and even face an uncertain future.

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Isobel O'Sullivan Writer

JPMorgan Faces Staff Backlash After Return-to-Office Mandate

CEO Jamie Dimon has long been a vocal critic of working from home and hybrid arrangements.

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Updated on January 17, 2025

JPMorgan Chase’s decision to force its workers back into the office five days per week has sparked a staff revolt that has resulted in internal complaints and a potential path towards unionization at the company.

The financial giant’s return-to-office (RTO) mandate announced last week is set to take effect in March and requires all staff currently working on a hybrid model to be back on site full time.

Since the announcement, however, affected staff have taken to the company’s intranet to make their feelings known about the decision.

“The Best Way to Run the Company”

JPMorgan’s CEO Jamie Dimon has long been a vocal critic of working from home and hybrid arrangements, so a fulltime RTO mandate is no great surprise.

The company formally announced the decision last Friday, sending an internal memo from executives to staff saying that the best way to now run the company is to “solidify our full-time in-office approach.”

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It’s understood that around 40% of JPMorgan’s approximate 316,000 strong workforce are to be affected by the decision.

“Being together greatly enhances mentoring, learning, brainstorming and getting things done,” said the memo.

Not Everyone Agrees With the Decision

The memo went on to say that its signatories “respectfully understand that not everyone will agree with this decision” – a sentiment that was proved correct in the immediate aftermath.

Reuters has reported that staff have pushed back against the decision by posting negative comments on the company’s intranet site. Its anonymous sources told the news site that comments on the page were locked after 300 were made in the first hour after the memo was circulated.

Increased commuting and childcare costs, mental health concerns and stress were all reasons given for the dissension among those who commented.

Financial news magazine Barron’s has since reported (paywalled) that JPMorgan may be facing unionization of its workforce as a consequence.

It says that some staff have discussed the possibility privately, following the lead of some employees at competitor Wells Fargo. A Google form has been circulated among affected staff, it says, asking whether colleagues would support an effort to organize a union.

The Great RTO Continues

The backlash at JPMorgan comes just days after employees started a petition against a new RTO mandate at WPP. More than 11,000 staff have put their name on a complaint against the advertising company for taking “a step backwards in supporting employee wellbeing and work-life balance.”

But WPP and JPMorgan aren’t the first (and are unlikely to be the last) companies ending fully remote working.

The world’s wealthiest man Elon Musk has been an outspoken critic of remote working policies, having Tesla and X staff return to the office at the earliest opportunity.

Other huge names in the tech industry have followed suit, with Dell and Ubisoft among those issuing RTO mandates last year. And in September, Amazon announced it was ending hybrid work and demanded staff back into the office.

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Isobel O'Sullivan Writer

Amazon Explains Why AI Alexa Isn’t Ready, Despite Years of Development

Amazon admits that the development of AI Alexa has been years of battling with both technical and personnel issues.

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Updated on January 17, 2025

Amazon’s voice-powered digital assistant, Alexa, is getting an AI makeover, but the company admits that the process has been difficult and there is no definitive launch date as yet.

In recent months, Amazon has pumped another $4 billion into AI wunderkind Anthropic. But it was the launch of Amazon’s Nova family of AI models that prompted questions as to when Alexa would get her generative AI glow-up.

Rohit Prasad, who leads the artificial general intelligence (AGI) team at Amazon, has now admitted that the process to update Alexa is still ongoing – and there is no end in sight.

Technical Hurdles Still To Solve

The Financial Times is the latest title to report on Amazon’s Alexa problems in a detailed interview with Prasad in which he admits that the bid to give Alexa generative AI abilities has been on the go since around 2022.

However, it has been a difficult process with hallucinations, latency, and efficiency issues all proving tricky to solve. This echoes a report from Bloomberg in October 2024 that indicated the upgrade would have to be kicked into 2025.

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Now, it seems Alexa’s users will have to wait even longer for their new-and-improved, AI-powered home assistant.

The FT spoke to previous employees who had worked on the project and they pointed to compatibility issues with the original technology that Alexa was built upon.

Created using technology from a company called Evi, which Amazon bought in 2012, this historical tech is proving to be difficult to combine with the company’s new LLMs. Compared to the firm’s contemporary AI machinery, Alexa is built on relatively rudimentary and simple algorithms. In a product development context, it’s far from a match made in heaven.

The retention of features and functions that Alexa delivers from 500 million devices worldwide is a practical non-negotiable, so integrating the kind of generative AI features needed to take the offering up a notch has simply made delays inevitable.

Web of Third-Party Players Slows Down Development

In order to turn Alexa from her original persona – answering basic queries and accessing services like Amazon Music – to an “agentic” product or personalized concierge also involves scores of third parties. The FT piece suggests that this additional stumbling block has delayed the process further.

It makes sense that Amazon has had to bring in outside help. The company has made dramatic cuts to its workforce in 2023, with reports suggesting that this could be a boon for third-party hardware makers. This could also have had an impact on Amazon’s need for third-party software and specialist developers, especially for such a complex project.

Is Amazon Falling Behind?

This latest interview comes as fears abound that Amazon has really fallen behind competitors when it comes to generative AI. The release of the Nova models is certainly a step in the right direction, but some argue that the company should really be leading the field in conversational AI.

When it comes to Alexa, there are still many questions to be answered. For instance, considering the project has been pushed back multiple times and clearly caused Amazon more problems than it was expecting, will the shiny new AI-powered version of the company’s home assistant come with fees attached when it’s eventually released, as Amazon attempts to recoup some of the costs?

According to the FT, who spoke to a former employee, there could be a subscription model enforced. Alternatively, Amazon could “take a cut of sales of goods and services”. Whatever the final decision, it seems the roll-out may be a while off, which means Amazon has plenty of time to tackle the smaller details.

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Isobel O'Sullivan Writer

ChatGPT Owner on AI: ‘A Race America Can and Must Win’

OpenAI's says it wants to work with policy makers to help maximize AI's economic opportunity while minimizing its harms.

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Updated on January 17, 2025

OpenAI has published a new Economic Blueprint that it says the American government should follow to ensure equitable access to AI while “driving economic growth across communities nationwide.”

The document produced by the ChatGPT owner cites the United States’ successful history of free market innovation as the way forward for artificial intelligence, taking advantage of an estimated $175 billion available in global funds for further investment.

It suggests that the US must lead the way to ensure that ‘autocrats’ aren’t able to shape the future of AI for the purposes of their own means, specifically marking out the Chinese Communist Party’s global influence as a concern.

Rules of the Road for AI

OpenAI unveiled the full AI in America – OpenAI’s Economic Blueprint document in a statement on its website, dubbing it a set of “policy proposals for extending America’s global leadership in AI innovation” and saying that the living document will be continuously updated.

It starts with a foreword from the company’s Vice President of Global Affairs, Chris Lehane, who draws an analogy between the embryonic years of the automobile industry and the current state of artificial intelligence.

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The US became the heart of the world’s auto industry, he says, thanks in part to the fact the “the federal government cleared the way to scale transport by car.”

“America has faced such moments before, and we know how to think big, build big, and act big.” – Chris Lehane, OpenAI

It then sets out OpenAI’s position and principles, before digging into three key areas of focus – Competitiveness and Security, Rules of the Road, Infrastructure as Destiny – while also saying that company CEO Sam Altman will meet with other prominent figures in the industry in Washington later on the month to discuss the path forward.

Competitiveness and Security

“Chips, data, energy, and talent are the keys to winning on AI — and this is a race America can and must win,” states the blueprint, warning that a failure to do so will allow Chinese-backed projects to strengthen the superpower’s own position. Previous studies have suggested that China is outpacing US in AI use in the workplace, for example.

It’s the relationship between competitiveness and security that seems to be top of the agenda for OpenAI.

“We believe that making sure AI benefits the most people possible means enabling AI through common-sense rules aimed at protecting people from actual harms, and building democratic AI shaped by the values the US has always stood for.” – OpenAI

It outlines three ways in which the US industry can thrive and, at the same time, blunt the threat from overseas:

[Encouraging] a free market promoting free and fair competition that drives innovation
Freedom for developers and users to work with and direct our tools as they see fit, in
exchange for following clear, common-sense standards that help keep AI safe for
everyone, and being held accountable when they don’t
Preventing government use of AI tools to amass power and control their citizens, or to
threaten or coerce other states

Together with setting confidence-building ground rules for the industry to abide by and investing heavily in infrastructure, the blueprint suggests that these tenets will ensure AI that is “built on a foundation of the democratic values the US has always stood for”.

Can Blueprint Catalyze Reindustrialization?

“If done right,” the report says, “the developers who are AI’s Main Street will thrive along with companies of all sizes, and the broad economic benefits of the technology will catalyze a reindustrialization across the country.”

But getting the ground rules right for its development in the near future is paramount to ordinary citizens, as well as businesses; results from a study carried out by the World Economic Forum published only last week suggest that 41% of companies will cut jobs due to AI within five years.

Interestingly, the blueprint calling for greater government investment in AI is published in the wake of news that OpenAI is losing money on its ChatGPT Pro subscription service.

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Isobel O'Sullivan Writer

Research Suggests WFH Good for Bottom Line As CEOs Mandate Office Returns

Two recent workforce surveys reveal productivity is higher at home and consumers don't approve of hard-line RTO policies.

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Updated on January 17, 2025

It may fall on deaf ears as CEOs push rigid RTO mandates, but two new surveys reveal that working remotely doesn’t negatively impact productivity – and can even be good for a company’s bottom line.

A recent investigation by US Tech PR agency Bospar, for instance, suggests that not only do people work better from home but that consumers have strong views against companies who insist their employees be back at their desks full time.

The report on their findings confirms that there has been a shift not only in the expectations of employees about flexible working policies, but in society more generally. However, as the almost weekly RTO mandates are proving, CEOs are set on getting all employees back to the office – sometimes for five days a week – and all evidence against their decision is being simply ignored.

Remote Working Isn’t A Slacker’s Game

A recent remote working investigation involving 1,000 workers was recently carried out by PR firm Bospar in collaboration with Propeller Insights, and published in Forbes this week. What the results revealed was a definite trend towards better productivity while working from home.

Their investigation found that 61% of respondents report being more productive working from home as compared to just 5% who admitted they worked less well when not in the office. Just over a third said that they maintained the same levels when at home and at the office.

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Working from home during the pandemic normalized flexible working arrangements, and people have changed their home setup accordingly. Back in 2022, the US Census Bureau found that the number of workers primarily doing their jobs from their own homes tripled between 2019 and 2021, and that has stuck. The Bospar survey made public this week found that 87.5% now have established dedicated home working spaces.

This change has had an undeniably profound change to the way we work. Employees can now manage their work and home lives with much more freedom, especially if they are saving time by cutting out a commute.

This isn’t just an additional five minutes or so, either. According to a global survey of remote employees published in 2023, the average home worker was saving 72 minutes a day by avoiding the journey to the office. It then comes as little surprise that 81.4% report an improved work-life balance.

RTO Rep Is Costing Companies

What was more surprising was the perception of – and mistrust towards – companies who are pushing their staff to return to the office. This can impact everything from customer acquisition right through to talent recruitment, which can have a knock-on impact on the bottom line.

A study run by Reputation Leaders – the results of which were also published by Forbes – found that 73% of consumers “would be less likely to purchase from companies requiring full-time office work”. 60%, on the other hand, “believe companies should encourage remote jobs to reduce environmental impact”.

The company also asked if a company’s remote working policies would impact a respondent’s decision to work there. It was a resounding yes from 63% of those surveyed, illustrating just how valuable these kinds of policies are to employees.

This chimes with other survey results from recent years about talent acquisition. Remote.com’s 2024 Global Workforce Report, for instance, found that 67% of companies have lost talent to competitors that offer more flexible working arrangements.

Invest in People, Not Buildings

The co-founder of Bospar, Curtis Sparrer, headed off one of the main reasons that companies are getting employees back into the office – and that is because of their pricey real estate. “By investing in people and not buildings you can effortlessly scale your workforce and your footprint” he told Forbes.

As we reported in December, one in three companies (38%) say that using the office space they pay for is a reason behind their RTO push.

But money talks. The cost of maintaining office spaces is huge, especially in CBDs, and so CEOs need to justify owning or renting these spaces by filling desks. Plus, some C-Suites have issued mandates and then swiftly realized that they can’t house all of the employees returning, like Amazon did.

Staff at several companies enforcing return-to-office mandates have voiced their anger at being given these kinds of ultimatums, pointing out in many cases that disabled employees will be hardest hit by strict mandates, and that the increased flexibility that comes with remote working has a positive impact on productivity.

Unfortunately, despite protests and evidence it could actually be destructive for businesses to take such a hard line on remote working, the RTO push looks set to continue across almost all industries as 2025 rolls on.

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Isobel O'Sullivan Writer

What Is Rednote? Chinese App Sees User Surge as TikTok Ban Looms Near

RedNote has been catapulted to the top of the Apple App Store charts as users prepare for the US ban on TikTok to commence.

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Updated on January 17, 2025

We are just days from the deadline for TikTok to face either sale or closure in the US. And, unsurprisingly, users are actively seeking out alternative options to the Chinese social media platform.

However, in a move that might seem counterintuitive considering the concerns about national security, it is a fellow Chinese app that is making gains from TikTok’s demise.

RedNote is reported to be at the top in Apple’s app store listings for free apps and TikTok influencers are even posting videos about how to set up their RedNote accounts.

What Is RedNote?

RedNote – also known as Xiaohongshu (or “little red book”) – is a Shanghai-based venture with more than 2000 employees. Founded in 2013, the company is taking on both Alibaba and ByteDance’s version of TikTok in China, which is called Douyin.

The South China Morning Post reports that the platform had 300 million monthly active users in July last year. It has also raised more than $900 million in funding, according to Pitchbook, and has hit a $17 billion valuation.

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To put this into context, Reuters reported in November that TikTok is valued at $300 billion.

Why Is RedNote Appealing?

Users have been talking about top TikTok alternatives for months as the ban loomed and, despite incoming President Trump’s hints that he might save the platform, TikTok’s fate seemed increasingly dire.

RedNote is appealing as it offers many of the same features as TikTok and has a similar focus on short-form video content. But Newsweek adds that it also integrates some features that are more like what you find on Pinterest. “The platform allows users to share product reviews, experiences, and lifestyle content, creating a blend of social interaction and online shopping”, it says.

Is This Really the Death Knell for TikTok?

The hearings at the Supreme Court are “setting the stage for a ban”, says CNBC, and have been followed by additional reports suggesting that the platform is a vehicle for Chinese propaganda.

Despite this, ByteDance continues to fight – and even sent the company’s CEO on a personal visit to Florida’s Mar-a-Lago resort to see Donald Trump. There is also a team of entrepreneurs, including Shark Tank host, Kevin O’Leary, gearing up for a possible takeover bid.

Murmurings about a possible bid from Elon Musk, on the other hand, have also started to make their way into the headlines over the past few days, although there are no confirmed reports of formal conversations between the billionaire and Bytedance regarding a takeover.

The biggest wild card, though, is the incoming president who has flip-flopped in his attitude toward TikTok. While the deadline is approaching at speed, so is his inauguration. TikTok users are wise to look for alternatives in the meantime, but Trump’s serial unpredictability may see the platform secure a last-minute reprieve.

Written by:

Isobel O'Sullivan Writer

Elon Musk in Picture to Buy TikTok – But Reports May Be Untrue

With TikTok's US ban looming, rumors about potential buyers are swirling. But they might not all be what they seem.

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Updated on January 17, 2025

As the clock hands move ever closer to TikTok’s ban in the US, it’s perhaps unsurprising that the world’s wealthiest man with a penchant for buying embattled internet platforms is being touted as the social media site’s potential savior.

In the latest twist to TikTok’s tale, it is now being reported that Elon Musk could be involved with purchasing its US operations from parent company ByteDance and, in doing so, prevent the ban that is due to commence this coming weekend on January 19th.

However, Musk’s potential acquisition has not been verified by official channels and sources from within TikTok itself have reportedly called the idea a ‘pure fiction’.

China Weighs Up the Options

While rumors about the potential sale of TikTok to Musk have been swirling since the South African tech mogul visited Beijing last year, Bloomberg has now reported (paywalled) that Chinese officials are now seriously weighing up the sale of the platform’s US operations to the owner of Tesla and X.

Bloomberg says that sources “familiar with the matter” view selling the app to Musk as a possible contingency plan, assuming that US courts do not renege on the ruling.

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However, “Chinese officials have yet to reach any firm consensus about how to proceed”, and would still sooner that TikTok is retained by ByteDance.

But with most other options exhausted, courts unwilling to budge and attempts to convince incoming president Donald Trump to overturn the ban so far unsuccessful, a scenario in which X, formerly Twitter, takes control of TikTok has never been closer to reality.

TikTok Throws Cold Water on Rumors

Any TikTok users in the US hoping that these developments will provide a lifeline to their favorite app should probably not get their hopes too high.

The Bloomberg report says that it’s unclear “whether Musk, TikTok, and ByteDance have held any talks about the terms of any possible deal”, or whether ByteDance executives are privy to Beijing’s discussions.

Not famed for his restraint when it comes to posting on X, Musk’s social media silence on the matter doesn’t suggest that a deal that would see him take control of TikTok is imminent.

And Variety has since reported that a representative from within TikTok has thrown cold water on the prospect of a Musk takeover, saying that: “We can’t be expected to comment on pure fiction.”

Time Running out for TikTok

Ever since the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act” bill passed through the US House of Representatives last March, time has been against TikTok’s future in the US.

Those seeking its stateside survival received a fillip following the presidential election, with winner Donald Trump stating that he would stop the TikTok ban as part of his reelection campaign.

But with less than a week until the proposed start date of the ban, options to save TikTok appear to be running out.

It’s understood that China is generally frosty towards the idea of ByteDance selling its US operations, although offers – including one from a group led by former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt – have been formally made.

That being said, the firm’s hand may be forced if a reprieve doesn’t emerge within the next few days.

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Isobel O'Sullivan Writer

Time Is Running Out: What Options Does TikTok Have Left?

With its US ban looming, we've taken a look at the remaining moves TikTok has left to play.

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Updated on January 17, 2025

As things stand, TikTok is closing in on a nationwide ban in the US on January 19th. We’ve witnessed twist after twist in this long-gestating saga that was set into motion back in August 2020 when Trump ordered that ByteDance sell off its prized asset in the US.

That mandate was repealed in June 2021 by ensuing president Joe Biden. From there, questions over data privacy and content moderation have rumbled on in the background, with the platform ultimately unable to outrun the whispers.

As destiny beckons, the Chinese-owned social media giant still has a few cards left to play. From selling to a host of Shark Tank to appealing to the Supreme Court, we’ve outlined every option that TikTok has at its disposal with its exit from the US market looming.

Option 1: Sell the Platform

There is no shortage of suitors that would be more than happy to take the platform off ByteDance’s hands. The problem? The company has repeatedly maintained that it has no intention to sell.

The most recent noises from the business world are coming from former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, who confirmed that he had made a formal offer to ByteDance last week. McCourt is heading up a group, known as The People’s Bid for TikTok, which includes Kevin O’Leary of Shark Tank fame.

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The bid is backed by leading investment firm Guggenheim Securities, and also includes English computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee, famously the creator of the “World Wide Web.” In a statement on Thursday, McCourt outlined his plans for the platform:

“By bringing leading academics, technologists, behavioral scientists, psychologists and economic experts together with community partners, parents and citizens, we believe we can preserve – and enhance – the TikTok experience by giving individuals and creators on the platform the value and control they deserve regarding who has access to their data and how it is used.”

Elsewhere, Elon Musk’s name has been floated. The X CEO and richest man in the world could certainly afford TikTok, and a surprise visit to Beijing in April 2024 prompted speculation that he might be interested. However, he quickly moved to distance himself from such rumors, writing on X that, “TikTok should not be banned in the USA, even though such a ban may benefit the X platform. Doing so would be contrary to freedom of speech and expression. It is not what America stands for.”

Of course, there’s another issue to consider: just how many people could actually afford TikTok. It’s unclear how much the US version of the app would cost, but ByteDance has been valued at no less than $225 billion.

Notably, McCourt’s bid does not include the famous TikTok algorithm, which would fetch a considerably higher price. In an attempt to allay concerns about how they could replicate TikTok’s success without it, last week, O’Leary posted on X: “We’ll buy it without the algorithm. We don’t need them. We’ll do it ourselves and make TikTok wonderful again.” Perhaps we shall see.

Option 2: Delay the Supreme Court Ruling

On Friday, the Supreme Court gave a strong indication that it planned to uphold the ban. TikTok lawyers, users, and the Biden Administration made oral arguments before the nine justices of the court, who did not appear moved by the company’s proclamations about infringement on free speech.

In response, Chief Justice John Roberts stated: “So, are we supposed to ignore the fact that the ultimate parent is, in fact, subject to doing intelligence work for the Chinese government.” He went on: “Congress doesn’t care about what’s on TikTok,” rather that “China has to stop controlling TikTok.”

However, the company has asked for a deadline extension, which would give the Supreme Court more time to come to a decision. Trump has personally intervened, filing an amicus brief in December 2024 in support of an extension. Notably, this would bring any potential ruling within the start of his first term, enabling his administration to find a “political resolution.” There is some confusion as to what that could entail, but one thing is for sure – TikTok can count on Trump’s support, and the Republican can be hard to predict.

Option 3: Push the “Trump” Button

There’s a cyclicality to the TikTok ban story – that of Trump initially urging Congress to ban TikTok; Biden quashing his mandate; Biden later tabling his own effort to ban the platform; and finally, Trump potentially coming to its rescue.

If he decided to take his intervention further, perhaps after some persuasion from TikTok, Trump could do a few things to ease the transition or potentially stop the ruling altogether. First up, he could grant the company a 90-day extension in which to find another buyer. This would give them a bit more leverage and likely result in a higher fee, but it’s still not ByteDance’s preference.

If Trump really wanted to shake things up, he could lean heavily on Congress to rescind the law. This is pretty unlikely. The bill — which has bipartisan support — had a relatively smooth passage through both the House and Senate. Repealing it would require a new bill, which would again require majority backing in both chambers. In the words of professor of law at Cornell University, Gautum Hans: “That would be pretty extraordinary…you’d have to have a lot of reversals from legislators to undo the law,” as relayed to NBC.

Lastly, the President-elect could instruct the Justice Department to refrain from enforcing the law. In essence, this would mean that Google, Apple, and other web hosting services would not be prosecuted for making TikTok available to users, as per the ban ruling. Again, this would be totally unprecedented, and so seems unlikely

What Next for TikTok?

With a ban scheduled to come into effect in just a few days, it’s looking increasingly likely that ByteDance will either be forced to offload its flagship platform – or will see through its stated intention to “go dark” as representatives for the company have promised. Luckily, there are some good TikTok alternatives to choose form.

However, the imminent arrival of Trump to the White House definitely complicates matters. As one of his first acts in power, the Republican is determined to find an as-yet unspecified solution. His proximity might force the Supreme Court’s hand and see a timeline extension being granted.

If it does pan out that way, don’t be surprised to see Trump wading further into the debate, and possibly exercising his newfound powers for truly unprecedented means. We know one thing for sure – the next few days are going to be absolutely fascinating as the clock counts down on the TikTok ban saga.

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Isobel O'Sullivan Writer

Zuckerberg Asks Trump a Favor – Days After Meta Moderation Revamp

Zuckerberg has called on Trump to protect US companies from EU fines – following Meta's moderation policy reversal last

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Updated on January 17, 2025

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has called on President-elect Donald Trump to provide greater protections to US tech companies operating overseas. The remarks came during an appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience on Friday.

The tech magnate asked Trump to stop EU countries from fining US companies for alleged antitrust violations. He claimed that businesses operating in Europe had been forced to pay “more than $30 billion” in penalties over the last two decades.

Zuckerberg’s comments come just a few days after it was announced that Meta would roll back its moderation policies in favor of a “Community Notes” model – much like that of X.

Zuckerberg Asks Trump for Protection from EU Fines

Mark Zuckerberg has asked Donald Trump to protect US tech companies from EU fines. Speaking on an episode of the Joe Rogan Experience, the Meta head honcho blasted foreign penalties imposed on companies operating in Europe, while accusing the Biden Administration of failing to resolve the situation.

In November 2024, Meta was hit with a fine of more than $800 million for breaching EU antitrust rules. In the last two decades, Zuckerberg claimed, US companies have been fined more than $30 billion for similar breaches.

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Said Zuckerberg: “I think it’s a strategic advantage for the US that we have a lot of the strongest companies in the world, and I think it should be part of the US strategy going forward to defend that.” He went on to express optimism that Trump “wants America to win,” and accused President Biden of leading the “attack against the companies,” as reported by Politico.

Meta Scraps Policies to Align With New Government

The Meta boss’s remarks come just a few days after it was announced that the conglomerate would change its content moderation policy. Last week, Zuckerberg posted a video explaining that the decision would encourage “more speech,” in a move widely deemed as an attempt to curry favor with the new administration.

In a similar vein, it was reported on Friday that Meta is axing its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. Janelle Gale, Vice President of Human Resources (HR) at Meta, said the “legal and policy landscape surrounding DEI efforts in the US is changing,” it was reported by CBS.

Undoubtedly, both of these moves form part of a wider alignment with the incoming administration. Trump, along with ally Elon Musk, have repeatedly claimed that free speech is under threat in America. In recent weeks, Musk has become embroiled in international disputes over what he views as efforts to silence “dissenting” voices in Germany and the UK.

Big Tech Companies Cozy Up to New President

With Trump closing in on the Oval Office, companies from across the tech sector have been readying themselves for the new administration. Last month, TikTok executives met the President-elect in an as-yet unsuccessful attempt to reverse the looming ban.

Shortly after his election victory in November 2024, leaders from several companies, including Amazon, Apple, and OpenAI, congratulated the Republican for seeing off competition from Kamala Harris. Zuckerberg wrote on Threads: ” We have great opportunities ahead of us as a country.”

It’s customary for Silicon Valley players to align themselves with a new administration – but many will sense the next four years poses an unmissable opportunity to make sizable gains in the domestic market. With Trump’s record on business, the outgoing government’s hardline stance on Big Tech, and the presence of Musk, there’s every reason to suspect the tech space could be set for a bountiful future.

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Written by:

Isobel O'Sullivan Writer