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- The Borax challenge 🚫
The Borax challenge 🚫
....The dangerous trend spreading on TikTok and beyond...
Business of Creators
August 03, 2023
⏰ SHORT SUMMARY
TikTok's dangerous laundry detergent trend: Health misinformation, influencer anecdotes, and profit-driven schemes create challenges in addressing the issue.
MrBeast sues partner over subpar MrBeast Burgers, while Virtual Dining Concepts denies allegations and claims normal operations.
YouTube tests AI video summaries for select English videos, potentially influencing content structure and visibility for creators. Impact remains uncertain.
🚀 SOCIAL UPDATES
YouTube updates:
YouTube is adding a slew of new TikTok-like features to Shorts. New features include a vertical live video feed, side-by-side recording, and additional tools to make Shorts out of longform YouTube videos.
Twitter (X) updates:
Twitter (X) Blue subscribers can now hide their verification badges.
X sweetens the deal on creator subscriptions, offering greater revenue share and a perpetual 10% cut once a creator's payout exceeds $100k per month, aiming to enhance its appeal to creators.
Meta updates:
54% of influencers have already posted Threads sponsored content.
Meta's recent glitch in its Music Revenue Sharing program for Reels creators resulted in erroneous payout notifications, sparking anger among the creators and shedding light on the challenges social platforms face in monetizing short-form video content.
Meta is developing AI chatbots with over 30 different personalities.
TikTok updates:
Senegal suspends TikTok amid clampdown on dissent.
TikTok of elderly woman seeing 'Barbie' alone sparks contoversy.
TikTok is quietly building a data-sharing tool for advertisers.
Viral TikTok star PinkyDoll set to release debut song.
Twitch updates:
Twitch bans promotion of Counter-Strike gambling.
Snapchat updates:
Snapchat is launching a new rewards program for AR Lens creators.
Why TikTokers are drinking laundry detergent
Borax drinking on TikTok: A dangerous health trend emerges, with videos promoting the consumption of laundry detergent and other dubious substances as cures for various ailments, despite the well-known risks.
Accessibility and appeal: TikTok's trend culture fosters the spread of health misinformation, as influencers present their experiences as anecdotal evidence, leading viewers to believe that these remedies could work for them too.
The monetization of misinformation: Creators exploit the trend by directing followers to paid advice, multi-level marketing schemes, and affiliate links for the products they promote, perpetuating the cycle of misinformation.
Addressing the challenge cycle: Addressing health misinformation on TikTok is complex due to the platform's swift and transient nature. While some users attempt to debunk dangerous trends, moderation practices can be inconsistent, and dangerous content may continue to find an audience until the trend eventually fades.
MrBeast is suing Virtual Dining Concepts, the company responsible for his branded fast-food line, including MrBeast Burgers.
The lawsuit claims that the food delivered to customers was consistently of poor quality, leading to negative reviews and damage to MrBeast's reputation.
Virtual Dining Concepts denies the allegations, stating that Donaldson attempted to negotiate a new deal for personal gain, and asserts that MrBeast Burger operations continue as usual.
YouTube uses AI to summarize videos in latest test
YouTube is testing the use of AI to automatically generate summaries for some English-language videos. These summaries will appear next to the videos on YouTube's watch and search pages, and they are meant to give viewers a quick overview of the video's content.
The AI-generated summaries will not replace the existing video descriptions written by humans. This experiment is part of Google's efforts to explore the use of AI technology. The test is currently limited to a select number of videos and users. If this feature becomes widely available, it might influence how creators structure their videos to cater to both human viewers and AI understanding.
What it means for creators: If YouTube rolls out AI-generated video summaries on a larger scale, creators might need to consider how these summaries could affect their content. They may need to ensure that their videos' key points are easily summarized and stand out to viewers, both human and AI. Understanding how the AI-generated summaries work can help creators optimize their content for better visibility and engagement. However, since this is still an experiment, its broader impact on creators and the platform remains to be seen.