Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 67, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, happy Switch week, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)

This week, I’ve been watching Black Doves and The Remarkable Life of Ibelin, reading about Lorne Michaels and rodeos and Ben Shapiro, restarting Twin Peaks in honor of David Lynch, wading nervously into Lemon8 and RedNote, catching up on old episodes of Working It Out, and watching altogether too many Balatro strategy videos.

I also have for you my most anticipated gadget of the year, the new season of Severance, an incredibly cool tech design exhibit to explore, a nifty new AI productivity tool, and much more. This week has been wild, with the potential TikTok ban and the upcoming US inauguration and seemingly 40,000 other things happening — but we’ve got some great ways to decompress. Let’s dive in.

(As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What are you reading / watching / playing / cooking / building / cutting into small pieces this week? Tell me everything: [email protected]. And if you know someone else who might enjoy Installer,...

Read the full story at The Verge.

Gaussian splatting, a new way of capturing 3D content, is taking the AR / VR industry by storm — and could one day allow anyone to create photorealistic 3D worlds.

Read the full story at The Verge.

With TikTok, CapCut, and Marvel Snap shut down in the US, Apple has taken the unusual step of articulating why it’s following the law banning ByteDance apps and removing them from the App Stores for the Mac, iPhone, and other devices.

Before the ban went into effect, the Biden administration released a statement saying enforcement of the law “must fall to the next Administration.” Still, it didn’t stop the law from taking effect this weekend after TikTok’s appeal to the Supreme Court failed.

The support page from Apple says:

Apple is obligated to follow the laws in the jurisdictions where it operates. Pursuant to the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, apps developed by ByteDance Ltd. and its subsidiaries — including TikTok, CapCut, Lemon8, and others — will no longer be available for download or updates on the App Store for users in the United States starting January 19, 2025.

It goes on to say that people who already have the apps installed won’t have them removed, but at least for the time being, redownloading or restoring them on a new device will not be possible, along with making any in-app purchases or subscriptions, but subscriptions can be canceled.

Meanwhile, people who visit the US from other countries where they’re still available won’t be able to download or update apps while inside US borders.

Apple also provided a list of “some” of the apps linked to ByteDance that are affected:

• TikTok
• TikTok Studio
• TikTok Shop Seller Center
• CapCut
• Lemon8
• Hypic
• Lark - Team Collaboration
• Lark - Rooms Display
• Lark Rooms Controller
• Gauth: AI Study Companion
• Marvel Snap

Now, more than an entire day is left before the Trump administration is sworn in. TikTok pushed for a more definitive statement about the legal risks providers like Apple and Google might face for defying the law in the meantime, but it never came as the White House called TikTok’s response a “stunt.”

Now Apple is making clear that until something changes, it’s following the law as written, and it appears Google is doing the same thing. Google, Apple, and TikTok have not responded to requests for comment from The Verge.

The divest-or-ban law aimed at TikTok is also taking down other ByteDance-linked apps, including the popular card game Marvel Snap. The app suddenly cut off access Saturday night, seemingly without warning, surprising gamers who weren’t aware of its connection to ByteDance.

The card game battler set in the Marvel universe is developed by Second Dinner, which is based in California. But the game is published by Nuverse, a company owned by ByteDance. As a result, it’s subject to the same shutdown order.

In a statement on X, Second Dinner called the takedown a surprise and said, “Marvel Snap isn’t going anywhere. We’re actively working on getting the game up as soon as possible and will update you once we have more to share.”

Just before the calendar turned over to January 19th, 2025, the game disappeared from the App Store for iPad and iPhone players and from Google Play for players on Android. For players on PC, the game is still listed in Steam at the moment, but many players are reporting they were signed out and can’t sign back in.

An in-game message now tells players:

Sorry, Marvel Snap isn’t available right now

A law banning Marvel Snap has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use Marvel Snap for now. Rest assured, we’re working to restore our service in the U.S. Please stay tuned!

Oddly, unlike TikTok, it doesn’t appear that players were given much warning about the law’s effect, and many people may not have realized it was even connected to ByteDance, including people who were still spending money on in-game items expecting to be able to keep playing it.

Other ByDance apps quickly disappeared from app stores along with TikTok, including Lemon8 and CapCut. The effect on other ByteDance-linked apps is mixed; however, it may take time to remove them. The Lark app that offers a Slack-like collaboration platform was available initially but has now been removed, while other Nuverse-published games, like Earth: Revival - Deep Underground and Ragnarok X: 3rd Anniversary, are still available in the App Store as of this writing, just after midnight ET on the 19th.

Update, January 19th: Noted reports that Marvel Snap PC players can’t log in and added a statement from game developer Second Dinner.

TikTok has gone dark in the US now that the ban-or-divest law passed last year is taking effect. The app has been removed from both Apple and Google’s app stores, it’s unavailable on the web, and users who open the app are blocked from viewing videos.

The shutdown has the astonishing effect of removing a social network used by 170 million people in the US, according to TikTok’s own numbers. While other social media platforms have experienced outages, even prolonged ones, no network as big as TikTok has simply shut down without any indication of if or when it will come back online.

This is despite the Biden administration saying it’s passing enforcement responsibilities on to the Trump administration and calling TikTok’s threat to go offline a “stunt.” TikTok has insisted that without clearer assurances, it has to close up shop in the US.

Inside TikTok, a memo to employees said that, “President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office” on January 20th and that “teams are working tirelessly to bring our app back to the U.S. as soon as possible.”

A warning message started appearing in TikTok’s app around 9PM ET on Saturday evening telling users of the pending shutdown:

We regret that a US law banning TikTok will take effect on January 19th and force us to make our services temporarily unavailable.

We’re working to restore our service in the US as soon as possible, and we appreciate your support. Please stay tuned.

The app began blocking users around 10:30PM ET. A message now appears saying the app “isn’t available right now” but that the company expects a resolution under President-elect Trump:

Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now

A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now.

We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!

Several other apps owned by TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, have also been taken offline, including the video editor CapCut and the social platform Lemon8.

Screenshot: The Verge

The ban-or-divest law, which goes into effect on Sunday, effectively bans TikTok unless ByteDance sells much of its stake in the company. But ByteDance has shown little sign of being willing to sell, even as the deadline rapidly approached. Instead, TikTok sued the US over the law, ultimately losing in a Supreme Court case this past week.

TikTok’s new strategy appears to be relentlessly pandering to Trump, who, despite initially calling for the TikTok ban, has recently indicated that he wants to find a way to keep it around. Earlier today, he floated a 90-day extension of ByteDance’s deadline to sell.

The political game of hot potato, where no one wants to be seen as responsible for banning TikTok, suggests that the app may not be gone for good. But with no definitive plan coming from Biden, Trump, ByteDance, or TikTok, it’s unclear exactly how long the ban could hold.

TikTok shut down US access on January 18th, just before the law banning it took effect.

Read the full story at The Verge.

TikTok is officially going dark in the United States now that a federal ban on the app is set to go into effect on January 19th. Around 9PM ET, the app began notifying people in the US with a message that said the ban will “make our services temporarily unavailable.”

The message goes on to say that TikTok is “working to restore our service in the US as quickly as possible” — an outcome that will require action from the incoming Trump administration one way or another. A similar message is showing up in the CapCut video editor, which is also owned by TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance.

Inside TikTok, an internal memo viewed by The Verge calls the news “disappointing” but tells employees that, “President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office” on the 20th, and “teams are working tirelessly to bring our app back to the U.S. as soon as possible.” Shortly after the memo was shared with employees, both TikTok and Capcut started showing the same line about Trump to users.

TikTok crashed into this outcome somewhat chaotically. It has known this was the deadline for being banned since Biden signed the bill in April, but the company never appeared to have a backup plan to save itself if the Supreme Court ruled the law was constitutional, which happened on Friday. At the same time, TikTok was promising advertisers it would sort things out as recently as last night.

TikTok warned on Friday that it would be forced to go dark if the Biden administration didn’t promise to delay enforcement of the law penalties on TikTok’s service providers, like Apple and Google, which can be fined thousands of dollars per US user once the ban goes into effect. In response, the Biden administration said it had already passed enforcement responsibilities on to the Trump administration and called TikTok’s threat to go offline a “stunt.”

Trump — who tired to ban TikTok five years ago — has indicated he plans to extend the deadline for the ban by 90 days via an executive order once he is sworn in on January 20th. It’s not clear if he will use the provision in the law that allows for a delay if a sale is pending, or if he even has that option once the ban goes into effect. TikTok’s users are decidedly upset, of course, although none of them seem to be pressuring the company to sell as much as they’re pressuring politicians from both parties to rescind the ban.

Update, January 18th: Noted that TikTok and CapCut app shutdowns have begun in the US.

The Federal Trade Commission announced on Friday that Genshin Impact developer Cognosphere has agreed to a $20 million settlement and several restrictions on how it sells its loot boxes and manages children’s personal data. According to the FTC, the company “actively marketed” its loot boxes to children and misled players about their odds of winning prizes.

Cognosphere allegedly also “deceived children and other users about the real costs of in-game transactions,” by requiring them to buy virtual money that involved multiple currency exchanges. Players often spent “hundreds of dollars on prizes they stood little chance of winning,” according to Bureau of Consumer Protection Director Samuel Levine. For years, loot boxes have been likened to a form of legal gambling.

The complaint, filed by the Department of Justice, also accuses the Genshin Impact developer of marketing to kids using approaches like posts on social media channels and in-game banners. The company then allegedly collected their personal information in violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule. Once the settlement is approved, the company is required to delete any data for children under 13 whose parents haven’t consented to their data being collected.

Other requirements of the settlement include that Cognosphere must offer an option to buy loot boxes directly and not just through virtual money. It’s also forbidden from misrepresenting pricing, features, and winning odds for loot boxes, and it must disclose exchange rates for multi-tiered virtual currency.

Microsoft is testing AI-powered Windows search in a new dev channel build for Windows 11 Insider testers. Announced in October, it uses semantic indexing to let users search for local files using more casual language. Like other Microsoft AI features, you’ll need a Copilot Plus PC to use it.

The feature applies whether you’re using search boxes in Settings, File Explorer, or the taskbar. And you don’t need to be connected to the internet for it to work, thanks to the NPU chips on Copilot Plus computers. For now, AI search is limited to Windows settings and files with image and text formats that include JPEG, PNG, PDF, TXT, and XLS.

Image: Microsoft

Microsoft says that search only works for files in locations you’ve chosen to index. Users can tweak those locations using options found under Settings > Privacy & security > Searching Windows, or turn on “Enhanced” to index their whole machine. The company adds that the feature will eventually expand to include cloud data such as that stored in OneDrive.

AI-powered Windows search “will gradually roll out to Windows Insiders on Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PCs,” Microsoft writes, with support for Intel or AMD Copilot Plus computers later. The feature will work for machines set to Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish languages.

Image: Microsoft

In addition to the new search, the build also includes AI writing tools offered by Click to Do, a feature that lets you choose from context-sensitive menus of options when you hold the Windows key down and left-click on your screen. Now, when you click a block of text and select Rewrite, there’s a “Refine” option that can correct grammar for you.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called TikTok’s threat to “go dark” on Sunday, January 19th, a “stunt” and said there is no reason for TikTok to shut itself down before President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in on the 20th.

“It is a stunt, and we see no reason for TikTok or other companies to take actions in the next few days before the Trump Administration takes office on Monday,” MSNBC quotes Jean-Pierre as saying. “We have laid out our position clearly and straightforwardly: actions to implement this law will fall to the next administration. So TikTok and other companies should take up any concerns with them.”

Now that a Supreme Court ruling upheld the ban, the company says it needs stronger assurances than what the Biden administration has offered so far to ensure that companies like Apple and Google won’t be held liable for continuing to distribute and support the app in defiance of the law.

Meanwhile, TikTok CEO Shou Chew has appealed to Trump by saying the company is “grateful” for his support of the platform.

Trump said that a “90-day extension is something that will be most likely done” during an interview with Kristen Welker from NBC News. Other reporting suggests that the incoming President plans to issue an executive order to delay the ban. Trump could say he wouldn’t enforce the ban, just as Biden says he will, but that still leaves TikTok’s US service providers, like Apple, Google, and Oracle, at legal risk.

Canoo announced yesterday it is ceasing operations “immediately” and that it has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Delaware. The EV startup estimates in its filing that its assets are worth $126 million and that it owes over $164 million to its creditors, TechCrunch noted yesterday.

Now, the US will appoint “a Bankruptcy Trustee to oversee the liquidation of the Company’s assets and the distribution of proceeds to creditors,” Canoo writes. The company says it chose to file after failing to get support from either the US Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office or foreign investors.

Canoo had signaled its dire situation last month when it idled its Oklahoma operations and put its employees on a “mandatory unpaid break.” Before that, it had lost a steady stream of executives, including all of its founders.

“We are truly disappointed that things turned out as they did,” Canoo chairman and CEO Tony Aquila said in the announcement before thanking various government and business entities Canoo has dealt with. Those dealings have included producing shuttles for NASA’s Artemis crew and an agreement to build 4,500 electric delivery vans for Walmart.

Instagram will now let you upload Reels that are up to 3 minutes long, doubling the 90-second limit the platform had in place before, Instagram boss Adam Mosseri announced today.

He credits today’s change to users’ feedback saying that the 90 seconds “is just too short.” That’s a big turnaround for Mosseri, who said in July last year that the platform wouldn’t pursue longform videos because it could compromise the platform’s “core identity to connect people with friends.”

It also comes as TikTok, which started allowing 3-minute videos in 2021, is gearing up to go dark on Sunday in response to an imminent US ban.

Instagram has been slow to bump the length of Reels — it’s been more than two years since it started allowing minute-and-a-half videos. The company has tested extending the limit to as much as 10 minutes but has held off on rolling that out, leaving the ability to post long videos to non-Reels posts.

Donald Trump has launched a new meme coin, according to posts from his X and Truth Social accounts last night. The posts, which have come just days before Trump’s inauguration, were initially met with suspicion by many that his accounts had been hacked.

Skeptics highlighted by Decrypt last night pointed to several red flags, such as that the millions of dollars seeding the project came from Binance and Gate, which only serve overseas customers. The coin’s website credits the project to the same group behind Trump’s NFTs, as noted by Cointelegraph, which reports that sources close to Trump’s family confirmed the announcements’ legitimacy.

Both posts remain up as of this morning.

Screenshot: X

The idea that Trump would debut a meme coin is no big surprise, given his multiple NFT collections and his introduction of a crypto platform last year. He has made cryptocurrency a big part of his new agenda and has assembled a crypto and AI-focused tech policy team led by “crypto czar” David Sacks. Trump also plans to issue an executive order naming crypto a “national imperative or priority” after he’s inaugurated next week, Bloomberg reported ahead of the weekend.

After a long wait, Severance is back. Season 2 premiered on Apple TV Plus on January 17th, more than two years after the first season wrapped up. The wait was particularly hard because of how the season 1 finale ended — a massive cliffhanger that would completely upend the lives of almost everyone in this sci-fi thriller. Cliffhangers are a tricky business. They can help keep viewers interested in whatever comes next, but they can also be frustrating, seeming to withhold information purely for the purpose of keeping people hooked.

Severance has managed this balancing act well so far, and I had the chance to talk to some of the creative team behind the show — creator Dan Erickson, director Ben Stiller, and star Adam Scott — about how they’ve pulled it off. “Honestly it’s just sort of guessing in your mind,” Stiller tells The Verge. “You try to think about what the stakes are that we’ve established, and hopefully you’ve earned it by the end.”

One of the trickiest parts for Severance, at least early on, was that the team wasn’t really sure how audiences would react. It’s a weird show that follows a group of office workers who have their brains surgically altered to separate their...

Read the full story at The Verge.

The clock is ticking if you want to save on the Pixel Watch 3, the Fitbit Charge 6, and other Google gadgets. The company kicked off the year with a solid New Year’s sale, which is set to expire at 11:59PM PT today, January 18th. Other retailers, including Amazon and Best Buy, are currently matching Google’s pricing in some instances, though we anticipate the matching promos will expire at the same time.

On the smartwatch front, both the Pixel Watch 2 and the Pixel Watch 3 — the latter of which remains our favorite “Fitbit” — are down to their second-best price to date. The Wi-Fi-enabled Pixel Watch 2 is available for $199.99 ($50 off) from Google, Best Buy, and Target, while the 41mm Pixel Watch 3 starts at $299.99 ($50 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and the Google Store.

Both wearables sport Google and Fitbit-powered features, including FDA-cleared EKGs, automatic workout tracking, and support for Google Assistant, Gmail, Calendar, and Wallet. However, the last-gen Pixel Watch 2 only comes in a single size — 41mm — while last year’s Pixel 3 is also available in a larger 44mm configuration.

The Pixel Watch 3 features a host of other welcome improvements, too, including offline Google Maps, slightly better battery life, AI-generated workout suggestions, and deeper integration with other Google devices. You can view a Nest Doorbell or Nest Cam feed with the Pixel Watch 3, for instance, or control your Google TV directly from your wrist — neither of which is possible on the Pixel Watch 2.

Read our Pixel Watch 2 and Pixel Watch 3 reviews.

If you prefer a cheap fitness tracker over a smartwatch, the Fitbit Charge 6 is also on sale at Amazon, Best Buy, and the Google Store for $129.95 ($30 off), which is about $30 more than its all-time low.

Like its predecessor, the fitness band offers a wide range of sensors for keeping tabs on your health, along with built-in GPS and a vibrant OLED display. Unlike its predecessor, though, the Fitbit Charge 6 boasts an improved heart rate algorithm and can be paired with certain gym equipment over Bluetooth. It doesn’t support as many Google services as a Pixel Watch 3, sure, but you can take advantage of Google Wallet and turn-by-turn navigation via Google Maps.

Read our Fitbit Charge 6 review.

Along with fitness trackers and smartwatches, Google is discounting several pairs of wireless earbuds. Right now, you can buy the Pixel Buds Pro 2 from Amazon, Google, and Best Buy for $199 ($30 off), which remains their second-best price to date. Google is also selling them as part of a bundle with the Pixel Watch 3 for $441.99 ($58 off), or with the Fitbit Charge 6 for $130.95 ($29 off).

Google’s latest set of wireless earbuds are our top choice for Pixel phone owners. They offer powerful noise cancellation and a lighter design than the previous model, which makes them more comfortable to wear. They also offer some great Google-specific perks, allowing you to directly access Google’s Gemini AI assistant and keep track of the charging case via the company’s recently improved Find My Device network. The earbuds continue to support a number of Pixel-exclusive features as well, including head tracking spatial audio.

Read our Google Pixel Buds Pro 2 review.

If the Pixel Buds Pro 2 are outside your budget, the Pixel Buds A-Series are also available from Amazon, Best Buy, and Google for $79.95 ($20 off), which is $20 shy of their all-time low. They don’t offer active noise cancellation or some of the more advanced features found on the Pro model, but they do deliver impressive sound for the price and a secure fit thanks to an assortment of comfortable ear tips. The last-gen earbuds also integrate well with Pixel phones and support Google Assistant for hands-free voice control.

Read our Pixel Buds A-Series review.

Last but not least is the Pixel Tablet, which can pick up in the 128GB configuration at Amazon, Best Buy, and the Google Store for $299 ($100 off), which is just $20 shy of its lowest price to date. You can also get the step-up 256GB model with a speaker dock for $479 ($120 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and the Google Store.

It’s a shame Google reportedly canceled its next-gen Pixel tablet — after all, the original showed a lot of promise. The snappy Android tablet is great for carrying out typical tablet tasks, like video chatting and streaming, thanks in part to a sharp 11-inch display and an excellent speaker array. What makes the tablet really stand out, though, is the optional magnetic charging dock, which bolsters the tablet’s sound and turns it into an ad hoc smart display. That means you can use the tablet as a digital photo frame, check in on your Nest Doorbell feed, or control a range of smart home devices via Google Assistant.

Read our Google Pixel Tablet review.

With Donald Trump stepping back into office, advocates are warning that access to important environmental and public health datasets could be at risk.

Information about climate change vanished from federal websites under Donald Trump, who has repeatedly called climate change “a hoax.” Now, federal agencies could face deep staff and budget cuts overseen by Trump cronies Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. The proposed cuts not only threaten what kind of data the government shares but also whether it can collect and organize it at all.

Federal agencies gather all kinds of data — from air quality readings to research on extreme weather events. Researchers and advocates have been scrambling to save as much data as they can, a skill they honed during Trump’s first term. Even so, relying on outdated information has its pitfalls. Gaps in government data collection or maintenance could leave city planners and community groups stuck with an incomplete picture of the risks posed by pollution and climate change in their area.

“The funding, the...

Read the full story at The Verge.

Antonblast is kind of like playing a zany Saturday morning cartoon. It’s brash, maximalist, and often, you’ll feel like you don’t actually understand what’s happening. Somehow, that chaos gels into something that actually makes sense — and, at times, is even calming.

Antonblast just launched in 2024, but it looks like a long-lost side-scrolling platformer from the 16-bit era of the SNES or Sega Genesis. That’s not just due to the fantastic pixel art. There are fun touches like delightfully ’90s-era character designs and Mode 7-like effects, such as your character splatting against the screen when you die, that really make it feel like a missing classic of the era.

Summitsphere, Antonblast’s developer, describes the game as a “fast-paced explosive action platformer,” and that’s a good way to summarize how it actually feels to play. It’s sort of what would happen if you put Wario, Sonic, Donkey Kong Country, Crash Bandicoot, The Ren & Stimpy Show, and Rocko’s Modern Life into a blender.

As Anton or Annie, you’ll charge through various enemies and obstacles in your path, sometimes turning into a literal tornado of...

Read the full story at The Verge.

TikTok says it plans to go offline on Sunday, January 19th if the Biden administration doesn’t intervene.

The company confirms earlier reporting that it will be “forced to go dark” on the 19th unless the outgoing administration provides a “definitive statement” assuring its “most critical service providers” that they won’t be held liable for breaking the law. Those providers include Apple and Google, which together distribute TikTok through their app stores, and its hosting partners, which include Amazon and Oracle.

TikTok’s statement follows Friday’s Supreme Court ruling that upheld the law banning the app unless its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, divests its ownership stake. Shortly after the Supreme Court’s ruling, TikTok CEO Shou Chew appealed to President-elect Donald Trump in a video but didn’t give any indication of what might happen when the law goes into effect at midnight on Saturday.

Unfortunately for TikTok, the White House has already made clear that it intends to punt the fate of the app to Donald Trump, who has promised to save it and is set to be sworn in as president on Monday, January 20th. Trump said on Friday that he spoke with China President Xi Jinping about “balancing trade, fentanyl, TikTok, and many other subjects.”

“President Biden’s position on TikTok has been clear for months, including since Congress sent a bill in overwhelming, bipartisan fashion to the President’s desk: TikTok should remain available to Americans, but simply under American ownership or other ownership that addresses the national security concerns identified by Congress in developing this law,” the White House said in a statement on Friday. “Given the sheer fact of timing, this Administration recognizes that actions to implement the law simply must fall to the next Administration, which takes office on Monday.”

Meanwhile, the Department of Justice, which is tasked with enforcing the TikTok ban by fining its US service providers $5,000 per user with access to the app, has signaled that it’s still behind the ban.

“Authoritarian regimes should not have unfettered access to millions of Americans’ sensitive data,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said on Friday. “The Court’s decision affirms that this Act protects the national security of the United States in a manner that is consistent with the Constitution.”

As the ban deadline gets nearer, politicians who voted for it have started flipping by arguing that ByteDance should have more time to divest. According to The New York Times, Senator Chuck Schumer told President Biden that allowing a ban to happen would “damage his legacy.”

You can read TikTok’s full statement about shutting down below:

The statements issued today by both the Biden White House and the Department of Justice have failed to provide the necessary clarity and assurance to the service providers that are integral to maintaining TikTok’s availability to over 170 million Americans.

Unless the Biden Administration immediately provides a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers assuring non-enforcement, unfortunately TikTok will be forced to go dark on January 19.

A law professor cited by CBS News called Donald Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit over the editing of a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris “...so ill grounded that it comes close to being sanctionable as frivolous.” But now, the The Wall Street Journal reports that executives at CBS’ parent company, Paramount Global, have discussed settling the suit while “gaming out options to reduce friction with the incoming administration” ahead of a government review of its merger with Skydance.

The paper reports that incoming FCC chairman and censor-in-chief Brendan Carr warned execs last year that presidential dissatisfaction with CBS News will make a review tougher. He’s also publicly displayed that view, saying during a Fox News interview in November, “...CBS has a transaction before the FCC. I’m pretty confident that news distortion complaint over the CBS 60 Minutes transcript is something that is likely to arise in the context of the FCC’s review of that transaction.”

The lawsuit claims that in airing two differently edited versions of Harris’ response to a question about the war in Gaza, “CBS used its national platform on 60 Minutes to cross the line from the exercise of judgment in reporting to deceitful, deceptive manipulation of news.”

But instead of mounting a defense of free speech against a lawsuit and Trump’s accusations that the network said were false and completely without merit, Paramount is considering following the example of Disney and tech oligarchs who will line up at the inauguration like Mark Zuckerberg.

The ABC News owner agreed to pay $15 million to Trump’s presidential foundation and museum to settle a defamation lawsuit in December. Zuckerberg sharply redirected Meta’s policies to the right while meeting with Trump, reportedly “in part to mediate a lawsuit Trump brought against Facebook and Zuckerberg in 2021 over the platform’s suspension of Trump’s account after the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.”

You’d think that TikTok would have a Plan B by now.

It’s now clear the company never planned for a scenario in which it would lose to the Supreme Court. Maybe it couldn’t, given that the Chinese government ultimately has final say on a sale. Now, TikTok’s leaders are banking on Donald Trump to save them in a last-ditch effort that will unquestionably come with strings attached.

Politically, TikTok misplayed its hand at every turn of this multi-year saga. Executives repeatedly dismissed the possibility of a ban, even going so far as to literally laugh at the idea. They were blindsided by Congress overwhelmingly agreeing on a ban. Then, they lost on appeal to the Supreme Court with only a day left before the law goes into effect. The only leverage they seemingly have left is that Trump thinks the app helped him win the election — plus their willingness to let him extract whatever pound of flesh he wants.

TikTok backed itself into this corner technically, too. It spent over $1 billion on Project Texas to try and appease concerns about US data making its way to China. Amazingly, TikTok started Project Texas before the government gave its blessing, which of course never came. US...

Read the full story at The Verge.