According to Bloomberg, Chinese officials have discussed emergency scenarios to evaluate the future of TikTok’s US operations.

The possibility of Elon Musk’s X platform purchasing TikTok’s US operations stands out among these scenarios. However, this move reveals a rather complex picture in economic and geopolitical terms.

Beijing’s Priorities and Concerns

The Chinese government prefers that the app’s US operations remain under ByteDance control. There are two main reasons for this:

1. Algorithm Control: Beijing’s export rules ban companies from selling software algorithms. The application algorithm is considered one of the application’s most valuable assets.
2. Economic and Strategic Links: ByteDance’s close relationship with the Chinese government means ceding control of the platform could undermine China’s technological superiority.

However, the impending US ban has China backed into a corner. After the ban, which is expected to be implemented as of January 19, it may become even more difficult for China to maintain control over the application.

Elon Musk and the Role of X

The possibility of Elon Musk purchasing TikTok’s US operations has both advantages and risks:

• X and TikTok Integration: TikTok’s more than 170 million U.S. users could bring Musk’s X platform to a wider audience. This could also contribute to making X more attractive to advertisers.
• Artificial Intelligence and xAI: Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI could gain a significant advantage by analyzing the large amounts of data TikTok produces.
• Geopolitical Tensions: Such an acquisition could further increase tensions between the United States and China. While Beijing does not want to lose its dominance over algorithms and data control, the USA prioritizes security concerns.

Unclear Talks

There is no certainty in Bloomberg’s report as to whether such a deal was actually discussed between Musk, ByteDance or government officials. However, the roughly $40 billion value of TikTok’s operations in the US makes such a deal potentially attractive.

The future of TikTok’s US operations is not just a business issue, it’s also a major geopolitical challenge.

• China sees the app as a strategic asset control When you don’t want to let go,
• The USA is trying to address security concerns over the application.

Donald Trump’s request for a postponement of the ban and Elon Musk’s mentioned possible purchase scenario make this issue even more complicated. The coming days show that the future of the platform will continue to be both an economic and political battlefield.

X has introduced a new feature that aims to increase transparency by tagging parody and satire accounts on the platform. This innovation was developed to enable users to easily distinguish between real accounts and accounts intended for humor or satire.

The tags will appear on both the parody accounts’ profiles and posts. This change, announced by X’s Security Team, aims to reduce the risk of misinformation and prevent users from being confused with the real accounts of parodied individuals or organizations. Currently, users can voluntarily add this tag to their profiles, but in the future this will be made mandatory for parody, comment and fan (PCF) accounts.

It is stated that PCF accounts are opened for the purpose of satirizing, commenting or sharing information about another person, group or organization without representing them. The label is designed to make it clear that these accounts are not affiliated with the people or organizations they represent. However, these accounts must comply with the platform rules and not use fake identities or imitation content.

In the past, parody accounts gained popularity, users It caused confusion among the For example, a parody account of Elon Musk had amassed more than 2.4 million followers. This increased concerns about the spread of misinformation. Since Elon Musk purchased the platform in 2021, many changes have been made to content moderation policies and a user-oriented community notes system has been introduced. This system allows users to contribute to misleading content by providing context or additional information.

Tagging parody accounts is considered an important step aimed at building more transparency and trust in social media. This feature can contribute to users making informed decisions about content and reducing the risk of misinformation on the platform.

In a recent AMA (Ask Me Anything) session, Instagram President Adam Mosseri responded to a user’s request to improve the DM (Direct Message) search feature.

The user specifically requested the addition of the ability to filter messages by keywords in the “Request” folder. Mosseri stated that this was a great idea and said that he would discuss this feature with his team. He also stated that this innovation could be added to the platform in 2025.

This feature can be a great convenience, especially for content creators. Content creators and business accounts often receive important messages as well as spam messages. To avoid getting lost among these messages, a search filter can be seriously useful. The ability to search the request inbox with specific keywords can allow users to find messages from real people more quickly.

Mosseri also stated that the Instagram Search experience needs to be improved and many new features will be added to this area by 2025. Currently users can find a specific user using the Search Box in the inbox, but the specific key like in WhatsApp words The search feature is not yet available.

This innovation can be a very functional improvement, especially for users who have a large follower base and receive a lot of messages. It can also enable businesses to respond to important messages from customers more effectively by separating them from spam content. Instagram continues its efforts to improve user experience with such innovations.