| | It's Friday and the sequel to The Social Network is reportedly close to choosing an actor to depict Mark Horowitz. Rumored to be at the top of the list: Jeremy Allen White of The Bear. | | Today's News | 📱 TikTok launches a new app 🔍 Reddit sets its sights on search 🚀 Banijay Entertainment heads to YouTube 📚 TikTok asks users to fact-check 😨 A film exposes the dark side of moderation
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| | PLATFORM HEADLINES | | TikTok is bringing a new app to Europe | The app: As it ramps up its presence in Europe, TikTok is launching a new app—and (theoretically) earning the goodwill of E.U. authorities in the process. | In combination with an effort called the Sunshine Programme, the TikTok Pro app offers users in Germany, Portugal, and Spain a way "to support charitable organizations while discovering engaging and entertaining TikTok content." The German App Store listing for the app adds more context to that mission by citing "helpful videos" and "engaging STEM content" as two genres that are widely available on TikTok Pro. | In a blog post, TikTok explained that both the Sunshine Programme and TikTok Pro were "designed with safety at their core." Through the Sunshine Programme, the platform will debut an in-app currency called "virtual Sunshine." Users can accumulate Sunshine by liking, reposting, and searching for content posted by charities. Those earnings can then be contributed to campaigns run by Sunshine Programme partners, with TikTok pledging to match the donations. Launch partners for the initiative include Doctors Without Borders, WaterAid, Aktion Deutschland Hilft, and the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union. | The context: This isn't the first time that TikTok has adjusted its algorithm to deliver more beneficial content to European communities. Two years ago, it launched a depersonalized version of its app in response to mounting pressure from the E.U., which has continually checked the power of social platforms through its Digital Services Act. | E.U. regulations have also hampered TikTok's previous attempts to bring a gamified feed to European users, as when the ByteDance-owned company was compelled to scale back a rewards program called TikTok Lite. By tying its latest form of in-app rewards to a charitable mission, TikTok is likely to elicit a more favorable response from the E.U. | | HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰 | | | | THE BIZ |  | MasterChef is one of the premier TV formats owned by Banijay |
| One of the world's biggest production companies is zeroing in on YouTube | The plan: Banijay Entertainment is looking to increase its output on YouTube. In addition to reporting half-year earnings of approximately $236 million, the Paris-based company has revealed plans to bring some of its well-known properties to the Google-affiliated video platform. | During a recent earnings call, Banijay Entertainment CEO Marco Bassetti detailed the company's "digital transformation efforts," which he said are intended to "rapidly unlock greater efficiencies, further amplify the value of our catalogue, and enhance our presence on YouTube specifically." | The context: Scripted and unscripted Banijay-owned properties like Big Brother, MasterChef, Black Mirror, and Peaky Blinders have reached millions of viewers through linear TV channels, making them strong candidates for social media transplantation. | Banijay also has preexisting experience extending its traditional properties to the digital sphere. Earlier this year, for instance, the company made a notable bet when it announced MasterChef Creators, an influencer-led spinoff of the titular cooking competition. Prior to that move, Banijay established a digital foothold through its 2020 acquisition of Endemol Shine Group (which formerly operated as Endemol Beyond) and by carving out opportunities for digital-native channels like Simon's Cat. Now, with viewership and ad dollars shifting to YouTube, the production company is doubling down. | | STICK TO THE FACTS | | TikTok wants its fact-checking to be user-generated, too | The context: For days following the 2020 presidential election, claims about voting interference thrived on YouTube. Then, after roughly a month, the platform cracked down on that content—and NYU researchers saw the amount of related misinformation on Facebook and Twitter "drop sharply," too. | That study showed that by running a tight moderation ship, video platforms could curb misinformation. So, naturally, giants like YouTube and Facebook have significantly lessened misinformation moderation over the last five years. | In 2023, YouTube ruled that creators are allowed to lie about elections. The platform has since begun telling human moderators to take down fewer videos that contain misinformation and other forms of violative content, while Meta ended its official fact-checking program altogether earlier this year. | The system: Despite that trend, platforms seem to recognize that they can't simply abandon moderation altogether. So instead, they've turn to crowdsourcing. X and Meta have adopted Community Notes (through which users fact-check one another's posts), while YouTube has "information panels" crowdsourced from an approved list of publishers. Now, TikTok is implementing its own version. | First announced in April, TikTok describes Footnotes as a system that "draws on the collective knowledge of the TikTok community by allowing people to add relevant information to content." The process works similarly to X and Meta's programs by using a ranking system designed to find objective contributions. (Although in this case, TikTok's internal moderation team will continue to enforce all its policies.) Submitted Footnotes become visible to other contributors first; then, if enough rate a note as "helpful," it goes out to the TikTok community at large. | In order to apply to become fact-checkers, users must be from the U.S., be over 18, be on TikTok for at least six months, and have no recent history of violating the platform's Community Standards. So far, TikTok says nearly 80,000 people have been approved. | | WATCH THIS | | A new film delves into the dark side of content moderation | The context: It's no secret that content moderation is one of the most contested parts of our industry (just look at the article above this one!)—but the human element of that process is often overlooked. Over the last few years, major platforms like YouTube and Facebook have repeatedly faced lawsuits from moderators who say they've gained "lifelong trauma" from repeatedly viewing graphic (and often horrific) content. | The film: Now, an upcoming film from Brainstorm Media is delving into the darkest aspects of that profession. Lili Reinhart stars in American Sweatshop, which follows a content moderator "who's lured away from the safety of her keyboard and into a dangerous world as she obsessively seeks to hold someone accountable" after seeing a video she can't forget. | Check out the full trailer here. | | Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here. | Want to introduce your brand to Tubefilter's audience? Sponsor the newsletter. | | Today's newsletter is from: Emily Burton, Drew Baldwin, Sam Gutelle, and Josh Cohen. |
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