Social Media Under Fire
Couple things you should know happening in social media. This week the Federal Trade Commission referred a complaint against TikTok to the Justice Department, saying it has reason to believe “named defendants are violating or are about to violate the law.” Apparently, the violation is regarding the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. This is not great for TikTok, piling on top of the government giving its owner nine months to find a domestic buyer. In the same week, the US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called for social media warning labels, as regulators review the link between social media use and children’s mental health. (A 2019 study by the Department of Health and Human Services claimed that those who spend more than three hours a day on social media have double the risk of mental health problems like depression and anxiety.)
Google Antitrust Going to Trial
The government’s case to break up Google, because of its monopoly over the ad business, will go to trial in September. Both the government and Google had hoped for a summary judgment, but that wasn’t going to happen. Meanwhile, Google is also waiting for a summary judgment in a separate case over whether Google’s search engine represents a monopoly. The latter trial is the biggest antitrust trial in more than two decades. So be on the lookout for lots and lots of digital media changes.
Netflix Expanding To “In Real Life”
If you’re the dominant streaming service, with shareholders to appease, how do you grow revenue? Obviously, start with advertising. But Netflix has done something else super creative –take a page from Disney and launch an immersive “experience” for fans of some of your most popular content. Rolling out in Netflix House: Dallas and King of Prussia will be experiences around “Bridgerton,” “Money Heist,” “Stranger Things” and “Squid Game.” For example, fans can dance to an orchestral version of a Taylor Swift song on a replica of the Bridgerton set. Sign me up!