Technologies

TikTok Signs Agreements With US Investors. What’s Next for Creators and Users?

The moves are being made so that the popular app can continue operating in the US.

Three major new investors, including two American groups, signed agreements with popular video app TikTok on Thursday, according to The New York Times. The app’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, maintains a minority stake. The ramifications could be huge for the millions of creators and fans of the immensely popular short-video app. But at the moment, any future changes to the app are mostly unknown.

The part-American, part-global investor group includes tech giant Oracle, a California-based private equity fund called Silver Lake and the United Arab Emirates investment firm MGX. The joint venture will be governed by a new seven-member board of directors, with a majority of American members.

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The changes come as an attempt to comply with a federal law that would ban the app if it did not reduce its Chinese ownership. ByteDance was facing a Jan. 23 deadline. President Donald Trump had repeatedly delayed the enforcement of the ban.

For years, the US government has raised concerns about potential Chinese government access to data through TikTok’s parent company. In 2023, TikTok CEO Shou Chew said, «TikTok has never shared, or received a request to share US user data with the Chinese government. Nor would TikTok honor such a request if one were ever made.»

In a memo obtained by media outlets this week, Chew told employees, «The US joint venture will be responsible for US data protection, algorithm security, content moderation, and software assurance. It will also have the exclusive right and authority to provide assurances that content, software, and data for American users is secure.»

It’s estimated that TikTok has more than 170 million American users, as well as millions of creators, some of whom earn their living by making videos on the app.

Roll for the algorithm?

One of those creators is Jacob Pauwels, of the immensely popular «Roll for Sandwich» videos, where he rolls dice, Dungeons & Dragons-style, to determine what kind of sandwich he’s going to make. Millions of people regularly watch his videos on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and other platforms.

Pauwels said it was «stressful’ not knowing if TikTok — his largest platform — was going to be banned in the US. Now that the app’s fate seems a bit more secure, he said he still has concerns about American majority ownership of the brand.

«I do worry about possible issues with censorship that could arise,» Pauwels told CNET. «So many of the digital privacy concerns that have been cited as reasoning for the TikTok ban and forced sale of the platform can absolutely be applied to American companies like Meta, so I feel like there are definitely some other motivations driving those who have wanted to shut down the platform or shift its ownership.»

When it seemed a possibility that TikTok could be banned in the US, Pauwels made the decision to share his videos on other platforms.

«I have made a conscious effort to diversify my earnings across multiple platforms to ensure I am not overly reliant on the income stream from any particular one,» he said. «As ownership of TikTok changes, there is no guarantee that things will continue being the same status quo, but even if something like TikTok’s Creator Program were to go away, while it would be a substantial hit to my income and livelihood, it would no longer be career-ending.»

US consumers will have to adjust

Kelsey Chickering, principal analyst at global research and advisory firm Forrester, said TikTok’s algorithm definitely will change for US consumers.

«One of the most important questions in this deal has always been whether the algorithm would come with the sale, and the answer is ‘yes and no,'» Chickering said in a statement. «This US joint venture will have to retrain the recommendation algorithm on US user data — meaning the experience will feel different, and users will very likely notice.»

Simply stated, an algorithm is a method for predicting the type of content that consumers will enjoy. If you watch a number of TikTok recipe videos, the app will likely recommend more of those to you. TikTok and other content platforms use machine learning to analyze the content you like and then display more of that, aiming to keep you engaged on the app for as long as possible.

With US investors becoming involved in the US version of TikTok, Chickering said the data that the app analyzes will be different.

«While the algorithm may be the same in the US version, the data inputs are not,» Chickering told CNET. «If the US joint venture trains this US algorithm on US-only data, not global data, the content mix will naturally shift. Users might find their feeds feel less culturally edgy and far less globally minded.

«The algorithm is the heartbeat of TikTok’s addictive experience, and the jury’s out on whether a US-only TikTok will replicate the magic of the original experience,» she said. «If it doesn’t, creators and consumers may flock to YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels.»

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Wednesday, Dec. 24

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Dec. 24.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? I’m Irish-American, but yet 6-Down, which involves Ireland, stumped me at first. Read on for all the answers.. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Wordle or Boggle
Answer: GAME

5A clue: Big Newton
Answer: ISAAC

7A clue: Specialized vocabulary
Answer: LINGO

8A clue: «See you in a bit!»
Answer: LATER

9A clue: Tone of many internet comments
Answer: SNARK

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Sharks use them to breathe
Answer: GILLS

2D clue: From Singapore or South Korea, say
Answer: ASIAN

3D clue: Large ocean ray
Answer: MANTA

4D clue: ___ beaver
Answer: EAGER

6D clue: Second-largest city in the Republic of Ireland, after Dublin
Answer: CORK

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Technologies

Quadrantids Is a Short but Sweet Meteor Shower Just After New Year’s. How to See It

This meteor shower has one of the most active peaks, but it doesn’t last for very long.

The Quadrantids has the potential to be one of the most active meteor showers of the year, and skygazers won’t have long to wait to see it. The annual shower is predicted to reach maximum intensity on Jan. 3. And with a display that can rival Perseids, Quadrantids could be worth braving the cold to see it.

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The show officially begins on Dec. 28 and lasts until Jan. 12, according to the American Meteor Society. Quadrantids is scheduled to peak on Jan. 2-3, when it may produce upwards of 125 meteors per hour. This matches Perseids and other larger meteor showers on a per-hour rate, but Quadrantids also has one of the shortest peaks at just 6 hours, so it rarely produces as many meteors overall as the other big ones.

The meteor shower comes to Earth courtesy of the 2003 EH1 asteroid, which is notable because most meteor showers are fed from comets, not asteroids. Per NASA, 2003 EH1 is a near-Earth asteroid that orbits the sun once every five and a half years. Science posits that 2003 EH1 was a comet in a past life, but too many trips around the sun stripped it of its ice, leaving only its rocky core. The Earth runs through EH1’s orbital debris every January, which results in the Quadrantids meteor shower.

How and where to see Quadrantids

Quadrantids is named for the constellation where its meteors appear to originate, a point known as the radiant. This presents another oddity, as the shower originates from the constellation Quadrans Muralis. This constellation ceased to be recognized as an official constellation in the 1920s and isn’t available on most publicly accessible sky maps.

For the modern skygazer, you’ll instead need to find the Bootes and Draco constellations, both of which contain stars that were once a part of the Quadrans Muralis. Draco will be easier to find after sunset on the evening of Jan. 2, and will be just above the horizon in the northern sky. Bootes orbits around Draco, but will remain under the horizon until just after 1 a.m. local time in the northeastern sky. From that point forward, both will sit in the northeastern part of the sky until sunrise. You’ll want to point your chair in that direction and stay there to see meteors.

As the American Meteor Society notes, Quadrantids has a short but active peak, lasting around 6 hours. The peak is expected to start around 4 p.m. ET and last well into the evening. NASA predicts the meteor shower to start one day later on Jan. 3-4, so if you don’t see any on the evening of Jan. 2, try again on Jan. 3.

To get the best results, the standard space viewing tips apply. You’ll want to get as far away from the city and suburbs as possible to reduce light pollution. Since it’ll be so cold outside, dress warmly and abstain from alcoholic beverages, as they can affect your body temperature. You won’t need any binoculars or telescopes, and the reduced field of view may actually impact your ability to see meteors.

The bad news is that either way, the Quadrantids meteor shower coincides almost perfectly with January’s Wolf Moon, which also happens to be a supermoon. This will introduce quite a lot of light pollution, which will likely drown out all but the brightest meteors. So, while it may have a peak of over 100 meteors per hour, both NASA and the AMS agree that the more realistic expectation is 10 or so bright meteors per hour.

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for Dec. 24, #1649

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for Dec. 24, No. 1,649.

Looking for the most recent Wordle answer? Click here for today’s Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Wordle puzzle is a little tricky, with a double letter that could confuse players. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.