TikTok is Now the Frontier for Political Discourse

Over the decades information broadcasting has been through several shifts that completely changed how we view content, particularly news. At first, it was the radio that was the primary source of information for most people, then came the newspaper and later digital networks like news channels. It wasn’t until the last decade that social media became prominent in its ability to share news within seconds from multiple sources at the same time. In the last few years, Twitter (not known as X) took over and in the last 2 years, the spot is equally taken by TikTok.

Despite TikTok being famous for its short spam entertainment clips. A Pew Research Center survey has shown that almost 50% of TikTok users under 30 use the app to get news updates regarding politics. TikTok is so popular among the masses that American presidential campaigns for the 2024 elections are also advertised on the app for voter outreach.

The survey also showed that 48% of the people who are between the ages of 18 to 29 use TikTok for political news and issues. While 36% of people between the ages of 30 to 49 use TikTok for political updates. Additionally, the stats also include TikTok being used by 22% of users aged 50 to 64 years and 24% of those aged 65 and older getting the political news.

TikTok is the frontrunner for political news sharing as compared to other social media platforms. 7% of the age groups of 18 to 29, 8% of the 30 to 49, and 50 to 64 years old used social media platforms for politics as the figures make up only 2% of the TikTok users sharing news who belong to the age group of 65 and older.

Furthermore, a total of 36% of TikTok users post on the platform, out of which 44% of the age group of 30 to 49 post on the app. Whereas, 37%of those who are between 18 to 29 and 26% of those 50 to 64 years old ever post on TikTok.

What's more interesting about the survey is that the researchers also found that 84% of the TikTok users say that they ever encountered posts that are related to current events and 80% have ever seen other people sharing their opinions about those current events. Moreover, 57% of the users on TikTok see the news articles reported, posted, shared, or linked and 55% ever see the content of breaking news of an event as it's happening. However, users under the age of 30 are more likely to see the content relevant to public opinion about current events than any other age group.

The insights from the survey regarding TikTok being the front runner for political content viewing, the researchers were more intrigued to understand whether or not democracy itself is impacted by the platform users and if yes then in what ways. One thing that the researchers pointed out right away was the fact that American politics was impacted by the debates that went around TikTok, particularly for the young voters.

Comparatively, 33% of TikTok users think that the political discourse on the platform is a good thing for advancing democracy compared to 17% against this notion, while 49% beg to differ that it has no impact on the overall status of democracy. Meanwhile, 45% of the 30 and under age group thinks that TikTok and political discussion on the platforms is a good thing, in comparison to 30% for 30 to 49 years old, 23% for 50 to 64 years old, and 15% for 65 years old and older.

Oftentimes just like X, TikTok becomes a warzone for political bashing and debates between Republicans and Democrats which even led to the attempts by lawmakers to ban the app over national security issues. However, the March survey of the Pew Research Center found that there are very few differences between political parties on TikTok on the subject of how democracy is overall impacted.

Read next:

• Telegram CEO Pavel Durov's Arrest in France Sparks Debate on Privacy, Crime Prevention, and Censorship

• Survey Reveals TikTok Tops Video Content Platforms for Brands and Retailers

• Nearly 39% of Americans Believe AI Etiquette Matters for the Future

by Ahmed Naeem via Digital Information World

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov's Arrest in France Sparks Debate on Privacy, Crime Prevention, and Censorship

French authorities have extended the detention of Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, after arresting him at a Paris airport on Saturday. The Russian-born tech entrepreneur is accused of several crimes related to his messaging app, including fraud, drug trafficking, organized crime, terrorism promotion, and cyberbullying.

Durov, 39, was apprehended at Le Bourget airport after flying in from Baku. The investigating judge has extended his detention for up to 96 hours to continue questioning. At the end of this period, the judge will decide whether to release him or press charges.

The arrest follows allegations that Durov did not do enough to prevent criminal activity on Telegram. Despite knowing he was wanted, he arrived in Paris on his private jet. Telegram, in a statement, defended its actions, claiming compliance with EU regulations and maintaining that Durov regularly travels across Europe without hiding.

The Russian embassy in Paris has accused France of avoiding cooperation, requesting access to Durov. Russian officials have criticized his decision to leave Russia, suggesting it has complicated his position with international authorities.

Durov left Russia in 2014 after refusing Kremlin demands to shut down opposition groups on VK, a social network he founded. He then focused on Telegram, which has grown into a major platform with 950 million monthly users and is heavily used for sharing news and information, especially about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The app is also known for its encryption and minimal content moderation, making it popular among political figures and controversial groups.

Critics argue Telegram has become a hub for extremists and conspiracy theorists, with little effort to curb hate speech or illegal content. Despite these concerns, the app remains a preferred tool for those seeking privacy and uncensored communication.

After Durov's arrest, Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson publicly supported him, emphasizing their stance against censorship and promoting the idea of free expression.

Image: DIW-Aigen

Read next: 

• Survey Reveals TikTok Tops Video Content Platforms for Brands and Retailers

• Nearly 39% of Americans Believe AI Etiquette Matters for the Future
by Asim BN via Digital Information World

Survey Reveals TikTok Tops Video Content Platforms for Brands and Retailers

According to Digiday+ Research Survey of brands and retailers, many of the marketers are preferring TikTok over YouTube for video-focused social media marketing. When it comes to video-focused marketing, most brands and retailers are using YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat for it. In the summer of 2024, TikTok was the most favorite app for brands and retailers with 67% of them saying that they have posted their content on TikTok in the past month. 60% of the brands and retailers reported posting their content on YouTube in the past month, while 16% of them posted their content on Snapchat in the past month.

Last year, YouTube was ranked the highest among these three apps, but many brands are focusing more on Tiktok this year and also increasing their ad spend on the app. In summer of 2022, 42% of the brands and retailers reported posting content on TikTok and in 2023, the percentage increased to 63% and now it is hitting 67%. In 2022, only 24% of the brands and retailers purchased ads on TikTok which increased to 35% in 2023. In summer 2024, 40% of the brands are buying ads on the platform. The jump in ad spend was more prominent from 2022 to 2023, but it wasn’t that high from 2023 to 2024 likely due to a potential bill to ban TikTok in the USA.

As TikTok has started growing a lot, YouTube is seeing a significant drop among brands and retailers. 74% of the brands posted content on YouTube in 2023, but now it has decreased to 67% in 2024. Even with all of this, YouTube reported a higher ad spend on the platform than last year. In 2022, 55% of brands and retailers purchased ads on YouTube, while 35% did so in 2023. In 2024, 40% of brands and retailers are purchasing ads on the platform.

Snapchat is still trying to gain popularity among brands and retailers. 19% of the brands and retailers posted their content on Snapchat in summer of 2023, but percentage has gone down to 13% in 2024. The ad spend on the platform is also slow, with 12% of brands and retailers buying ads on Snapchat last year to 13% of brands and retailers who are buying them this year. It is disheartening to see, especially when Snapchat was trying out its high-profile brand marketing campaign.

Read next: New Report Shows Meta Has the Highest Share of Time Spent on its Platforms as Well as Highest Digital Ad Spending
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Nearly 39% of Americans Believe AI Etiquette Matters for the Future

During conversations with AI chatbots, you might wonder if politeness is necessary. Most people use words like “please”, “thank you” and other polite words while talking to AI chatbots. Talker Research conducted a survey of 2,000 Americans to find out how many of them talk politely with AI. The survey found out that only 7% of respondents describe their way of talking with AI models impolite and inconsiderate.

On the other hand, 48% of Americans think that they talk nicely to AI robots, with Gen-Z talking politely the most. Four in ten Americans (39%) believe that the way they behave and talk with AI models will somehow affect them in the future. 25% of the respondents said that they don't say “please” or “thank you” to AI models but aren't impolite. They just expect AI models to answer their questions and that's it.

56% of the Gen-Z were found to be the most polite while talking with AI. 52% of Millennials, 44% of Gen-X and 39% of Boomers are polite while talking with AI models. When the people who talked politely with AI were asked why they do it, 68% said that they just talk that way with everyone, while 29% of the respondents categorized themselves as compassionate and said that everyone deserves to be talked with politely. 48% said that they feel that AI deserves to be spoken to politely.

27% had a different approach and said that AI models and Alexa/Siri have no feelings so it's okay to speak to them rudely. 49% of men and 47% of women said the AI also deserves to be treated politely, while men (34%) are more likely to speak rudely to AI models than women (20%).

Read next:

• Users of Coinbase Are Increasing Rapidly in the US and UK, Leaving Binance Far Behind

• BroadBandNow's Analysis Claims Internet Prices Have Remained Steady Despite Inflation
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Users of Coinbase Are Increasing Rapidly in the US and UK, Leaving Binance Far Behind

Apps play an important role in crypto financial and trading systems. Two of the apps, Bianance and Coinbase, are the top apps in the crypto market. Binance is the leading crypto app in the world, however, it is not doing well in the US and UK. Instead, Coinbase is leading because of its better consumer-friendly experience and reputation. In the US, Binance faced some civil and criminal rulings, along with some regulatory challenges like SEC lawsuit. Binance is also not doing well in terms of regulations and having conflicts with regulators in the UK.

According to SimilarWeb's findings, in the US, Coinbase got 16.7 million monthly users in July 2024, which is a 71.2 percent up YoY and 3.1% month over month. Another popular crypto exchange app in the US is crypto.com which got 2 million monthly users. Even though the UK doesn't have as many monthly users of Coinbase as in the US, it still got 1.3 million monthly users. On the other hand, Binance had 729.5K monthly users. Even though Binance stopped accepting customers in October of last year, it is still one of the most used crypto apps in the UK.

Crypto customers in the US have also started using a new crypto app called Robinhood which is more diverse and supports crypto trading. Other crypto apps that have been gaining some popularity in the US are Blockchain.com with 164.6% increase in active users YoY, OKX with 260% increase in active users YoY and Bybit with 50.7% increase in active users YoY.

On the other hand, Bianance app has been growing worldwide with 53.9 million visitors on the web in July alone. Coinbase.com got 32.2 million visitors in July. The iOS version of Coinbase is also growing rapidly with 87.9% increase in users YoY.

Read next:

• Why Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) is Crucial for Modern Cloud-Native Applications

• Stunning Job Revision Revealed: U.S. Added 818,000 Fewer Jobs Than Initially Reported

• BroadBandNow's Analysis Claims Internet Prices Have Remained Steady Despite Inflation
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

BroadBandNow's Analysis Claims Internet Prices Have Remained Steady Despite Inflation

In this raging inflation period, nearly every product and service is increasing their prices. But internet plans are as steady as ever. A new study found out that consumers have not experienced any price raise on internet plans.

The analysis done by BroadBandNow suggests that broadband prices have been steady ever since 2015, with $90 average a month. BroadBandNow analyzed nearly 2000 ISPs delivering services via cable, Fiber Technologies and DSL and found out that these internet services had no effect of inflation on them.

There was a 40% price drop on fiber service after adjusting for inflation. This shows that fiber technology has made its way to many markets and is now delivering high speed and reliable internet connection services.

BroadBandNow also noticed that the Affordable Connectivity Program had helped people a lot in choosing affordable monthly internet services. But now it has ended because of lack of funding from Congress which has 23 million households in the USA. Democratic Party said that they will continue fighting to reinstate the Affordable Connectivity Program in the USA.

Even though the internet price per month is $90 on average, it is still higher as many people say that internet pricing should be $60 or lower. On the other hand, many consumers claim that their internet pricing was $20-$60 dollars when they first subscribed to the internet service, according to the US News & World Report survey.

Read next:

• Good News! Now You Can Easily Transform Your AI Images from Square to Landscape on Microsoft Bing Image Creator

• Study Shows Almost 23% People Are Going to Become Victims of Cyber Stalking by 2025
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Stunning Job Revision Revealed: U.S. Added 818,000 Fewer Jobs Than Initially Reported

According to the preliminary estimates of the annual benchmark revision to U.S. employment figures, U.S. job growth wasn’t as strong as initially estimated. Between March 2023 and March 2024, 818,000 fewer jobs were added to the U.S. economy than originally reported, resulting in a 0.5% growth in employment. This is the largest downward adjustment since 2009.

The revised data indicates that the U.S. added 2.08 million jobs during the 12-month period ending in March 2024, down from the initial estimate of 2.90 million. Average monthly job growth was adjusted from 242,000 to 174,000. Although this is still solid growth, it is below earlier expectations.

The sectors experiencing the most significant declines, accounting for more than 90% of the downward revision, include: professional and business services (-202,000 jobs), retail trade (-47,000 jobs), manufacturing (-96,000 jobs), and information (-103,000 jobs). The Leisure and Hospitality industry also saw a decline, but Private Education and Health Services experienced a growth of 1,144,000 jobs, up from 1,057,000 in the original estimate.

The downward revision of U.S. job growth points to a slower economic recovery. Key sectors facing declines suggest potential challenges for overall economic momentum and consumer confidence.

Read next: 

• A New Study Finds AI Text Detectors are Not as Accurate as Some Claim

• Study Shows Almost 23% People Are Going to Become Victims of Cyber Stalking by 2025

• Why Recovering a Facebook Account is so Hectic and the Proper Guide to Recovery

by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World