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TikTok insiders say Chinese language mother or father ByteDance is in management

TikTok insiders say Chinese parent ByteDance is in control

ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok app is displayed in the App Store on a smartphone in an arranged photograph taken in Arlington, Virginia, on Monday, Aug. 3, 2020.

Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images

A former TikTok recruiter remembers that her hours were supposed to be from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., but more often than not, she found herself working double shifts. That’s because the company’s Beijing-based ByteDance executives were heavily involved in TikTok’s decision-making, she said, and expected the company’s California employees to be available at all hours of the day. TikTok employees, she said, were expected to restart their day and work during Chinese business hours to answer their ByteDance counterparts’ questions.

This recruiter, along with four other former employees, told CNBC they’re concerned about the popular social media app’s Chinese parent company, which they say has access to American user data and is actively involved in the Los Angeles company’s decision-making and product development. These people asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution from the company.

TikTok launched internationally in September 2017. Its parent company, ByteDance, purchased Musical.ly, a social app that was growing in popularity in the U.S., for $1 billion in November 2017, and the two were merged in August 2018. In just a few years, it has quickly amassed a user base of nearly 92 million in the U.S. In particular, the app has found a niche among teens and young adults — TikTok has surpassed Instagram as U.S. teenagers’ second-favorite social media app, after Snapchat, according to an October 2020 report by Piper Sandler.

Last year, then-President Donald Trump sought to ban TikTok in the U.S. or force a merger with a U.S. company. The Trump administration, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, expressed national security concerns over the popular social media app’s Chinese ownership, with Pompeo saying at one point that TikTok might be “feeding data directly to the Chinese Communist Party.” TikTok has consistently denied those claims, telling CNBC, “We have never provided user data to the Chinese government, nor would we do so if asked.” In the company’s last four semi-annual transparency reports, it does not report a single request from the Chinese government for user data.

Earlier in June, TikTok caught a break when President Joe Biden signed an executive order that revoked Trump’s order to ban the app unless it found a U.S. buyer. Biden’s order, however, sets criteria for the government to evaluate the risk of apps connected to foreign adversaries.

ByteDance’s control

The former employees who spoke to CNBC said the boundaries between TikTok and ByteDance were so blurry as to be almost non-existent.

Most notably, one employee said that ByteDance employees are able to access U.S. user data. This was highlighted in a situation where an American employee working on TikTok needed to get a list of global users, including Americans, who searched for or interacted with a specific type of content — that means users who searched for a specific term or hashtag or liked a particular category of videos. This employee had to reach out to a data team in China in order to access that information. The data the employee received included users’ specific IDs, and they could pull up whatever information TikTok had about those users. This type of situation was confirmed as a common occurrence by a second employee. 

A look at TikTok’s privacy policy states that the company can share the data it collects with its corporate group, which includes ByteDance.

“We may share all of the information we collect with a parent, subsidiary, or other affiliate of our corporate group,” the privacy policy reads. 

TikTok downplayed the importance of this access. “We employ rigorous access controls and a strict approval process overseen by our U.S.-based leadership team, including technologies like encryption and security monitoring to safeguard sensitive user data,” a TikTok spokeswoman said in a statement.

But one cybersecurity expert said it could expose users to information requests by the Chinese government. “If the legal authorities in China or their parent company demands the data, users have already given them the legal right to turn it over,” said Bryan Cunningham, executive director of the Cybersecurity Policy & Research Institute at the University of California, Irvine.

As CNBC reported in 2019, China’s National Intelligence Law requires Chinese organizations and citizens to “support, assist and cooperate with the state intelligence work.” Another rule in China, the 2014 Counter-Espionage law, has similar mandates.

The close ties between TikTok and its parent company go far beyond user data, the former employees said.

Direction and approvals for all kinds of decision-making, whether it be minor contracts or key strategies, come from ByteDance’s leadership, which is based in China. This results in employees working late hours after long days so they can join meetings with their Beijing counterparts.

TikTok’s dependence on ByteDance extends to its technology. Former employees said that nearly 100% of TikTok’s product development is led by Chinese ByteDance employees. 

The lines are so indistinct that multiple employees described having email addresses for both companies. One employee said that recruiters often find themselves looking for candidates for roles at both companies. 

TikTok acknowledged that employees might have multiple aliases, but said it relies on Google’s enterprise-level Gmail service for its corporate email and their emails are stored on Google servers, where they are logged and monitored for unauthorized access.

In comments to CNBC, TikTok downplayed the importance of its transnational structure. “Like many global technology companies, we have product development and engineering teams all over the world collaborating cross-functionally to build the best product experience for our community, including in the U.S., U.K. and Singapore,” a TikTok spokeswoman said in a statement.

On the personnel side, ByteDance in April appointed Singaporean national Shouzi Chew to the role of TikTok CEO. Prior to Chew’s appointment, TikTok was led in interim by former YouTube executive Vanessa Pappas, who was vaulted into the role after former Disney streaming executive Kevin Mayer resigned in August 2020 after just three months in the role.

Chew already served as ByteDance’s chief financial officer and will continue to hold that position in addition to his new role as TikTok CEO. 

Again, TikTok downplayed the connection. “Since May 2020, TikTok management has reported into the CEO based in the U.S., and now Singapore, who is responsible for all long-term and strategic day-to-day decisions for the business,” a TikTok spokeswoman said in a statement.

The risks of Chinese ties

Cybersecurity experts who spoke with CNBC said there are a number of risks that come with TikTok being so interwoven with its parent company. 

One set of risks is how the Chinese government could spread propaganda or influence the thinking of the Americans who use TikTok each month. This could be done through short-length videos that the Chinese government may want to show to Americans, whether it be factual content or misinformation. The company could also choose to censor certain types of content.

This has already happened in a few instances. For example, the company instructed moderators to censor videos that mentioned Tiananmen Square, Tibetan independence or the religious group Falun Gong, according to a September 2019 report by The Guardian. Following the report, TikTok said it no longer practiced that censorship and said it recognized that it was wrong.

“Today we take localized approaches, including local moderators, local content and moderation policies, local refinement of global policies, and more,” the company said in a statement at the time.

In November 2020, TikTok’s U.K. Director of Public Policy Elizabeth Kanter admitted during a parliamentary committee hearing that the app had previously censored content that was critical of the Chinese government in regard to forced labor of Uyghur Muslims in China. Afterward, Kanter said she misspoke during the hearing.

“Anytime [the Chinese government has] control over a platform like TikTok that has billions of users and is only getting more popular, it gives them power to feed our mind what we should think about, what we consider truth and what is false,” said Ambuj Kumar, CEO of Fortanix, an encryption-based cybersecurity company. Kumar is an expert on end-to-end encryption, including dealing with China’s special conditions for data encryption.

A bigger and much less discussed concern is the data TikTok collects from its users and how that data could be exploited by the Chinese government. 

TikTok’s privacy policy explains that the app collects all kinds of data. This includes profile data, such as users’ names and profile images, as well as any data users might add through surveys, sweepstakes and contests, such as their gender, age and preferences. 

The app also collects users’ locations, messages sent within the app and information about how people use the app, including their likes, what content they view and how often they use the app. Notably, the app also collects data on users’ interests inferred by the app based on the content that users view. 

Most importantly, TikTok also collects data in the form of the content that users generate on the app or upload to it. This would include the videos that users make. 

Some experts said they’re concerned that content created by a teenager now and uploaded to TikTok, even as an unpublished draft, could come back to haunt that same person if they later land a high-level job at a notable American company or start working within the U.S. government. 

“I’d be shocked if they are not storing all the videos being posted by teenagers,” Kumar said. “Twenty years from now, 30 years from now, 50 years from now when we want to nominate our next justice to the U.S. Supreme Court, at that time they will go back and find everything they can and then they’ll decide what to do with it.”

TikTok is not unique in collecting American user data. American consumer tech companies such as Facebook, Google and Twitter also possess vast troves of information they’ve collected on their users. The difference, according to experts on Sino-U.S. relations and Chinese espionage, is that American companies have many tools at their disposal to protect their users when the U.S. government seeks data, while Chinese companies have to comply with the Chinese government.

“ByteDance is a Chinese company, and they’re subject to Chinese national law, which says that whenever the government asks for the data a company is holding for whatever reason, the company must turn it over. They have no right to appeal,” said Jim Lewis, senior vice president and director, strategic technologies program at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, a foreign affairs think tank. Lewis previously worked for various agencies in the U.S. government, including on Chinese espionage.

“If the Chinese government wants to look at the data that ByteDance is collecting, they can do so, and no one can say anything about it,” Lewis said.

The Chinese government’s track record when it comes to human rights and widespread surveillance is reason for concern.

“Given the Chinese government’s authoritarian bent and attitudes, that’s where people are really concerned with what they might do,” said Daniel Castro, vice president at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank.

In particular, these experts cite the 2015 hack of the Office of Personnel Management, in which intruders stole more than 22 million records of U.S. government employees and their friends and family. The hackers behind the breach were believed to have been working for the Chinese government.

“They’ve collected ten of millions of pieces of data on Americans,” said Lewis. “This is big data. In the U.S. they use it for advertising … in China, the state uses it for intelligence purposes.”

Americans who decide to use TikTok should do so with the understanding that they are likely handing their data over to a Chinese company subject to the Chinese government, said Bill Evanina, CEO of Evanina Group, which provides companies with consultation for risk-based decisions regarding complex geopolitics.

“When you’re going to download TikTok … and you click on that ‘I agree to terms’ — what’s in that is critical,” Evanina said.

Not all experts, however, are concerned that TikTok is a threat. 

Graham Webster, editor in chief of the Stanford-New America DigiChina Project at the Stanford University Cyber Policy Center, notes that most of the data that TikTok collects could just as easily be gathered by the Chinese government through other services. China doesn’t need its own consumer app to exploit Americans’ data, he said. 

“I find it to be a very low-probability threat model for actual national security concerns,” Webster said. 

What TikTok could do to calm fears

As TikTok waits to see how the Biden administration decides to proceed, the company could take a number of steps to provide the new president and the American public with assurances that their data won’t be misused. 

A first step would be for TikTok to be more transparent about what its data collection process is. For cybersecurity experts, specific details would go a long way toward gaining it credibility.

Jason Crabtree, CEO of cybersecurity company Qomplex, formerly served as a senior advisor to the U.S. Army Cyber Command during the Obama administration. He said TikTok should be clear on what it collects, where it is stored, how long it is stored for, and which employees of which companies have access to the data.

A TikTok information sheet states that the company stores U.S. user data in Virginia with a backup in Singapore and strict controls on employee access. The company does not specify which user data it collects, saying “the TikTok app is not unique in the amount of information it collects, compared to other mobile apps.” The company says it stores data “for as long as it is necessary to provide you with the service” or “as long as we have a legitimate business purpose in keeping such data or where we are subject to a legal obligation to retain the data.” The company also says any user may submit a request to access or delete their information and TikTok will respond to the request consistent with applicable law.

“If all those things are documented and attested to, you have a much better shot at explaining to the U.S. public, to regulators and other interested parties why this is no issue to consumers,” Crabtree said. “If you don’t or are unwilling to provide real clarity then that’s something people should rightfully be really concerned about.”

Another tactic would be for ByteDance to proceed with the plan it had outlined toward the end of the Trump presidency and sell TikTok to a U.S. company that Americans already trust. After Trump signed the order that could have potentially banned TikTok, the company entered talks with Microsoft but didn’t reach a deal. At one point, there was an agreement in place to sell minority stakes to Walmart and Oracle, although the sale was never finalized. For some cybersecurity experts, anything short of this would not be enough to evoke trust in TikTok’s handling of American data. 

“As long as TikTok is a subsidiary of ByteDance, I certainly will not be satisfied with any purported technological fixes,” Cunningham said. 

Rather than focusing specifically on TikTok or Chinese apps, the U.S. should make stronger privacy regulations to protect Americans from all tech companies, including those with ties to adversary nations, Webster said.

“The solution ought to be comprehensive privacy protection for everyone, protecting you from American companies and Chinese companies,” Webster said.

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Business

What TikTok Stars Owe ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Present’

What TikTok Stars Owe ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’

In May 2010, well before the TikTok era, a 12-year-old from Oklahoma named Greyson Chance was called to the “Ellen DeGeneres Show”. A few weeks earlier, Greyson had reached viral fame early on after posting his middle school talent show performance of Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi” on YouTube. When Greyson got on the show, where he was sitting in a plush chair directly across from the daytime star, discussing his Gaga cover, the YouTube video had a million page views.

His “Ellen” performance brought him into a new stratosphere. In the days that followed, media coverage of the 12-year-old sensation exploded, and its performance surged to over 30 million views. Madonna and Lady Gaga’s managers represented him. Ms. DeGeneres signed a recording deal with him.

“It’s crazy to think of 30 million people,” Greyson said when he returned to the show two weeks later. “It just makes me happy.”

Next year, Ms. DeGeneres will step down from her talk show on the day and opt out after a 19 year streak of light jokes, celebrity interviews, and cash gifts. But perhaps one of her show’s most enduring legacies was her host role in the early viral video industry: an appearance on “Ellen” brought a viral sensation with a whole new wave of clicks, fame, and money.

“She was the originator of creating viral content from other viral content,” said Lindsey Weber, one of the hosts of Who? Weekly, a podcast that focuses on celebrity culture. “She would take a moment that went viral and improve it. She had so many viral people on her show and being on her show was the height of her viral success. “

When viewing habits changed, Ms. DeGeneres’ role as patron saint of digital stars also changed.

Last year, shortly after Warner Bros. conducted an investigation into workplace misconduct on the set of “Ellen,” Ms. DeGeneres’ role on daytime television diminished. Their audience numbers have dropped 44 percent this season, and competitors like “Dr. Phil “(2.4 million viewers) and” Live With Kelly and Ryan “(2.6 million) now beat” Ellen “by around one million viewers.

When a YouTube or TikTok performance gets going, a stop at “Ellen” is no longer an important step in reaching a new threshold of fame.

“Ellen could rip you off YouTube and make you a star,” said Joe Kessler, global director of UTA IQ at the United Talent Agency, which uses data analytics to advise clients on digital strategies.

Now, he said, artists can achieve similar or even greater success by engaging their fans and mastering the various digital platforms themselves.

“It’s interesting that the end of Ellen’s show coincides with YouTube and other video platforms exploding to the point that they’re now mainstream,” he continued. “Creators don’t need traditional mainstream endorsement to build huge audiences right now.”

But before do-it-yourself content creation became an industry, there was “Ellen”. In 2010, five years after YouTube was founded, the show introduced a segment titled “Ellen’s Wonderful Web of Wonders,” which promised to “find undiscovered talent online and share with you!”

As more viral stars hit their show, every time an online video gained prominence a decade ago, people would reply or comment on these videos: ‘Tell Ellen!’ ‘Call Ellen!’ “Said Mrs. Weber. “Strangely enough, that was the supposed next step for everyone.”

A year after Greyson Chance appeared on Ellen, the show invited 8-year-old Sophia Grace, an aspiring internet personality, and her cousin Rosie to come from England and do a cover for a Nicki Minaj song. The video now has more than 144 million views on YouTube.

An “Ellen” gig usually had a twist as well. When Greyson arrived, Lady Gaga called the show herself to express her admiration for his performance. When Sophia Grace appeared in “Ellen”, Nicki Minaj appeared surprisingly and the 8-year-old threw herself into the arms of the singer.

And an appearance on “Ellen” served a dual purpose: it would both draw attention to the viral content, and the appearance itself could go viral as well, which is a two-on-one way to reach millions.

“The interviews she conducted with these viral personalities would get millions or tens of millions of views,” said Earnest Pettie, who leads YouTube’s Trends and Insights team. “It would be as visible as the original source material. For many people, the interviews were their first encounter with viral personalities. But people who have already faced it might go deeper than they would on a viral video. “

Money could be made even if it wasn’t at the influencer level now. When David DeVore posted a video of his 7-year-old son, also named David, in 2009, and returned home dazed from a trip to the dentist, the video quickly garnered millions of views and became an early YouTube hit. By 2010, Mr. DeVore estimated the family had made $ 150,000 from all exposure, including T-shirt sales. And they’re not quite finished milking either. Earlier this month, Mr. DeVore auctioned “David After Dentist” as an NFT or non-fungible token, a digital collector’s item, BuzzFeed reported. It sold for $ 13,000.

Mr. Kessler from UTA estimated that great digital personalities could be in the mid six-digit range in the early 2010s.

An influencer can now make millions and in a few cases tens of millions. And when YouTube and TikTok helped the influencer industry escape, Ms. DeGeneres’ role as digital kingmaker began to wane.

“If we compare it to now, people’s viral moments are shorter,” said Ms. Weber. “In the time it takes for a producer to call and say, ‘Come on, Ellen! ‘There’s a new viral moment somewhere else. It will be a thing of the past. “

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Business

TikTok, Bumble, others are hiring school college students as model ambassadors

TikTok, Bumble, others are hiring college students as brand ambassadors

Companies like TikTok and Bumble are hiring students to work as brand ambassadors on campus. These jobs pay off better than typical college jobs like food service and retail – and provide valuable work experience.

Students say they learned about marketing, content creation, and management while working as brand ambassadors – and expanded their network by connecting with other campus representatives across the country. And in a highly competitive internship and job market, the experience of being a brand ambassador is a way to stand out, the students said.

“My life changed with the TikTok Ambassador Program,” said Bita Motiie, a senior at the University of North Texas who studied marketing.

Bita Motiie, a senior at the University of North Texas, says she has opened many job opportunities as a brand ambassador for TikTok.

Photo: Michael Chavira

Motiie has been working as a campus rep for the social media platform since fall 2019 and said this has helped her recognize her interest in branding and building online communities – and advance her career.

“I had so many new job opportunities,” said Motiie. “Even at the place where I currently work, they hired me specifically because I had experience as a TikTok brand ambassador.”

Campus ambassador programs also benefit brands. A study by Jonah Berger, a marketing professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, and research firm Keller Fay Group found that 82% of consumers are likely to follow a recommendation from a micro-influencer (a person with greater reach) than the average person – although not a celebrity – in a very specific category or demographic such as college students).

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“These programs are a win-win as they provide brands with valuable insight while students gain marketing experience as they near graduation,” said Julie Jatlow, partner at Fuse, an agency that runs college ambassador programs for TikTok , Amazon and other brands.

Depending on the company, campus ambassador duties typically include posting content on social media, handing out goods or samples, hosting branded events, and reaching out to student organizations.

“Finding creative and passionate students whose traits are specifically tailored to the brand’s DNA is of the utmost importance,” said Jatlow. “We are always on the lookout for proactive students with drive and enthusiasm.”

Student representatives are usually compensated by an hourly rate or a monthly grant and can work on their own schedule. In fact, campus ambassador wages are between $ 15 and $ 25 an hour, according to job postings on the employment website. This is well above the hourly rate for jobs common among college students, like food and beverage service, which pays around $ 11 an hour, and retail sales, which are around $ 13 per hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Hour pays.

“It’s a lot more flexible than a normal job as a working student,” said Cedoni Francis, a 2020 graduate of Vanderbilt University who worked at the school for brands like TikTok, dating app Bumble and beer company Anheuser-Busch.

Cedoni Francis, a 2020 graduate of Vanderbilt University, worked as a student brand ambassador for TikTok, Bumble and Anheuser-Busch. She now works in marketing at Google.

Photo: Warner Tidwell

Francis, who is now an associate product marketing manager at Google, said her experience with campus ambassador programs helped her develop skills like time management and stakeholder engagement.

In particular, her experience with TikTok gave her a crash course on viral marketing, expertise that she uses in her current job.

“It’s a good primer,” said Francis. “There are certain things that other people have to teach how to do that. I don’t have to learn how to do it.”

Peter Corrigan, assistant director of employer and alumni connections for Student Engagement and Career Development at the University of Arizona, said working as brand ambassadors on campus helps students build key skills.

“Students improve their communication skills when they speak to a large number of people who are trying to create brand awareness on campus,” Corrigan said. “It takes students out of their comfort zone and gives them sales experience with companies they might want to work for.”

Candice Nguyen, a third year public administration student at Drexel University, represents brands such as Bumble, Victoria’s Secret Pink and Red Bull on her campus.

Candice Nguyen, a student at Drexel University, represents brands such as Bumble, Victoria’s Secret Pink and Red Bull on her campus.

Source: Candice Nguyen

Like Francis, Nguyen said her work as a campus ambassador resulted in work experience. She recently completed a certification in project management and is a full-time intern in a project management role.

“I realized that a lot of my job was project management, like running events and being able to oversee and coordinate with teams,” said Nguyen of her experience as a brand ambassador.

Montserrat Lewin Mejia, a senior at Michigan State University, began campus ambassador programs in her second semester of her junior year as a representative of retail brand Rent the Runway before the Covid-19 pandemic closed the program. She is now a brand ambassador for Bumble and the fashion start-up Qatch.

Montserrat Lewin Mejia, an engineering student at Michigan State University, has worked as a brand ambassador for Rent the Runway, Bumble and the fashion start-up Qatch. Your new career goal is to become a full-time influencer.

Photo: Mindy Melinda Carmack

As an engineering student, Mejia said that the campus brand ambassador programs introduced her to the world of influencer marketing and helped her achieve new career goals.

“I’ve had a really big goal since I started, potentially becoming a full-time influencer,” Mejia said.

TikTok campus rep, Tatum Riley, Junior at Duke University, sees college ambassador programs help build brand awareness. Riley and her brand colleagues on campus attempted to “personalize” advertising through catering events and targeted contact with Duke students.

Tatum Riley, Junior at Duke University, represents TikTok on their campus.

Photo: Griffin Riley

Disclosure: NBCUniversal and Comcast Ventures are investors in Acorns.

Categories
Business

Walmart’s use of TikTok will doubtless proceed, even when Oracle deal unravels

Walmart's use of TikTok will likely continue, even if Oracle deal unravels

Walmart’s hopes of owning a stake in TikTok may be dashed, but don’t expect interest in the viral video app to wane.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, the company’s plan to buy the US social media app operations from Oracle has been put on hold indefinitely as the Biden administration investigates security concerns with Chinese tech companies. Nameless people who were familiar with the matter were quoted.

Walmart spokesman Randy Hargrove declined to comment on Wednesday’s report, referring questions to the Biden administration about a possible TikTok sale. Oracle did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

Speaking at a press conference at the White House on Wednesday, press secretary Jen Psaki said the government had not taken any new measures regarding the TikTok deal. She said that apps like TikTok continue to assess potential risks to US data.

Walmart is one of many retailers who have viewed the popular app as a way to follow trends, create shippable content, and build their brand among teenagers and 20 year olds. Walmart shoppers consulted TikTok when deciding which toys to order for the holiday season. In December there was a one-hour livestream event in the app. Those efforts will likely continue – even if Walmart doesn’t have a front row seat.

“We were really excited about what we saw, customer engagement and experience,” said Janey Whiteside, Walmart’s chief customer officer, in a recent interview about the livestream TikTok event. “Expect more of these things from us in the days, weeks, months ahead.”

She said events like this “really create more interesting places to work with brands.” This is gaining traction as the retailer plans to grow its advertising business more than 10x over the next five years and to compete better with Amazon in this industry.

Jefferies analyst Steph Wissink said a stake in TikTok would give Walmart an edge over competitors who also use the social media app. She likened it to being an auto mechanic versus an enthusiast. As a partial owner of TikTok, Walmart was able to open the hood and better understand the powerful social media app. It could collect more data on how advertising campaigns or videos can get more powerful. It could even tinker with how the app works to improve it or take other retailers out, she said.

“Right now, Walmart is an enthusiast as an outsider,” she said. “They use TikTok, they use social media, they use new advertising platforms in ways that appreciate a new way of connecting with consumers – but having the ability would give them an in-depth knowledge of how it works, the architecture and the mechanics of the motor. “

Still, she said, the app will remain an important media platform for Walmart by “creating brand awareness and relevance in a generation that will eventually age into their purchasing power years.” With the use of the app, she said, Walmart is thinking a decade ahead.

Walmart’s quest for TikTok began last year after President Donald Trump urged TikTok’s Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance, to find an American buyer or face a national ban. He said the popular video app raised security concerns because it could leak US users’ data to the Chinese government – a claim TikTok denied.

The retailer partnered with Microsoft, and later Oracle, last summer to acquire part of the social media company’s US operations. As part of the Oracle deal, Walmart would acquire a 7.5% stake in TikTok’s US operations, and its CEO, Doug McMillon, would get a seat on the board of the newly formed company.

In an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” in October, McMillon said Walmart viewed TikTok as a “discovery opportunity” that could inspire shoppers to shop.

“If you’re watching a TikTok video and someone has a piece of clothing or an item on it that you really like, what if you could just and quickly purchase that item?” he said. “This is what we see in countries all over the world. And it fascinates us and we want to be part of it.”

Livestream events are already increasing sales for brands in China and other parts of Asia. They’re a core part of Alibaba’s Singles Day, a huge shopping festival that’s popular outside of the United States. According to a survey conducted by AlixPartners in the fall, two-thirds of Chinese consumers said they had bought products via live streaming in the past 12 months.

And it has become a sales tool that more US brands want to dominate too. Last month, for example, a heart-shaped bag by Kate Spade went viral on TikTok – another reminder of the app’s power.

“We were able to use that,” said Joanne Crevoiserat, CEO of Kate Spade’s parent company Tapestry, in an interview on CNBC’s “Closing Bell”. “The bag is sold out.”

– CNBC’s Lauren Feiner contributed to this report.

Categories
Entertainment

On Ballet TikTok, a Place for Younger Dancers to Be Actual

On Ballet TikTok, a Place for Young Dancers to Be Real

“TikTok is so carefree, why not have some fun with it?” Said Watters. “Highlighting these comments also puts a little pressure on: talking to dancers this way is not okay, and maybe you could be exposed for this type of behavior as well.”

One of the reasons Watters is comfortable with everything hanging out on TikTok is because he doesn’t have to worry about his boss rolling by. “I would have a hard time finding an art director who really knew what TikTok is,” he said. But the “mom and dad aren’t home” atmosphere may not continue.

Professional ballet is making progress. The American Ballet Theater, one of the country’s leading companies, had its dancers take a TikTok course last spring. The company has been posting exploratory videos at @americanballettheatre since August and is expected to be the first major ballet company to officially open a TikTok account. Wherever the ballet theater goes, other troops are sure to follow, a change that could transform the app’s ballet ecosystem.

Or maybe not. Current residents of the TikTok ballet may simply ignore corporate offers, especially if corporate accounts end up as a showcase for tech. “When I scroll through TikTok, I really don’t want to see Isabella Boylston do six pirouettes,” McCloskey said, referring to a lead dancer at the Ballet Theater. “She’s obviously incredibly talented, but it’s kind of boring. It’s not the creative content that I go to TikTok for. “

Akamine also noted that some of the young stars of the TikTok ballet are not feeling the urge to seek institutional approval. “In this day and age, we have as much power and value on this platform as big companies,” she said.

Connor Holloway, 26, the gender-assault member of the Corps de Ballet who runs the Ballet Theater’s TikTok account, said the company wanted to present a version of itself that feels true to the culture of the TikTok ballet. Last year, Holloway successfully campaigned for the Ballet Theater to remove gender labels from its corporate classes. Content that challenges the gender binary representation of ballet will “absolutely” be part of the TikTok presence of ballet theater, Holloway said, mentioning the possibility that the company’s account could be a crowdsourced ballet with choreography and design by young creators like ” Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical “made possible. ”

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Business

Coronary heart-shaped Kate Spade bag offered out after going viral on TikTok: Tapestry CEO

Heart-shaped Kate Spade bag sold out after going viral on TikTok: Tapestry CEO

Tapestry CEO Joanne Crevoiserat told CNBC on Thursday that demand for a heart-shaped Kate Spade bag, which went viral on TikTok last month, had skyrocketed.

“We were able to use that. The bag was sold out. We refilled it. We are learning how we can always better involve this community,” said Crevoiserat in an interview on “Closing Bell” after the retailer had reported better than expected Profit for the vacation quarter earlier in the day.

Crevoiserat’s comments are another example of the potential social media platforms like TikTok for Tapestry and other consumer brands. Its influence also seems to expand categories. For Tapestry, the increasingly popular app boosted sales of its shoulder bag, while toy companies also saw sales growth related to TikTok during the pandemic.

TikTok’s branding potential is best illustrated by Walmart’s decision to pursue a minority stake in the app’s U.S. operations. The deal, first announced in September, is still pending. In October, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon explained TikTok’s appeal to the retail giant in a CNBC interview.

“If you’re watching a TikTok video and someone has a piece of clothing or an item on it that you really like, what if you could just and quickly purchase that item?” McMillon then said on “Squawk Box”. “This is what we see in countries all over the world. And it fascinates us and we want to be part of it.”

Tapestry stock closed Thursday 4.6% to $ 36.18 apiece after the New York-based company beat Wall Street’s profit and loss projections. Despite quarterly revenue of $ 1.69 billion, down 7% year over year, the company saw a triple-digit increase in digital revenue worldwide. In addition to Kate Spade, Tapestry owns the brands Coach and Stuart Weitzman.

The company’s stock is up more than 160% since early August, hitting a new 52-week high on Thursday.

Crevoiserat said she was happy with how Tapestry expanded its e-commerce activities during the pandemic, as consumers stayed at home and made more purchases online. The company’s online sales of $ 1.3 billion in the past 12 months are “more than double what it was a year ago,” she said. “We had the skills and are getting better and better at engaging consumers on digital and social channels.”

At Tapestry, brick-and-mortar locations continue to play an important role despite online growth, said Crevoiserat, who became permanent CEO in October. She had served as an interim since July.

“We think business is still important and we will continue to innovate in our stores,” she said. “We have raised our expectations for productivity and profitability for our business fleet, but we think that physical touch point, this physical manifestation of the brand is important to consumers.”

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Entertainment

Dan + Shay’s Response to Fan’s “Tequila” Cowl on TikTok

Dan + Shay's Response to Fan's "Tequila" Cover on TikTok

If you’ve ever wondered how to get your celebrities to react to your Instagram DMs, here’s a strategy that might work: add a voice recording they just can’t resist. It definitely worked for TikToker Sharon Rowland, who after one too many drinks recorded a quick cover of Dan + Shay’s “Tequila” and announced the recording to the country duo. . . while still drunk.

Imagine her surprise when she woke up the next day to a response from her favorite musicians, even if it was just a simple “heart” and a few emojis. She may not have been the greatest singer of all time, but I have to say that the high note and whisper hit really different in the end and it seems like Dan + Shay thought the same thing.

But the exchange didn’t stop there. After Sharon shared their interaction on their TikTok Sunday, the video immediately went viral and once again caught the duo’s attention. Dan + Shay then filmed reactions to the clip of Sharon’s, um, loud singing, and honestly I can’t make up my mind which video is the funniest. In one clip, Dan tries hard to get in tune with her singing on his piano, while in another, Shay-lip is synchronized with the sound with a whole range of emotions. Prepare for a good belly laugh beforehand and watch Sharon’s original video with Dan + Shay’s answers.

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World News

TikTok proprietor ByteDance launches cell funds in China

TikTok owner ByteDance launches mobile payments in China

A symbol of TikTok (douyin) is pictured in The Place shopping mall at dusk on August 22, 2020 in Beijing, China.

VCG | Visual China Group | Getty Images

GUANGZHOU, China – ByteDance has launched a new payment service in Douyin, the Chinese version of the short video sharing app TikTok.

Douyin users can select Douyin Pay to make purchases on the short video app. Creators usually sell items or goods related to their content.

“The establishment of Douyin Pay … is intended to complement the existing main payment options and ultimately improve the user experience on Douyin,” ByteDance said in a statement. ByteDance owns both Douyin and TikTok.

In fact, Douyin already offers payment options from Alipay from Alibaba subsidiary Ant Group and WeChat Pay from Tencent, the two dominant mobile payment apps in China.

Alipay and WeChat Pay together account for more than 90% of the Chinese mobile payments market, according to iResearch.

Both payment services are available in apps, but also in physical stores where customers can scan barcodes to purchase items. This is different from Douyin Pay, which is only available in the Douyin app.

Douyin’s payment system is operated by Wuhan Hezhong Yibao Technology, a company that ByteDance bought around two years ago. Users need a Chinese bank account to use Douyin Pay.

The latest step towards e-commerce and financial technology or fintech underlines ByteDance’s desire to expand beyond social networks. This included forays into mobile gaming, a search engine, and streaming music.

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Entertainment

‘Ratatouille,’ the Musical: How This TikTok Creation Got here Collectively

‘Ratatouille,’ the Musical: How This TikTok Creation Came Together

Starting in October, thousands of TikTok developers who were bored at home and missed Broadway were creating elements of a never-before-seen show: a musical based on Disney Pixar’s “Ratatouille,” an animated film about a rat with culinary ambitions.

In 60-second increments, people contributed their own songs, dances, makeup looks, sets, puppets and Playbill programs inspired by the 2007 film. Without a guide, the virtual show organically materialized from a crowd-sourced jumble of content.

It was a musical like no other. Many creators thought there was a long way to go before it could merge in real life. But on Friday at 7pm Eastern Time, “Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical” will take shape as a virtual benefit performance, with Tituss Burgess appearing as Remy the rat. Around 80,000 tickets have already been sold for the pre-filmed show by Seaview Productions in order to raise money for the Actors Fund. It can be streamed for three days.

The musical more or less follows the plot of the film: Remy, who is blessed with a refined palate, teaches the lowly kitchen worker Alfredo Linguini to cook by hiding under the hat of his chef. Linguini rises to the top of his restaurant in Paris only to be judged by the authoritative critic Anton Ego.

We spoke with its creators about the challenges of making a virtual show out of TikTok segments that have been adapted from films. These conversations have been edited and condensed for the sake of clarity.

The actor who was in Dear Evan Hansen and played Alfredo Linguini.

How did you come to this?

My friend Nathan asked me to sing one of the songs on TikTok. People have told me that I’ve looked like this character for years. I love the movie and I always felt that this character resonated with me. I think we’re both generally fearful people with an undying optimism. He’s awkward in a cartoonish fashion and so intrepid in what he does. He has a passion for wanting to please everyone. The nervousness coupled with the optimism feels a lot to me.

How long have you been rehearsing?

This is the fastest turnaround on a Broadway show I’ve ever seen in my life. The first conversation must have been three weeks ago. It all moved so fast. It’s all a big time.

What is a challenge in presenting a show online?

It’s funny because we do it remotely. I don’t look at any of these people. There was a point when it was the end of the day and I was having problems. I found this Remy stuffed animal I have and switched it off the camera to film the scene – to feel the use of the story and remind myself that it was a rat controlling a hat.

The actor who was on “The Wiz” and played Anton Ego.

Any similarities between you and Anton?

There was no time to research so I had to trust the casting director who said, “This is for you. We want you to do that. “I haven’t seen the film, but if you play Anton Ego, who is that snooty food critic, you find out that he turned his nose up at the ratatouille that is served to him in the restaurant. You learn that is how he grew up. This is what his mother gave him as a child. If he tries the ratatouille, he goes back to his childhood. You see, he has worn a mask all his life and all he needed was a reminder of how happy he was as an ordinary kid.

How is this show different from live shows on stage?

We don’t improvise very much in the theater because we have to write a script and everyone expects you to say what’s in the written thing. In terms of the distance between all employees involved, we used this spontaneous inspiration when something didn’t come out exactly right. There is no mistake in jazz. They say, “That’s what I meant to do, now the rest of you will follow.” That is what “Ratatouille” is all about.

The director who previously co-directed and co-wrote Six: The Musical.

What was your vision for the show?

The really interesting thing about the original TikTok materials and submissions is that the pursuit has been so great. Even though people had a state of the art format and the Gen-Z thing of the world, they aspired to be like a classic musical. The challenge of doing this in the least theatrical space of all time – online – was to stay true to this claim. The goal is a zoom reading or an online concert where 20 Red Bulls were drunk and spat on the screen.

The music supervisor and arranger who wrote some of the “Ratatouille” songs.

Tell me about your role on the show.

Basically, my job was to take the nine songs we pulled from TikTok and create some sort of story and a full cohesive score. That was the challenge because some of the songs are only a minute long and we had to expand them. We had to write new songs to fill in some places. We wrote part of a new opening number and an “I want song” where the character sings what they want and hopefully they get it.

What was your biggest challenge?

I had my first meeting with the Seaview folks on December 4th. They called me and said, “Hey, we have this crazy idea. Disney has given us permission to give a benefit to the Ratatouille Actors Fund. “They said,” Yes, we want to do this on January 1st. “I took a deep breath and said,” Yes, that is possible. “

We all worked around the clock for the first few weeks of December to end all of this. It was a return to normal for theater and collaboration. Although the deadline was insane, of course I said yes. Who besides theater people can meet such insane deadlines? I would do a song every day. These are months, if not years, of work we did in two weeks. Although it was a challenge, I loved mixing songs until 3am on Christmas morning. We all missed the feeling.

The set designer who works as a photographer.

Tell me about your shoeboxes.

“Ratatouille” takes place in Paris. So how can I create a Parisian backdrop for an actual stage? How can I create different drops for different scenes?

The very first set model “Ratatouille” that I released [on TikTok] and designed a set for, I came up with the idea of ​​a picture from Pinterest. It was just a silhouette of Linguini in a chef’s hat, and it had a shadow of Remy. I took this, cut it out, and lit it with projections. Then I made sure the hat was transparent so Remy could come in from behind, and then all of the set construction began. It’s crazy to take another look at these TikToks and see where I’ve been and where I am now.

This event really highlights a lot of the TikTok developers and we are very happy to have received this recognition. We can take our content and do something good with it, not only raising money for the show, but also making sure that Broadway comes back stronger than ever.

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Business

The Largest Tendencies of TikTok 2020

The Biggest Trends of TikTok 2020

It’s been well over two years since TikTok arrived in the U.S. in August 2018 and offered a rejoinder to anyone who believed social media was lost. The app had it all: social comments, comedy, crafts, memes, challenges, makeup tutorials, and of course, dances. Even those who weren’t completely convinced couldn’t avoid the videos that were spreading on platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter.

As of April 2020, TikTok had been downloaded more than 2 billion times. As of the fall, it had an estimated 850 million monthly active users.

Despite the growth in size and scope, the uninitiated still largely see the app as a tool for other, much younger people. “TikTok is a kids dance app where kids upload videos of themselves for kids and adults to enjoy,” comedian Nathan Fielder joked recently. While TikTok changed the online dance culture, the platform has grown into a rich social and entertainment network. And in 2020 there was hardly a corner of society that it did not touch.

The most obvious effects of TikTok can be seen in the entertainment world. “More than any other social network since Myspace, it feels like a new experience, the emergence of a different kind of technology and a different kind of media consumption,” wrote journalist Kyle Chayka in November.

Primarily responsible for the uniqueness of the TikTok ad experience is the For You page, an algorithmic feed that delivers the content that you are likely to find appealing. You don’t have to follow or be chased by a single person to see the videos you want to see or to let the target audience see your videos, which has made a rapid rise to fame for many people. In 2020 alone, top users such as Charli and Dixie D’Amelio and Addison Easterling collected tens of millions of followers and became well-known names. The D’Amelios even landed a Hulu show.

The app has also reinvigorated the music industry, becoming a place to discover talent, market new songs, produce new music together, and mix tracks.

TikTok has an undeniable influence on what people wear and buy. In 2020, TikTokers appeared in campaigns for Louis Vuitton and Prada that were signed and trendsetting with agencies like IMG Models (think cottagecore and the strawberry dress). Gucci took on a challenge that taught people how to style items in their closets to look like Alessandro Michele’s runway models. (If you have a headscarf, turtleneck, and brightly colored accessories, you’re halfway there.) Mass market brands have adjusted to influencers too. Hype House Merch is sold at Target, for example.

“It goes beyond the outfits and into the creative expression,” Kudzi Chikumbu, director of the Creator Community at TikTok, told Vogue.com in December. “TikTok is a place of joy and offers the fashion industry a completely new way of presenting its art and personality.”

While physical stores closed in the first few months of the pandemic, new brands and stores emerged on TikTok, using the platform to drive online orders. Vintage resellers use TikTok to sell their wares and revive old styles. Large retailers like Sephora, Dunkin ‘, and GameStop even encouraged their employees to become TikTok influencers.

Service reps were some of the first to choose TikTok in 2018, and in 2020 people got a whole new perspective on their lives. Warehouse workers, fast food workers, and baristas turned to TikTok for a glimpse into their lives, sometimes finding accidental fame in the process. In 2020, many of their industries were hard hit by the pandemic and used TikTok to promote fundraising and relief efforts.

As the coronavirus continued to spread, TikTok also played an important role in the public health arena. Nurses, doctors, and other frontline health workers used TikTok to talk about the risks of contracting Covid-19, explain the importance of wearing masks, and break down misinformation about vaccines. (Many have also documented their vaccinations on the platform.)

Patients with coronavirus and other diseases have recorded their health journeys and are connected to the outside world from their hospital beds.

With support across the country this summer for the Black Lives Matter movement, TikTok became a place where young activists talked about police brutality, what it means to be an ally and criminal justice reform, and the app’s relationship with blacks Creators could speak.

Political activism was fruitful in the app too. In June, TikTok users organized a campaign to raise visitor expectations for President Trump’s campaign event in Tulsa. Photos from the event showed a sparse crowd with plenty of free spaces. After the event, longtime Republican strategist Steve Schmidt wrote on Twitter: “America’s teenagers dealt a heavy blow to @realDonaldTrump.”

One of the earliest and most visible trends at TikTok in 2020 was the Renegade, a dance choreographed by Jalaiah Harmon (15) to the song “Lottery” by the Atlanta rapper K-Camp. Most popularized by white influencers, the dance opened a dialogue about black creators and gave recognition where it is due.

In 2020, the viral food culture migrated from Instagram to TikTok. The platform popularized pancake cereal, whipped coffee, and carrot bacon. It also helped young talent like 18-year-old culinary darling Eitan Bernath be discovered and teach millions stuck at home during quarantine how to cook.

TikTok songs and audio tracks provided the soundtrack through 2020. The platform lifted new artists out of the dark at a rate the music industry had never seen before. It put songs like Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” back in the spotlight and introduced new ones to the mass audience.