TikTok goes dark for 12 hours 🌝

Okay, I know I always say to buckle up, but my goodness—BUCKLE UP!

This week feels like all social media companies decided to set everything on fire and see what happens. 

Welcome to 2025, eh? 

We’ve got tons of new updates, tons of absolutely wild moves from various CEOs, and just a general WTF is going on kinda vibe. Ya know?

Let’s dive in. 

The build-up of TikTok being banned was longer than the actual ban. Honestly, this whole thing is absolutely laughable at this point. 

After President Biden told TikTok it doesn’t have to remove itself and can wait until President Trump comes into office, TikTok said “lol no!!!” and removed itself from US App Stores.

Not only that, but it removed itself EARLY from App Stores, causing a lot of stress and anxiety to those in the USA who wanted to do one last scroll through their timeline.

Before TikTok went dark, however, many influencers on the app decided to share secrets and boy, oh boy, were some things revealed. Like … most of these workouts, relationships, and more were FAKE! 

Sadly for all of them, 12 hours later, TikTok went back online and thanked Trump for all he had done to delay the ban … for at least 90 more days. 

According to Trump on Truth Social, he is hoping to figure out a way to keep TikTok in the States … and the US Government “to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture.” Eeek. 

It’s almost like he forgot that he was the one who started the whole ban chat in the first place. 

The next 90 days will be an interesting watch to see what happens to the app in the USA and whether or not it is actually willing to give up a large chunk of its ownership. 

• Community Notes on Meta are starting to appear! However, it won’t apply to paid ads.
  
  

• Speaking of Community Notes, yes, they are coming to Threads.
  
  

• Meta Business Suite (the enemy) has officially added an “invite collaborators” feature to posts and Reels.
  
  

• X is working hard on making videos a thing on the platform by launching a new analytics feature.
  
  

• Meta is one step closer to bringing us the ultimate translation tool.
  
  

• Snapchat is working hard to capture users from TikTok to use the app in its new marketing campaign.
  
  

• Live video has come to Substack.
  
  

• You’ll soon be able to schedule a group post on Facebook.
  
  

• Threads is letting you add music to your posts.
  
  

• Yikes! A new lawsuit against TikTok has been filed for violating users’ data in the EU.
  
  

• Instagram claims it will be prioritizing original content in 2025. We will believe it when we see it.
  
  

• Elon Musk tweets so much that people are placing bets on how many tweets he’ll post.
  
  

• If TikTok sells its US portion, someone is going to have to cough up at least $50 billion to purchase.
  
  

• Substack is offering $25,000 to someone who can make a TikTok that gets users to download Substack.

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Honestly, I need a minute with this one. Because I want to both laugh and scream about everything Instagram is doing. 

It heard TikTok was officially getting banned and went, “Yup, BET!” and decided to release every update and feature under the sun all at once. 

What features have they released? I’m so glad you asked:

• All square feed photos are portrait mode (yes, like TikTok)
• Instagram bio has now all been shifted to the left and looks odd AF
• New tab in Reels where you can see videos your friends have liked or added Notes
• Story highlights are now in a new tab on your feed (rather than their iconic bubbles)
• A more customizable feed with thumbnails and the ability to reorganize your grid
• Instagram Reels are officially 3 minutes long

While some of these changes are great (yay, 3-minute videos!), most of them feel incredibly unnecessary. Like … almost all of them. 

And after the not-so-good press Zuckerberg has been under lately, you’d think Meta would want to keep users on the platform as much as possible, not alienate them even more. 😬

The top trending sounds and songs you need to use to go viral this week. 

⏰ It's 5 o'clock: This audio is a fun one to show excitement or anticipation for something that is about to happen. Use it to show off a list of things you use daily, things you love, things you’re launching, and more. It’s an easy audio for when you want to show off your brand!

🚗 Get Out Of The Car, Please: Creators use this sound to depict situations where someone says something to them and they can’t be around that person anymore. The sound is used in a tongue-in-cheek way. 

😫 I Can't Cope With It: Creators use this sound to express their avoidance of certain information, situations, or realities that they find overwhelming or frustrating. The trend is generally used in a self-deprecating and humorous manner.

🤫 Shut Up!: This trend uses audio from The Princess Diaries. Creators use this audio to show off something incredible that has happened and exclaim: “Shut up!” in delighted surprise.

Want more trends? Get daily notifications on trending audios with our AI Assistant, Iris. Start a free trial today!

If the other updates to the app weren’t enough, Instagram has released a brand new spankin’ app called “Edits.”

And it looks exactly like CapCut. 

Weird!

Edits will offer users a full range of ways to edit (hehe) their Reels for Instagram, like:

• Record in higher quality (YAY!)
• Inspiration tab with trending audio insights and what’s popular inside the app
• Better editing, like clip-level editing, green screen effects, overlays, and transitions
• Create 10-minute videos and store drafts in one spot
• Detailed analytics into your content performance

It seems like more will be released on the app soon, including AI features. Will it overtake CapCut? I wouldn’t be so sure, but we will definitely be giving it a go.

If you’re looking for the best AI tools for marketers, you’ve come to the right place. Here are our top tools to start using today.

No more searching for trending audio! Here is your up-to-date trending TikTok songs to use this week.

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