Scrolling politics

Hi, it’s Aisha in San Francisco and Alex in Los Angeles. Meta’s newfound aversion to political drama could cement TikTok as the most relevan [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Hi, it’s Aisha in San Francisco and Alex in Los Angeles. Meta’s newfound aversion to political drama could cement TikTok as the most relevant platform in an election year. But first… Three things you need to know today: • Uber will buy back [$7 billion in shares]( • Scammers created dating app profiles [using AI]( • Soros is set to be [Audacy’s biggest shareholder]( Seeking political talk Donald Trump’s first election campaign played out on Facebook. Protests against the murder of George Floyd and the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade took to its sister app, Instagram. Journalists and commentators have begun to see Meta Platform Inc.’s Twitter copycat, Threads, as a space for news away from Elon Musk’s X. But with Meta getting squeamish about politics at the cusp of the US election year, the tech giant stands to lose relevance to rival TikTok. Meta last week formally said it’ll be prioritizing light, advertiser-friendly topics like fashion and sports, while stopping[recommendations of political content]( in people’s feeds across Facebook, Instagram and Threads. Users will have to actively search for political news and commentary, or manually opt in to see posts on elections or certain social topics that Meta deems politics-adjacent. Political content creators also won’t be able to reach new followers with those posts. Meanwhile, that momentum has been shifting TikTok’s direction. President Joe[Biden’s election campaign launched its account]( on the viral video site on Super Bowl Sunday. Despite ongoing concerns about the app’s ownership by Chinese tech giant ByteDance Ltd., Biden’s team seems to recognize that TikTok will be a key political hub during election season. TikTok has both the hard-to-reach youth vote and is increasingly popular with older demographics. The [average age of the 170 million Americans]( logging in every month is now older than 30, the company said last month. One Gen-Z creator, who focuses on news and politics, said they plan to spend less time on Instagram and more on TikTok, where their content has a better chance of getting views. The creator declined to be named for fear of retribution from the platforms. Some Instagram and Thread users, who are concerned about what exactly Meta will define as political content, have also said they are planning to move to other apps. No longer just an app for silly dance videos, TikTok has been a lively place for political discussion on topics from the wars in Israel and Ukraine to the state of reproductive rights in America. Young people are increasingly turning to the app as a [news source](, while Facebook and X have seen a decline in users who say they regularly get their news there, according to Pew Research. X, which used to dominate political discourse, has been mired in controversy ever since owner Elon Musk bought the platform and loosened its rules on content safety. As a result, some of the prominent journalists, politicians and organizations who used to drive those conversations have left. Read More: [How Jack Dorsey’s Plan for Elon Musk to Save Twitter Went South]( TikTok’s app is already set up for back-and-forth discourse that lends itself to these topics. Discussions in comment sections can be as popular as videos themselves. Users can “stitch” or “duet” others’ videos by showing clips and adding their own commentary. The app doesn’t allow political ads, limiting it to ideas from real people or videos from politicians. Last year, we wrote about Meta’s unique opportunity with its new app, Threads, to capture some of the [online zeitgeist]( it has lost to TikTok and how decisions around censoring certain topics [will limit]( the potential for culturally important conversations. Meta has yet to define which “social topics” it considers to be political, and therefore suppressed compared with non-politically labeled posts. We don’t know how exactly the company will draw the line between a social or human rights issue versus part of the political process – things that are often inexplicably intertwined. While Meta’s new policies are meant to limit controversies on its apps, they also could make them both a bit boring and alienating to certain groups. Either way, they’re ceding a surefire source of topics to TikTok that will keep people scrolling in 2024. —[Aisha Counts](mailto:acounts3@bloomberg.net) and [Alex Barinka](mailto:abarinka2@bloomberg.net) The big story After a press release typo inflated Lyft’s earnings outlook and sent shares soaring, [CEO David Risher took the blame for the mistake.]( “First of all, it’s on me,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg TV. The release erroneously noted the company expects its earnings margin to expand by 500 base points. In reality, Lyft expects margins to grow by 50 basis points. One to watch [Watch that Bloomberg Technology TV interview]( with Lyft’s CEO. Get fully charged Elon Musk’s Starlink won a license that will allow it to operate in [Israel and parts of Gaza](. OpenAI Chairman Bret Taylor said his AI chatbot startup Sierra won’t [compete with the maker of ChatGPT](. The cybersecurity startup Armis is buying a threat intelligence company that [uses AI to create traps for hackers](. Silicon Valley startup accelerator Y Combinator includes sectors like robotics and space in a new list of startups it’s hoping will [join its accelerator program](. Nation-state hackers are using AI to bolster their cyberattacks, [according to a Microsoft report](. More from Bloomberg Get Bloomberg Tech weeklies in your inbox: - [Cyber Bulletin]( for coverage of the shadow world of hackers and cyber-espionage - [Game On]( for reporting on the video game business - [Power On]( for Apple scoops, consumer tech news and more - [Screentime]( for a front-row seat to the collision of Hollywood and Silicon Valley - [Soundbite]( for reporting on podcasting, the music industry and audio trends - [Q&AI]( for answers to all your questions about AI Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Want to sponsor this newsletter? [Get in touch here](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Tech Daily newsletter. If a friend forwarded you this message, [sign up here]( to get it in your inbox. [Unsubscribe]( [Bloomberg.com]( [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10022 [Ads Powered By Liveintent]( [Ad Choices](