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- Influence Weekly #426 - Managing Creator Contracts At Scale: 25 Industry Voices On Tools, Trade-Offs, And Legal Risk
Influence Weekly #426 - Managing Creator Contracts At Scale: 25 Industry Voices On Tools, Trade-Offs, And Legal Risk
MrBeast Partners With Salesforce For Super Bowl Commercial
Nii Ahene
January 30, 2026
Spotlight Stories
MrBeast Partners With Salesforce For Super Bowl Commercial
Thailand Tourism Authority Activates Co-Creator Initiative With 20+ Influencers Across 10 Markets
Vimeo Cuts Jobs Globally After Bending Spoons Acquisition
Managing Creator Contracts At Scale: 25 Industry Voices On Tools, Trade-Offs, And Legal Risk
Great Reads
MrBeast announced a partnership with Salesforce for a Super Bowl commercial that will air during Super Bowl LX on February 8. The YouTuber, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, released a video showing him meeting with Salesforce's marketing team.
In the video, MrBeast received approval from executives to do anything he wanted in the ad, provided everything remained legal and Salesforce products appeared or were mentioned. He teased that viewers of the commercial "might become a millionaire" but did not reveal additional content details.
NBC will broadcast Super Bowl LX from Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California. The network sought at least $7 million for 30-second ads, with intense demand pushing some prices to $8 million and $10 million according to media buyers cited by Variety.
FilmRise acquired worldwide distribution rights to "The Infographics Show," a YouTube channel with 15.3 million subscribers and 6.6 billion views, through a multi-year agreement with producer Dark Matter Design. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The deal grants FilmRise's digital distribution subsidiary rights across digital media, FAST channels, broadcast, airlines, and ancillary platforms. Founded by Andrej Preston in 2011, the channel produces animated educational content covering science, survival scenarios, military strategy, world history, and true crime.
FilmRise plans to reorganize the channel's content library into seven themed series including "True Crime," "Mind & Body," "Science & Nature," "Military & Government," "War & History," "Prison & Punishment," and "Society & Culture." The company distributes over 70,000 movies and TV episodes across streaming and traditional platforms.
Creator contract management has evolved from simple paperwork to complex infrastructure as partnerships scale globally and deal structures grow more sophisticated. Industry experts report using a mix of standardized templates, e-signature platforms like DocuSign and PandaDoc, CRM systems including Salesforce and Monday, and custom-built AI tools for contract review and risk assessment.
Some companies like Kyra and HypeAuditor have developed proprietary platforms that integrate contracts directly into campaign workflows. The hardest challenges remain global legal complexity across jurisdictions, balancing creator-friendly terms with brand protection, managing usage rights at scale, and translating static legal language into live operational workflows.
Several agencies emphasize the importance of in-house legal teams and early term sheet discussions to prevent friction. The consensus points toward contracts becoming living infrastructure rather than static documents, requiring systems that connect legal, finance, and operations in real time.
Campaign Insights
American YouTuber IShowSpeed completed a 28-day livestreamed tour across African countries in December 2026, generating record viewership numbers that exceeded traditional tourism marketing reach. The 21-year-old content creator, who has 48 million YouTube subscribers, attracted 10 million views for his Ethiopia stop within 20 hours, 9.6 million views for Kenya, and 5 million for South Africa.
The self-funded tour began in Angola and showcased African destinations to predominantly Gen Z audiences through unfiltered livestreams. IShowSpeed's authentic content challenged stereotypes about the continent and demonstrated the effectiveness of influencer-driven marketing compared to conventional tourism campaigns.
African tourism boards, which typically spend millions annually on marketing campaigns, are now examining how livestream culture can amplify their promotional efforts. The tour particularly resonated with Black American audiences, a demographic that tourism officials across Africa are increasingly targeting through cultural immersion programs and diaspora-focused initiatives.
Meta shifts its Super Bowl strategy this year, promoting Oakley AI glasses instead of the Ray-Ban line it featured in 2025. The company released a teaser showing YouTuber IShowSpeed, director Spike Lee, former NFL player Marshawn Lynch, and athletes using the performance-focused wearables launched last June for sports and fitness applications. Agency Mother collaborated on the campaign set to air February 8.
Meta joins OpenAI as the second major AI company advertising during the game, continuing a trend of AI product promotion at the Super Bowl. The Ray-Ban AI glasses Meta promoted last year have sold over 2 million units since their September 2023 launch. Both Oakley and Ray-Ban are owned by EssilorLuxottica, positioning Meta's wearable tech partnerships within the same parent company.
Thailand's Tourism Authority launched the Thailand Co-Creator program from January 23-25, 2026, engaging more than 20 celebrities and influencers from Thailand and 10 international markets to create tourism content. The initiative targets short-haul markets including China, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Australia, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, South Korea, and India.
The program appointed Thai celebrity Mean Phiravich Attachitsataporn as lead ambassador. TAT structured the campaign around five wellness-focused routes: Kanchanaburi for nature activities, Chiang Mai-Lampang for cultural experiences, Sakon Nakhon-Nakhon Phanom for spiritual tourism, Khao Sok for rainforest landscapes, and Songkhla for culinary culture.
TAT projected the campaign would generate at least 100 million impressions worldwide through February 2026 content distribution. The program builds on TAT's August 2024 launch of TAT Connex, an influencer marketing platform connecting creators with tourism businesses across ten categories including hotels, restaurants, and attractions.
Outdoor brand PACKFIRE partnered with creator platform Popfly in early 2026 to develop a structured influencer and ambassador program focused on long-term trust building rather than immediate conversions. PACKFIRE, which sells portable fire pits, received over 100 creator applications for its initial seeding campaign through Popfly's platform.
The partnership brought together PACKFIRE strategic advisor Mike Wallenfels, marketer Nazera Carlson Carpenter, and Popfly's Andrew Riojas to create a creator-led go-to-market approach. Popfly, an outdoor-focused creator platform, centralized creator discovery, communication, and campaign logistics for PACKFIRE.
The company positioned creators as replacements for traditional retail floor associates, emphasizing product education and validation over immediate sales metrics. PACKFIRE approached the program as infrastructure development ahead of peak outdoor season in spring and summer 2026. The brand measured success through content depth, creator relationships, and audience trust before expecting meaningful commercial outcomes, representing a shift from transactional influencer marketing toward long-term credibility building.
Formula E appointed Ellie Norman as chief marketing officer in October 2024, bringing her from Manchester United after her previous role growing Formula One's fanbase at Liberty Media from 2017 to 2022. Norman implemented an influencer-focused marketing strategy centered on creators and micro-influencers with combined followings exceeding 300 million.
The electric racing series launched Evo Sessions, featuring celebrities including Brooklyn Beckham and Sergio Aguero in time trials that premiered as a CBS documentary. Formula E also partnered with MrBeast and secured a sponsorship deal with his Feastables brand, while maintaining broadcast flexibility for influencer co-creation around live races.
The strategy delivered measurable results, with Formula E's global fanbase reaching 422 million by the end of season 11, representing 13 percent growth. Digital impressions surpassed 1.39 billion in 2025, while video views increased 47 percent year-over-year, with Evo Sessions accounting for 42 percent of total views. The series maintained free-to-air broadcast deals including with ITV in the UK to maximize accessibility for its millennial and Gen Z target demographics.
Universal Music Group launched "Universal Music Live," a dedicated Twitch channel through its °1824 division on January 27, 2026. The channel will broadcast music events, performances, and conversations while helping UMG artists establish Twitch presences with marketing and production guidance. The initiative debuts February 1 with exclusive UMG Grammy Afterparty red carpet coverage at 9 p.m. Pacific.
The °1824 division operates as UMG's central livestream production unit, having produced over 300 live broadcasts featuring artists including Doechii, NAV, and Coco Jones. The team provides content creation, social media management, and livestreaming services to UMG labels.
DICK's Sporting Goods opened applications this week for an expanded version of its in-house influencer program, part of a broader industry shift toward brands seeking more control over creator partnerships. The sporting goods retailer launched its ambassador program with employees in 2023 and expanded to public creators in 2024, featuring more than 50 creators in over 20 campaigns for DICK's and partner brands including Adidas, New Balance, On and Hoka.
The company plans to add more creators and sports categories this year, with media campaigns scheduled to begin in May featuring athletes Tara Davis-Woodhall, Hunter Woodhall, RobertAnthony Cruz and Emily Harrigan. DICK's reported comparable sales increased 5.7% in Q3 but declined to specify the program's financial contribution.
YouTube advertising on television screens gained traction among U.S. agencies in 2025, with 62% planning to use the platform on TV screens in 2026, up from 60%, according to Pixability, a data platform for YouTube advertisers. The study surveyed 171 U.S. media executives in November 2025.
Agency executives reported a 51% increase in overall YouTube advertising investment in 2025 compared to 2024, with another 43% increase expected in 2026. Only 4% anticipated declining YouTube investment. Connected TV and YouTube each saw 52% and 51% growth respectively in overall investment.
TikTok creator Romeo Bingham's homemade Dr Pepper jingle went viral with 54 million views, leading the brand to license the song for an NCAA football commercial. The 25-year-old's success sparked a wave of creators flooding social platforms with brand jingles hoping to replicate her breakthrough, while major brands like Denny's, Buffalo Wild Wings and Popeyes flooded her comments requesting their own songs. Bingham has since created jingles for Hyundai and Vita Coca.
Digital culture expert Dayna Castillo warns the trend normalizes unpaid promotional labor, with brands receiving free creative work complete with real-time audience testing and engagement metrics. The phenomenon represents a shift in creator-brand power dynamics as influencers compete for marketing budgets through public auditions. Critics note the practice risks flooding platforms with subpar sponsored content while burning out creators and audiences, as internet users increasingly consume ads made by peers hoping for brand recognition.
Interesting People
Creator Annika Osterlund balanced a content creation business with a marketing role while maintaining 350,000 followers across YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. Osterlund started her YouTube channel as a child in 2018, reached 100,000 subscribers by filming beauty content, and recently gained 10,000 new YouTube subscribers after returning to consistent posting.
Her revenue streams included YouTube AdSense and brand partnerships managed by Greenlight Group, a talent management company. She previously handled brand outreach independently before signing with management. Osterlund monetized all long-form YouTube videos and earned additional income from YouTube Shorts.
The creator planned to post weekly YouTube content throughout 2026 and aimed to transition from her marketing role to full-time content creation once creator income reached sustainable levels. She credited audience retention to maintaining an unfiltered personality across format changes, shifting from beauty tutorials to lifestyle vlogs as platform trends evolved.
Mamadou Ndiaye transformed his accidental TikTok account @mndiaye_97 into "Casual Geographic," a multi-platform creator business focused on nature education through comedy. The creator started posting in April 2020 after being laid off from his environmental technician job and gained traction with deadpan animal facts videos.
Ndiaye expanded beyond TikTok to YouTube in late 2020 due to platform uncertainty concerns. His content evolved from pure entertainment to conservation messaging, exemplified by his viral panda video that shifted public perception about the species. The creator transitioned from solo operation to team-based production in 2025, hiring editors while maintaining creative control.
Rush Bogin founded Rush X Inc., a digital fashion company creating virtual clothing for Roblox, while still in high school. The company has generated over 55 million sales on the platform and worked with brands including Adidas, Netflix, and Walmart. Bogin began creating fashion items at age 14 during the March 2020 school shutdowns, initially working 20-30 hours weekly with minimal sales.
His breakthrough came with a virtual winter beanie that generated 1,000 sales overnight, prompting him to formalize operations. Rush X serves as a bridge between traditional brands and Roblox's 100 million daily active users, helping companies create native platform experiences rather than traditional advertisements.
Khaby Lame, TikTok's most-followed creator with 360 million followers across platforms, sold a stake in his company Step Distinctive Limited to U.S.-listed Rich Sparkle Holdings for $900 million on January 23. The transaction grants Rich Sparkle exclusive global commercial rights to Lame's brand for 36 months, covering partnerships, endorsements, licensing, and e-commerce.
Under the agreement, Lame becomes a controlling shareholder in Rich Sparkle Holdings. The company projects its integrated platform could generate over $4 billion in annual sales once fully implemented, with initial rollout planned for the United States, Middle East, and Southeast Asia over three years.
Netflix greenlit an untitled reality series starring influencer Alix Earle, marking another streaming platform's investment in creator-driven content. The 25-year-old TikTok star, who has over 13 million combined followers across platforms, will feature alongside her sister Ashtin Earle and inner circle in the unscripted show.
Fulwell Entertainment, the production company behind Hulu's "The Kardashians," will produce the series alongside Miami entrepreneur David Grutman's DGN Studios. Executive producers include Ben Winston, Paul Loban, and Charlie Van Vleet from Fulwell Entertainment.
Industry News
The US and China approved the sale of TikTok's US business to a consortium led by Oracle and Silver Lake, ending a multi-year regulatory battle. The deal closed this week, meeting the January 22 deadline set by the Trump administration's executive order that granted a 120-day stay on enforcement of the federal ban.
ByteDance retained just under 20% of the US business, while Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX each received 15% stakes. MGX is a UAE state-owned investment firm focused on AI. Additional investors included Susquehanna, Dragoneer, and DFO, Michael Dell's family office.
The transaction valued TikTok's US unit at approximately $14 billion, according to Vice President JD Vance's September statement. The new entity will operate under a seven-member majority-American board and control data protection, content moderation, and algorithm security. The deal resolved the divestiture requirement from Biden's 2024 law mandating ByteDance sell its US operations over national security concerns.
TikTok completed a deal to maintain U.S. operations through a joint venture with Oracle, Silver Lake, and Emirati firm MGX, following Congressional legislation requiring divestiture from Beijing-based ByteDance. The arrangement requires algorithm retraining on U.S. user data, which will create changes to personalized feeds and shift content toward American trends.
Legal questions remain about ByteDance's continued algorithm licensing to the U.S. entity, given Congressional restrictions on cooperation regarding content recommendation algorithms. The original 2024 law cited concerns about Chinese government access for propaganda or data collection purposes.
Building Influencer Marketing From The Inside Out: How Jeremy Barbara Is Rethinking The Agency Model
Jeremy Barbara launched InHouse Influencer Marketing in late 2025, a New York consultancy that embeds with brands as a fractional influencer marketing team rather than operating as a traditional agency. Barbara spent nearly ten years building influencer programs at companies including SeatGeek, where he generated over one billion views on sponsored videos and grew Instagram to 1.3 million followers through partnerships with more than 1,000 creators.
InHouse positions itself as an alternative to the agency-versus-in-house hiring dilemma. Barbara integrates directly into client organizations with company email addresses and Slack access, providing strategy development, creator sourcing, campaign execution, and measurement infrastructure. The model targets early to mid-stage companies seeking to build sustainable influencer programs without percentage-of-spend fee structures.
StreamGenie, a content licensing platform co-founded by Joseph Sottile, launched in January 2026 to help creators monetize archived and unused content through AI and enterprise licensing deals. The company operates as infrastructure rather than a marketplace, connecting creators with technology companies building private AI models for robotics training, motion analysis, and product testing.
StreamGenie tested its model using internal archives, licensing over 1,100 hours of stored content across multiple deals for more than $15,000 without new filming or editing. The platform offers non-exclusive licensing with creators retaining ownership and likeness rights, limiting buyers to private AI training and testing with no redistribution allowed.
Pricing ranges from $8 to $200 per hour depending on content type, with on-camera livestream footage earning $25 to $40 per hour. The platform supports ingestion from Twitch, TikTok, and Kick, with YouTube support in development. StreamGenie targets individual creators, content owners with archives, and agencies managing creator rosters, positioning archived content as monetizable inventory rather than disposable material.
TikTok's newly formed US entity faced widespread technical problems and censorship allegations following its separation from Chinese parent company ByteDance last Thursday. The platform received 663,061 user reports of issues between Saturday and Monday, according to outage monitor Downdetector. Users reported zero views on new posts, inability to search political content, and blocked messages containing "Epstein."
California Governor Gavin Newsom announced an investigation into alleged content suppression critical of the Trump administration. His office said it received confirmed reports of suppressed anti-Trump content on the platform.
TikTok attributed the problems to a power outage at partner Oracle's data center, causing cascading systems failures. The company denied implementing content restrictions and said no rules prevent sharing the name "Epstein" in direct messages. The US operation is managed by a consortium including Oracle, Silver Lake, and Emirati investor MGX, while ByteDance retains 19.9% ownership.
Creator marketing platform GRIN launched self-serve access to its platform in January 2026, eliminating enterprise sales demos and annual contract requirements. The Sacramento-based company now offers a 30-day free trial with month-to-month credit card billing, allowing brands to cancel at any time.
The platform shift addressed industry budget constraints, with Gartner research showing 59% of chief marketing officers reported insufficient budget to execute their strategy in 2025. GRIN previously operated under an enterprise sales model requiring demonstrations and annual commitments.
GRIN serves brands including SKIMS, Rhode, and GoPro through its creator management platform. The company reported its customers generated over $245 million in affiliate conversion revenue in 2025, delivered 1.5 million pieces of creator content, and sent 3.2 million emails plus 450,000 products through the platform. Recent product launches included Social Listening for brand mention tracking and Affiliate Hub for performance partnership management.
TrueFans.fm closed a funding round at a £10 million valuation in January 2026. The London-based podcasting platform secured investment from high-net-worth individuals through the UK government's Enterprise Investment Scheme, though the total amount raised was not disclosed.
The funding will support several product launches planned for the coming months. TrueFans.fm will introduce a hosting service supporting audio, video, and live content, alongside updated mobile applications.
The platform will launch Voice AI agents named Kevin and Kelly, designed to enhance creator and fan engagement. TrueFans.fm positions itself as a creator-first platform that combines hosting, community tools, and voice technologies.
The company aims to help podcasters and audio creators grow, monetize, and maintain ownership of their audiences while providing fans with ways to support and interact with creators. CEO Sam Sethi said the funding represents "a giant leap forward" for the three-year-old company.
The Podcast Show London opened speaker submissions for its May 20-21, 2026 conference while announcing a 10-member International Advisory Board to guide programming. The submission period runs from February 2-28, 2026, accepting proposals for full panels, keynotes, and individual speaker nominations through the event's website.
The Advisory Board includes executives from audio platforms and podcast networks including Ruth Fitzsimons from Bauer Media, James Cridland from Podnews, Megan Bradshaw from Amazon Music, Carrie Lieberman from iHeartPodcasts, and representatives from Audioboom, Global, CBC Podcasts, and other industry organizations. The board will review submissions alongside The Podcast Show London Content Team.
The conference offers first-release discounted passes with savings up to £100 until January 30, 2026. The event brings together industry leaders, brands, platforms, and podcast creators for what organizers called their "most ambitious" programming in the show's fifth year of operation.
Vimeo laid off staff globally following its $1.38 billion acquisition by Milan-based tech conglomerate Bending Spoons in late 2025. A Bending Spoons spokesperson confirmed the cuts but declined to specify the number of affected employees. Social media posts from laid-off workers suggested the reductions were widespread and included Vimeo's entire video team.
The layoffs marked Vimeo's second workforce reduction in less than a year, following September 2025 cuts that eliminated roughly 10% of full-time staff. Bending Spoons, valued at approximately $11 billion, operates a portfolio including Meetup, WeTransfer, Evernote, and Eventbrite with over 300 million monthly active users and 10 million paying customers.
The company has established a pattern of deep workforce reductions after acquisitions. Bending Spoons cut roughly 75% of WeTransfer's staff following that purchase and eliminated entire teams at Evernote and video app Filmic after previous deals. The firm continues active dealmaking, announcing plans to acquire AOL for $1.5 billion in October 2025.
Substack launched a TV app for Apple TV and Google TV in January 2026, allowing newsletter creators to distribute video content to television screens. The newsletter platform, which raised $100 million in July 2025, released the app to expand video distribution options for creators on its platform.
Both free and paid subscribers can access content through the app based on their subscription levels. The initial version includes video playback, livestreams, and a "For You" recommendation section. Creators publishing videos on Substack do not need to take additional steps, as their content automatically appears for subscribers.
Substack plans future updates including audio posts, search functionality, and in-app subscription upgrades. The company also intends to add sections for different shows from individual publications.
Statusphere, a micro-influencer marketing platform that connects enterprise brands with content creators, closed an $18 million Series A funding round. The AI-powered platform has now raised $27 million total to date.
The company serves enterprise brands including Express, Parlux, Kendo Brands, and LG H&H by automating large-scale creator programs from influencer sourcing to content tracking and rights management. Statusphere uses artificial intelligence to make human-generated content scalable and measurable across social media, retail, and paid advertising channels.
The funding will support expansion of the platform's social SEO and generative engine optimization capabilities, which help brands improve product discovery through AI-powered search engines. Statusphere also plans to build new tools for content creators on its platform.
CEO Kristen Wiley founded the company to address enterprise brands' need for scalable influencer marketing without sacrificing content authenticity, positioning the platform for the shift toward AI-driven product discovery and search.
Registration Required
TikTok is facing backlash from creators and politicians who claim the platform is suppressing content about Immigration and Customs Enforcement following the Minneapolis shooting of Alex Pretti. The company attributes the issue to a power outage at a U.S. data center that prevented video uploads and incorrectly displayed zero views on some posts.
The controversy tests TikTok's credibility after ByteDance spun off its U.S. operations into a joint venture controlled by non-Chinese investors, including firms tied to President Trump. Senator Chris Murphy called potential censorship a top threat to democracy, while comedian Megan Stalter and California State Senator Scott Wiener reported their ICE-related posts showing zero engagement. TikTok maintains the problems stem solely from technical issues, not algorithmic changes.
The creator economy underwent structural consolidation in 2026 as brands shifted from experimental campaigns to permanent marketing infrastructure requiring enterprise-level reliability. Talent management evolved beyond deal brokering to comprehensive business building, with managers becoming operating partners for creators developing products and intellectual property.
Brand agencies expanded beyond execution to strategic planning while integrating talent platforms and performance data. Ashley Villa, founder of Rare Global, noted successful creators must be involved in every business process from sourcing to marketing. Danielle Wiley, CEO of Sway Group, emphasized data-driven campaign customization as a prerequisite for agencies.
Artificial intelligence emerged as the operational layer connecting creator discovery, audience matching, and performance optimization across unified datasets. The fragmented ecosystem that previously enabled rapid scaling gave way to consolidated platforms combining talent management, brand services, and technology. Companies with diversified revenue streams, long-term brand relationships, and proprietary data gained market advantages, positioning themselves as platforms rather than intermediaries in the maturing creator economy market.
TikTok settled a lawsuit Monday claiming social media companies engineered products to addict young users, avoiding what would have been the first landmark trial in a wave of cases against major platforms. The case involves a California woman who says she became addicted as a child and suffered anxiety, depression and body-image issues.
TikTok and Snap both settled, leaving Meta and YouTube as remaining defendants when jury selection begins Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and YouTube chief Neal Mohan are expected to testify. Thousands of individuals, school districts and state attorneys general have filed similar lawsuits seeking monetary damages and platform design changes.
The cases argue features like infinite scroll and algorithmic recommendations cause compulsive use and harm mental health. Over a dozen additional trials involving TikTok and other platforms are scheduled this year in state and federal courts.
YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson, known as MrBeast, sued his business partner Virtual Dining Concepts in July 2023 to terminate their MrBeast Burger partnership after three years of operations. The ghost kitchen venture launched in 2020 and expanded to over 1,000 locations by 2021, selling burgers through third-party restaurants ranging from 7-Eleven to Red Robin.
Revenue dropped from $64 million in 2022 to $45 million in 2023 amid quality complaints and public disputes. VDC countersued, claiming Donaldson breached contract obligations and sabotaged the brand through negative tweets. Court documents revealed Donaldson owned 50% of MrBeast Burger but lacked operational control, leading to frustration over customer complaints about undercooked food and incorrect orders.
Meanwhile, Donaldson's candy brand Feastables generated over $200 million in revenue during 2024 and remained profitable. His parent company Beast Industries raised $200 million in fresh funding from a crypto company and achieved a $5 billion valuation in 2024. The MrBeast Burger lawsuit could proceed to trial later this year.
Creator Gabriella Carr launched the 1,000 Rejections Challenge in September 2025, tracking brand campaigns, acting auditions and other opportunities in a red notebook with the goal of collecting 1,000 nos. The 22-year-old actress started the project after struggling with follower loss and failed auditions, reasoning that facing rejection would help her persist. She's collected 86 rejections and 17 yeses so far, landing acting roles, a pageant title and a Dutch passport approval.
The challenge has sparked a social media trend, with microinfluencers tracking job applications, lease negotiations and brand pitches. Carr's Instagram following jumped from 17,000 to over 82,000 as users embrace the anti-perfection approach. Psychotherapist Lynn Lyons notes that avoiding rejection can increase anxiety and isolation, particularly affecting young people online. The challenge reframes failure as progress during resolution season when connection matters most.
Canada's Federal Court shelved an order requiring TikTok to wind down its subsidiary, allowing the company to continue operating while the government conducts a new national security review. The previous November 2024 order under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau required ByteDance to close TikTok Technology Canada, though it didn't ban the app itself. Industry Minister Melanie Joly will oversee the new review under the Investment Canada Act.
TikTok welcomed the decision, noting the platform serves over 14 million Canadian users and employs hundreds locally. University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist called the move a reset button on the ban. The development follows Prime Minister Mark Carney's recent visit to China, where he announced a trade detente with President Xi Jinping. TikTok maintains keeping its Canadian operations supports millions in investment and local jobs.