| Hey all, it’s Alicia Clanton in New York. TikTok’s future in the US is suddenly looking much more dire, though you wouldn’t know from using the app. But first... Three things you need to know today: • Elon Musk’s X popped up suddenly on phones and laptops in Brazil.
• YouTube is expanding shopping efforts in Asia in a deal with Shopee
• Hackers extorted a record $75 million payment in a February cyberattack on drug distributor Cencora Exactly four months from today, we’ll have a pretty good idea whether TikTok gets to continue operations in the US. The odds aren’t looking good. On Monday, TikTok’s lawyers appeared at an appellate court hearing to make the case that a proposed ban of the popular video app in the US violates the company’s First Amendment rights. The three judges who heard TikTok’s free speech argument seemed unmoved — they were more concerned about the ways in which engineers at the Chinese-owned social networking company might tweak its content algorithm to manipulate what Americans see. The hearing was so rough that Bloomberg Intelligence cut the company’s chances of beating the proposed ban to 30% from 70%. You’d think a disastrous hearing like this would sound alarm bells, but the mood on the app appeared to be business as usual. When talks of a TikTok ban first emerged back in 2020 under then-President Donald Trump, the news triggered a massive outcry on my For You Page, as users flooded the app with posts decrying the possible loss of the app. But Monday’s hearing barely made a splash. Most creators I’ve talked to over the past several months say they’re bracing for a ban and preparing to jump to other platforms just in case, but the January deadline for a shutdown doesn’t exactly feel real. And why would it? Publicly, at least, TikTok seems to be carrying on as if nothing dark and stormy is looming. Last month, Amazon.com Inc. launched a partnership to sell its products directly through TikTok’s app, which could be seen as a vote of confidence. Kamala Harris and Trump have leaned on the app to promote their respective presidential campaigns, a strategy that seems to contradict the government’s stance on the ban. Meanwhile, public support for blocking the app is fading. Just 32% of US adults say they back a TikTok ban, down from 50% a year and a half ago. Half of Americans say they doubt it will happen. If anything, Americans are using TikTok even more. The number of US adults who regularly get news from TikTok is up fivefold since 2020, the year Trump first floated the idea of shutting down the app. It feels like Americans are simply unprepared for a ban, which is getting more and more likely. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Matthew Schettenhelm said that’s a mistake. Congress passed a law signed by President Joe Biden that requires TikTok’s China-based owner ByteDance Ltd. to sell the app by Jan. 19 or it will be banned in the US. “It’s possible that people are thinking about a TikTok ban as just typical noise from Washington — a lot of talk but no action. While that’s often correct, it’s wrong here,” Schettenhelm said in an email. “This is not a drill…the only way for TikTok to stop [the ban], other than a sale that looks like a non-starter, is to win in court. And after Monday’s hearing, that looks difficult.” When that Jan. 19 deadline rolls around, it may not be an overnight shut-off. The deadline can be pushed back 90 days if a sale seems to be in progress and legal action could cause further delay. But ultimately something will happen. Even though we can see it coming, a ban will likely stir panic among the 170 million American creators and users who use the app every month. TikTok’s fans have lost a sense of urgency over the four long years this debate has dragged on, but things appear to be more dire than ever.—Alicia Clanton Startup chip designer Ampere is said to be working with a financial adviser to consider a possible sale. The move suggests the company, backed by Oracle Corp., doesn’t see an easy path to an IPO. While Ampere has benefited from the demand for artificial intelligence, it faces an increasingly competitive environment. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler says the financial markets risk heartbreak if they overuse artificial intelligence. OpenAI hired an executive from online learning company Coursera to help the company take AI into the classroom. T-Mobile projected higher profit, fueled by customer gains and the use of new technologies, as it set out growth plans for the next three years. Amazon raised the pay of its warehouse workers. | 
