Energy independence undermined: A group is using propaganda to keep other countries dependent on rare-earth minerals from China. As more disinformation looms, social media companies could help stop it.

China deems personalized recommendations discriminatory and harmful to user well-being: The new law could discourage users from spending time—and money—on retail and social media platforms.

China continues to lead the world in all things ecommerce, including innovation. Social commerce livestreaming is just one of many new stories for 2021 and beyond.

Kearney’s China Diversification Index, which analyzes the shift of US manufacturing away from China to other low-cost countries in Asia, saw the US import value from China decrease from 66% of the total in 2018 to 55% at the end of 2021. “Made in America” will shift from a consumer preference to a business imperative.

Ecommerce transactions on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, tripled to $77.48 billion (RMB 500 billion) in gross merchandise value (GMV) in 2020, per a report by Chinese news outlet LatePost. (More recent figures are not available.).

Tech wrestles with an era of uncertainty: As 2022 hits the halfway point, we look at how various technology companies navigate expected and unexpected challenges that could alter the business landscape.

ByteDance properties Douyin and TikTok have been making waves inside and outside China for several years. Their combined spectacular growth will result in ad revenues of more than $30 billion for their parent company in 2022, leaving ByteDance in fifth place among ad publishers worldwide.

Asia-Pacific will no longer produce huge increases in new social network users, but the sheer scale of the region means it should remain front and center for social media marketers. Facebook will remain on top, but TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat are making waves.

Although creators kept the full amount, this huge haul points to the potential for adding IAPs or commerce features on social media. Social commerce, in fact, is growing rapidly—although the main goals for these companies are likely higher engagement, creator retention, and better data for ad targeting, as much as affiliate fees or commissions.

Meta’s campaign against TikTok will do little to hide its own issues: Negative stories about rivals won’t fix its longstanding advertising and content issues.

China joined 16 other countries when its powerful Personal Information Protection Law came into effect in November 2021. The law gives consumers even more opt-in rights than GDPR, and regulators in China have more leeway in enforcement.

Read the latest stories from Insider Intelligence about artificial intelligence in social media.

He also heaped praise on Chinese social media and mobile payments app WeChat and video-sharing app TikTok as possible examples of the direction he’d like to take Twitter. His investor pitch to fund the acquisition involved generating as much as $15 million from a Twitter payments business in 2023. Here’s how it could work:.