Tech: Welcome to TikTok’s underbelly

Plus: Zuckerberg's copycat game with Musk, and Uber cuts.

View in browser Subscribe February 23, 2023 Everyone should have a role model, reader. I'm Diamond Naga Siu, and I look up to a ton of people: my grandfather, mother, mentors, friends, colleagues, and others in my life. I ask them for advice, spend quality time with them, and maybe make them laugh every now and then. I admire them a lot. So I definitely wouldn't publicly insult them, and then openly copy their work. But that's what Mark Zuckerberg appears to be doing with Elon Musk. Zuck followed Musk's lead in launching subscriptions to access certain verification-based features. (BTW: My teammate Hasan Chowdhury highlighted how this move shows they both care way more about money than free speech.) And Meta's layoffs were also suspiciously timed. My teammate Asia Martin breaks down how Zuck's imitation (following some earlier insults) is the sincerest form of flattery to Musk. That's not the starstruck approach I'd personally take. But we have that and more tech news below. If this was forwarded to you, sign up here. a_howie/Tiktok, abang_rysolbokek/Tiktok, actordouglastait/Tiktok, babysammyyyyy/Tiktok, carina_bestie/Tiktok, dr.wu13/Tiktok, Tyler Le/Insider   1. An all-nighter on TikTok's dark underbelly (AKA TikTok Live). My colleague Kieran Press-Reynolds stayed up all night watching streams on TikTok. Each hour got weirder and darker.   He told me: "I'd been getting inundated with the most bizarre livestreams for ages, and I figured it might be fascinating to see how wild and unfettered they would get after midnight."   Kieran added that "the experience of drifting through these streams really makes you feel disturbed and disoriented."   He encountered people pretending to sleep, a fake shower striptease, paranormal investigators, and other oddities.   Follow Kieren's "unsettling" hour-by-hour account watching TikTok Live. ADVERTISEMENT Make compliance a competitive advantage Download Laika's guide to SOC 2 compliance to learn everything you need to know about this important standard, and how you can use it to give your startup a competitive edge. DOWNLOAD NOW IN OTHER NEWS Zuckerberg, Musk, & more Kevin Dietsch/Michael Gonzalez/Getty Images   2. Musk everything Zuck wanna be. Zuck appears to be playing a copycat game with Musk. Although the two have made public digs at each other, an analyst believes there's more beneath the surface. Zuck clearly looks up to Musk, in some ways. Read more here. 3. TikTok's parent company quietly launched a new social media platform. Creators told Insider that ByteDance has been paying them to post on its new platform Lemon8. It's a cross between Pinterest and Instagram. Here's everything you need to know about the latest app. 4. Yelp employees flocked to Texas and Florida. When the company went fully remote, many employees bounced from areas like New York, Chicago, and Washington, DC. Follow their relocations here. 5. Uber, uber (performance) everywhere yeah. The embattled ridesharing company is cutting employees due to a more rigorous performance evaluation. An Uber rep confirmed the plans with Insider, while adding the company doesn't plan widespread layoffs. More on the job cuts here. 6. Apple's new, 10-year anniversary gift to employees. Employees used to receive a five-pound block of crystal. Now, they get a slab of aluminum. Check out the commemorative hardware here. 7. AI isn't replacing you — it's laying you off. Hundreds of HR leaders shared that they plan to use software and algorithms to conduct layoffs this year. Skills and performance data will be vital to this decision-making method. More on the robotic layoffs here. 8. Hyundai's low-cost, long-range electric sedan spells trouble for Tesla. The Ioniq 5 already knocked EV competition out of the park. But the new Ioniq 6 is even better and poses a direct threat to Tesla's Model 3. Race over to the EV competition here. ODDS AND ENDS Stock market warning & midlife crisis Getty Images; Alyssa Powell/Insider   9. Elite investors whisper warnings of a stock market crash. The economy's recent resilience has stunned Wall Street. Experts are outwardly optimistic about it. But behind closed doors, they're concerned. Get the secretive economic forecast here. 10. Millions of millennials are about to enter a midlife crisis. And the world isn't prepared for their personal turmoil, according to new research. They'll likely spend more money, divorce at lower rates, and value experiences. Check out the impending personal plight here. WHAT WE'RE WATCHING TODAY Earnings, sentencings, & more Quarterly earnings for Alibaba, Warner Bros Discovery, and other companies. Keep up with earnings here. R. Kelly is receiving his sentencing in Chicago today after his conviction on charges of sexual exploitation. Harvey Weinstein is receiving his sentencing in Los Angeles today after multiple sex crime convictions. The Univision Latin Music Awards are tonight in Miami. CAN'T GET ENOUGH? Keep up with Insider Get Insider's app and notifications to be the first to find out about the stories you want to know — from tech to business. Download it here. Become an Insider subscriber to get actionable, high-value news and insights to improve your career, company, and community. Subscribe here. Want more of Insider in your inbox? Sign up for our newsletters here. Curated by Diamond Naga Siu in San Diego. (Tips? Email dsiu@insider.com or tweet @diamondnagasiu) Edited by Matt Weinberger (tweet @gamoid) in San Francisco and Hallam Bullock (tweet @hallam_bullock) in London. 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