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Trump to block downloads of TikTok in the U.S. from Sunday

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I woke up this morning to the rumour about Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom being approached by TikTok to be its next CEO… If there is ever to be a sequel to The Social Network movie, that would make for an epic plot twist!

Anyway…

Earlier this week, Facebook held its annual AR / VR event (Facebook Connect). Lots of geeky, cool new bits of hardware were revealed, including Oculus Quest 2 and a preview of Facebook’s AR glasses. Facebook REALLY wants to own and dominate the AR / VR space, much like Apple achieved with iPhone, its App Store, and Apple Pay. Facebook is well placed to do this right now, however, Apple’s also rumoured to be working on its own AR device which we may hear more about in the year ahead. Watch this space.

As for the big TikTok vs. Trump farce… See BREAKING NEWS above. I’ve just had to rewrite bits of today’s newsletter literally minutes before I was about to hit ‘Send’ when I spotted today’s significant developments. More analysis on Trump’s decision to block downloads of TikTok in the U.S from Sunday can be found below.

For the people asking me what I thought about the Netflix documentary ‘The Social Dilemma’: Mostly that it oversimplified the complexities of the issues it was highlighting, and placing a lot of blame for a lot of problems at the doors of Facebook and other big tech companies. I have no doubt it felt like a bit of an eye opener for some, but for tech savvy or geekier types, much of it was more a reminder of what we already knew or suspected. I enjoyed watching it, but I did not leave feeling enlightened or woke by the points it was trying to hammer home.

Right, let’s dig into this week’s big stories and another fresh batch of new tools and features for you lovely lot to go play with. 👇

Just as I was about to hit send on this week’s newsletter, news broke that Trump DOES plan to ban TikTok from this Sunday, as the deadline for a deal passes.

It follows a week in which potential deals have unravelled. Microsoft’s bid was rejected last weekend, leaving all focus on Oracle’s bid to be a ‘trusted tech partner’ for ByteDance in the US.

Given ByteDance didn’t really want to sell, and China wasn’t keen on a sale either, they’d been pushing for an outcome where ByteDance would retain at least some control. As Axios reported, Oracle would handle all US-related tech for TikTok, check its code for backdoors and security holes, and keep an eye on all future updates. Essentially, Oracle would police TikTok on behalf of the US government.

There would also be a US-specific board, and a separate company, TikTok Global, would own the US entity as well as TikTok around the world. Oracle would have a stake in this company, which Instagram founder Kevin Systrom had been reportedly approached to run(!) It would also float on a US stock exchange.

It’s all very complicated, but we always knew it would be — a simple sale of TikTok’s US operations was always a tough deal when the world’s two biggest superpowers are clashing over the outcome.

But now it seems Trump would prefer to upset millions of young people across America just before an election by banning TikTok from being downloaded. The app should still work for those who already have it, but for how long is another question, as it won’t get any updates or bug fixes — unless TikTok can salvage some kind of last-minute reprieve.

If you thought VR was only really good for gaming, Facebook’s big immersive tech event this week seemed designed to change your mind. Sure, the new Oculus Quest 2 will enable plenty of gaming fun, but the likes of Infinite Office — which turns wherever you are into a productivity space, helping you get into ‘work mode’ even when you’re stuck at home — showed how VR is ready to branch out.

Beyond VR, Facebook unveiled plans for Ray-Ban smart glasses. Functionally, they sound more like Snap Spectacles than Google Glass at this point, but it’s interesting that Facebook seems to be taking 'don’t freak anyone out’ far more seriously than anyone who has come before in the space.

And that will be important, as these glasses aren’t just for taking photos and videos, they feed into 'Project Aria,’ as OneZero explains:

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Facebook says that a bit like Google Street View cars are easy to spot, staff testing these glasses will wear clothing that clearly explains what they’re doing, and they’ll be trained to answer questions. Given the rise in anti-Facebook sentiment in recent years, it’s hard to imagine they won’t have any hassle to deal with on the street.

For more on Facebook’s latest thinking around AR and VR, see The Verge’s interview with Mark Zuckerberg.

Stars including Kim Kardashian West, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Katy Perry stopped posting to Facebook and Instagram for 24 hours on Wednesday in one of the most high-profile protest against misinformation on the platforms yet.

But while it made a lot of headlines, it’s not going to shift the needle in terms of forcing significant change. Firstly, Facebook announces new measures to tackle misinformation seemingly every week at the moment (whether they work is another matter), so it would argue it’s already addressing the problem.

Secondly, big stars quitting for one day isn’t much of a protest. Unless a protest hurts their own businesses in a meaningful way, they’re not really making a stand through sacrifice, they’re just getting free publicity about their social media accounts.

And let’s face it, big brands quit for a month and that didn’t have much effect. 🤷‍♂️

I asked my Twitter followers for their top tips for social media managers. Click the tweet below to read their replies and add your own 👇

This crazy new A.I tool enables you to create videos with ‘real’ presenters you can program to say anything you like! 😮

BOOM! And you are done!

Your weekly social media manager update is complete.

If you are digging this newsletter, why not check out more Geekout goodness:

📌 Listen to the Geekout with Matt Navarra podcast (season 3 coming soon)

📌 Geekout Community on Facebook (18,000+ members!)

Right, that’s your lot. Now clear off, and have an awesome weekend 👋

Goodbye geeks 😎

This newsletter is edited by Martin SFP Bryant.