YouTube has consolidated its position as the world's leading video-sharing platform, surpassing traditional media giants in US television viewing and challenging Facebook, Instagram and TikTok for global audience dominance. New statistics from Nielsen, DataReportal and YouTube reveal the extraordinary scale of the platform and its growing influence over digital advertising, media distribution and brand marketing.

YouTube in 2026: The Numbers Behind Its Global Dominance

YouTube has evolved from a video-sharing website into one of the largest media distribution ecosystems in history. With billions of monthly viewers, hundreds of billions of daily Shorts views and an expanding presence on connected televisions, the platform is redefining the relationship between traditional broadcasting, social media and digital communities.

According to YouTube's official statistics and industry research published throughout 2025 and 2026, the platform now operates at a scale that rivals entire television industries.

Table 1. YouTube's Key Audience and Performance Statistics

Sources: YouTube official statistics, YouTube press releases, and Nielsen. Figures refer to different reporting periods, and subscription counts should not be confused with unique users.

The numbers underline YouTube's unusual position in the digital economy. Unlike subscription-based streaming services, the platform combines free access, advertising, premium subscriptions, independent content creators and professional media organisations within a single ecosystem.

YouTube does not regularly publish an exact global monthly active-user total comparable with every competing social network. Nevertheless, its official audience disclosures confirm reach into the billions, while independent research consistently places it among the world's most widely used digital platforms.

YouTube Surpasses Disney, Netflix and Traditional TV Distributors

Perhaps the most significant evidence of YouTube's transformation comes from Nielsen's television audience measurements.

According to the company's Media Distributor Gauge report, published on October 22, 2026, YouTube captured a record 15.8% of total US television viewing time in August 2026.

This result placed the platform ahead of Disney, Netflix, NBCUniversal and other major entertainment groups.

Table 2. Largest Media Distributors by US Television Viewing Share — August 2026

Source: Nielsen Media Distributor Gauge, August 2026. The figures represent viewing time on US television sets. Disney and other distributors include multiple television and streaming properties.

The difference is substantial. YouTube's 15.8% share was approximately 70% higher than Disney's 9.3%.

Even more importantly, Nielsen reported that YouTube viewing increased 6% month over month, while the platform recorded a 9% increase in viewing among adults aged 50 and older.

This suggests that YouTube is expanding beyond its historical association with younger digital audiences and establishing itself as a mainstream television destination.

However, YouTube has not surpassed all traditional television viewing combined. Broadcast and cable television together still accounted for 36.4% of US television consumption during the same period.

Streaming Approaches Half of All US Television Viewing

YouTube's growth is part of a larger transformation in television consumption.

Nielsen's August 2026 figures show that streaming services represented almost half of all television viewing in the United States.

Table 3. US Television Viewing by Distribution Category

Source: Nielsen, August 2026. YouTube is included within streaming, not counted as an additional category.

The numbers demonstrate the growing importance of internet-based distribution and connected television devices.

Traditional broadcasters increasingly compete not only with professional streaming services but also with independent YouTube creators, podcasts, educational channels, news publishers and live-streaming productions.

For advertisers, the shift creates opportunities to reach television audiences through digital platforms offering more granular campaign targeting, interactive advertising formats and measurable engagement.

YouTube Versus Facebook, Instagram and TikTok: Which Platform Is Bigger?

While YouTube leads video sharing and US television distributor rankings, the wider social media landscape presents a more complex picture.

DataReportal's Digital 2026 Mid-Year Global Update, drawing on GWI research, ranked Facebook slightly ahead of YouTube in self-reported monthly platform usage among internet users aged 16 and older.

Table 4. World's Most-Used Social Platforms — 2026

Source: DataReportal Digital 2026 Mid-Year Global Update, based on GWI survey data. Figures represent self-reported monthly usage among internet users aged 16 and older, not total registered accounts.

The relatively small difference between Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and WhatsApp demonstrates how concentrated the global social media market has become.

However, alternative measurements place YouTube in the leading position.

DataReportal's analysis of Similarweb mobile app activity found YouTube ahead of competing social platforms in active app usage. WhatsApp's active audience reached approximately 87.4% of YouTube's level, while TikTok's audience was substantially smaller.

The distinction illustrates why social media rankings depend on the measurement methodology: surveyed usage, mobile activity, advertising reach and total registered accounts do not necessarily produce the same results.

YouTube Reaches 84% of American Adults

YouTube's reach is particularly notable in the United States.

Pew Research Center's 2026 research found that 84% of American adults use YouTube, making it the most widely used platform included in its social media survey.

Table 5. Social Media Platform Usage Among US Adults — 2026

Source: Pew Research Center, 2026. Measures the percentage of adults who report ever using each platform, rather than monthly active usage.

YouTube's cross-generational reach is another important advantage.

Pew found that 95% of Americans aged 18–29 use YouTube, compared with 91% of those aged 30–49, 85% of those aged 50–64 and 65% of adults aged 65 and older.

Such broad adoption makes the platform attractive to advertisers seeking to reach multiple demographic segments without relying exclusively on traditional television.

Video Podcasts, Shorts and News Expand YouTube's Media Influence

YouTube's dominance is not limited to entertainment and user-generated videos.

The company reports more than 1 billion monthly podcast viewers, confirming the platform's increasingly important role in long-form interviews, business discussions, journalism and educational content.

Its video podcast ecosystem also benefits from connected television consumption. In October 2025, viewers watched more than 700 million hours of podcast content on living-room devices, compared with approximately 400 million hours one year earlier.

Meanwhile, YouTube Shorts now generates more than 200 billion daily views, positioning short-form content as a major audience acquisition format.

The platform's role in news distribution is similarly significant. YouTube disclosed in October 2026 that global audiences watched more than 35 billion hours of news content during 2025, including over 12 billion hours on connected televisions.

Table 6. YouTube's Major Video Consumption Segments

Source: YouTube official announcements, 2025–2026. These metrics measure different types of activity and are not directly comparable or additive.

Taken together, these statistics reveal a platform capable of supporting several major media markets simultaneously.

From Television Audiences to Digital Communities

One of YouTube's most important competitive advantages is its ability to transform passive viewers into recurring communities.

Traditional television has historically relied on scheduled programming and audience ratings. YouTube adds channel subscriptions, viewer comments, live interactions, memberships, personalised recommendations and searchable video libraries.

These features allow businesses and publishers to maintain an ongoing relationship with their audiences rather than depending exclusively on individual broadcasts or advertising campaigns.

Table 7. Comparing Video and Community-Building Platforms

For brands, this distinction is important.

A television advertisement traditionally purchases exposure during a defined broadcast period. A YouTube channel can generate repeated exposure, discoverability and community engagement through an expanding library of content.

Videos can continue attracting viewers through search and recommendations long after publication, providing a potential long-term return on content production.

Nevertheless, subscriber growth alone does not guarantee meaningful engagement. Audience retention, returning viewers, watch time and conversion performance remain essential indicators of commercial value.

What YouTube's Dominance Means for Brands and Digital Commerce

For companies operating in e-commerce, cross-border retail, logistics and digital services, the implications extend beyond conventional video marketing.

YouTube's scale creates opportunities for businesses to combine product education, brand awareness, customer engagement and community development within a single channel.

Product demonstrations, educational content, expert interviews, customer testimonials and industry podcasts can reach international audiences without the geographical restrictions associated with traditional broadcast distribution.

The platform's availability in more than 100 countries and 80 languages also supports international content strategies.

For cross-border brands, localisation, subtitles and multilingual publishing can help adapt video campaigns to different markets while maintaining a centralised distribution infrastructure.

The business opportunity is not simply to accumulate video views. It is to develop an identifiable audience that repeatedly engages with a brand's content, understands its products and potentially converts into customers.

The challenge is that YouTube remains a competitive environment. Discoverability depends on content relevance, audience response and platform recommendations, while creators and businesses must continuously evaluate the return on production and advertising investments.

Conclusion: YouTube Is Redefining the Global Media Market

The latest statistics establish YouTube as one of the most influential media distribution platforms worldwide.

Its 15.8% share of US television viewing, more than 200 billion daily Shorts views, billion-plus monthly podcast audience and extensive global reach demonstrate how far the platform has moved beyond its original identity as a video-sharing service.

Although Facebook retains a narrow advantage in some worldwide social media usage surveys, YouTube leads in other measures and has established a commanding position in online video and connected television consumption.

For traditional broadcasters, the challenge is increasingly clear: competing for viewing time now means competing with a decentralised network of independent creators, businesses and digital-first publishers.

For brands and e-commerce companies, the same transformation represents a significant opportunity.

The future of video distribution is no longer defined solely by television networks or streaming subscriptions. It is increasingly shaped by platforms capable of combining global audiences, on-demand content and lasting digital communities.

YouTube currently stands at the centre of that transformation.

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Americans continued to dominate global spending on OnlyFans in 2025, contributing an estimated $2.6 to $2.64 billion throughout the year. This represents a modest but significant increase from the 2.58 billion dollars recorded in 2024, underscoring the platform’s ongoing strength in the United States despite a broader global shift in growth patterns.

According to data compiled from OnlyFans usage statistics and industry research, American users collectively spent approximately $237 million per month, $55 million per week, and $7.9 million per day on the platform in 2025. On an hourly basis, this equates to roughly $329,000, or about $91 per second.

Per Capita Spending and User Distribution

Per capita, the data shows that for every 10,000 Americans, spending totaled about 77,334 dollars, which corresponds to an average of approximately 7.73 dollars per person across the country. This figure highlights not only widespread user participation but also the normalization of subscription-based creator platforms in the broader digital economy.

Major urban hubs accounted for the highest concentrations of spending. Atlanta ranked first in the United States and globally, with an estimated $525,475 spent per 10,000 residents. Orlando followed at 466,430 dollars, with Miami close behind at 374,921 dollars. These metropolitan areas consistently demonstrate strong engagement with digital creator content and subscription platforms.

The data also indicates regional fluctuations. Washington, DC, recorded the most significant decline in OnlyFans spending at minus 6.64 percent, while Las Vegas posted the strongest growth at plus 6.23 percent. These contrasting trends suggest shifting audience behavior influenced by local demographics, economic patterns, and lifestyle dynamics.

Growth Trends and International Comparison

Although the United States remains the platform’s largest and most economically impactful market, its growth rate slowed to approximately 1.95 percent in 2025. This is significantly lower than Canada’s 5.17 percent growth and Mexico’s 19.12 percent increase during the same period. The data suggests that while U.S. spending is stabilizing at a high level, emerging markets are accelerating as OnlyFans expands its global reach.

Industry analysts note that the U.S. market's continued dominance is strategically vital to OnlyFans. The United States remains the cornerstone of the platform’s current economic model and serves as a benchmark for forecasting future global expansion. Despite the moderate growth rate, the size and consistency of the American user base reinforce its central role in sustaining the platform’s overall revenue.

The Broader Creator Economy Impact

OnlyFans remains a major driver of the digital creator economy. The platform has paid out tens of billions of dollars to creators since its inception, and the spending behaviors observed in 2025 further demonstrate the durability of subscription-based content models. While adult content remains a major revenue component, creator categories such as fitness, music, lifestyle coaching, and entertainment continue to expand.

The steady level of U.S. spending also suggests that OnlyFans is becoming more integrated into mainstream digital consumption habits. This trend mirrors broader shifts in how audiences support online creators, with direct-to-consumer monetization replacing traditional advertising-driven models.

Americans spending 7.9 million dollars per day on OnlyFans in 2025 highlights the platform’s entrenched position in the U.S. digital economy. Despite slower growth compared to international markets, the United States remains the dominant force shaping OnlyFans’ financial trajectory. 

With strong participation in major cities, steady per-capita spending, and a mature subscription ecosystem, the U.S. continues to serve as both the foundation and a leading indicator of the platform’s global performance.

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OpenAI has doubled down on its ambitions in generative AI, specifically in video. On September 30, 2025, the company unveiled Sora 2, its next-generation audio and video model, alongside a brand new social app — Sora — built to enable users to create, share, and remix AI-generated clips in a TikTok-style feed.

Below, we break down what Sora 2 offers, explain how the Sora app works, and outline the opportunities and risks it presents.

What Is Sora 2? The Evolution of OpenAI’s Video Model

From Sora to Sora 2

OpenAI’s original Sora model, released in December 2024, allowed users to generate short video clips from text prompts with moderate realism, but with limitations in physics, consistency, and synchronized audio.

Sora 2 represents a significant leap forward, focusing on:

• Physical realism and temporal consistency: better modeling of collisions, momentum, buoyancy, gravity, and interactions so that actions appear natural.
  
• Synchronized audio and dialogue: speech, ambient sound, and effects are more closely aligned to visual motion.
  
• Steerability and stylistic control: users can specify camera moves, shot types, tempo, and visual style.
  
• Multi-shot consistency and scene coherence: characters, lighting, and dynamics remain stable across shots, reducing abrupt transitions.
  

According to OpenAI, Sora 2 “improves compliance with the laws of physics and temporal consistency.” For example, when a basketball player misses a shot, the ball bounces realistically off the rim rather than appearing inside the basket.

The Sora App: A TikTok-Style Layer over AI Video

The Sora app is the public-facing platform that makes Sora 2 accessible to creators and viewers in a familiar vertical video format.

Key Features

Vertical swipe feed
The app is designed with a TikTok-like interface: vertical videos, swipe navigation, and a personalized feed algorithm based on user activity, location, post interaction, and optionally ChatGPT history.

Cameos (self-insertion)
Users can submit a one-time verified video and audio recording of themselves. Once approved, they can authorize friends to include their likeness in generated videos. The system notifies users whenever their likeness is used, and co-ownership rules allow them to revoke access at any time.

Remix and collaboration tools
Users can remix trending videos or contribute elements such as scenes, audio, or styles to collaborative trends.

Content length and format

• Current clips are limited to 10 seconds.
  
• No uploads from the camera roll are supported; all content must be generated within the app.
  
• Audio is integrated, allowing prompts with speech or typed instructions to generate matching sound design.
  

Access and pricing

• The app launches first on iOS, invitation-only, starting in the United States and Canada. Global expansion is planned.
  
• Basic use is free, with extra charges for additional generations during high demand.
  
• ChatGPT Pro subscribers gain access to Sora 2 Pro without an invitation.
  

Why Sora 2 and the Sora App Matter

Creative opportunities

• Lower barrier to video creation: no need for cameras or editing software, just a prompt.
  
• New storytelling formats: cinematic scenes, music videos, or surreal crossovers are now within reach.
  
• Prompt engineering becomes a creative skill.
  
• Social virality: the remix and cameo features encourage collaborative trends.
  

Risks and challenges

• Misuse of likenesses: despite safeguards, a risk of deepfakes, impersonation, and non-consensual content remains.
  
• Copyright disputes: questions remain about training data and whether copyrighted works were included.
  
• Content moderation: OpenAI bans impersonations of public figures and explicit material, but enforcement may face challenges.
  
• Disinformation: realistic AI-generated clips could make it harder to distinguish between genuine and artificial media.
  

Use Cases and Early Demos

To showcase improvements, OpenAI released clips of beach volleyball, skateboarding, and diving into a pool, highlighting more natural motion and synchronized audio. Other demos include gymnastic routines, paddleboard tricks with buoyancy modeling, and figure skating with consistent character motion.

Users report fewer visual glitches, smoother frame transitions, and more natural interactions compared to the original Sora.

OpenAI’s launch of Sora 2 and the Sora app marks a significant milestone in AI video generation. By combining technical improvements in physics, sound, and consistency with a social media layer, OpenAI is moving generative video closer to mainstream use.

The challenge will be balancing creativity with ethics, ensuring that safety and privacy measures keep pace with the growing realism of AI-generated content.

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In today’s Spotlight On, Suzanne Pronk, founder of Yourshoppingstream.com, shares insights on the future of live commerce and what makes it successful.

Can you briefly explain what Live commerce is and why it’s gaining

traction in ecommerce?

Live commerce is the next wave in live shopping, it blends live video streaming with e-commerce creating an interactive shopping experience, where consumers can watch, interact, and buy instantly. 

This trend is booming due to its mix of entertainment, interactivity, and instant purchasing, making online shopping more engaging and trustworthy. It drives customer engagement, increases sales, and boosts loyalty. While mainstream in China, live commerce is growing rapidly in the US and Europe.

What’s social commerce vs live commerce?

Social commerce focuses on short, direct sales moments with a strong call-to-action on social channels. It is highly effective for impulse buys and transaction-oriented content. 

Live commerce centers on premium branded content, where storytelling and entertainment deepen brand experiences and foster long-term engagement. Instead of simply promoting products, we create formats that blend storytelling and experiences with conversion.

How have consumer behaviors shifted towards video-based shopping experiences in recent years?

The rise of short-form video content, social commerce, and influencer marketing has made video a preferred medium. Video commerce, in its essence, is not new, branded content on platforms like YouTube has been around for some time.

However, live commerce is innovative because it introduces interactivity, allowing for real-time engagement and a more personalized shopping experience. Consumers now crave authentic, engaging, and interactive shopping experiences.

What industries or product categories benefit the most from live commerce?

Live commerce benefits industries based on their goals, whether it’s brand engagement, community building, or driving conversions. It’s especially effective for visual, demonstration-driven sectors like fashion, beauty, electronics, home décor, luxury, and travel, as well as services that can generate leads through strong calls to action.

How do AI enhance the shopping experience?

AI enables features like virtual try-ons and personalized recommendations, improving efficiency and stream performance. While AI generated hosts can optimize streams, human authenticity remains vital for connecting with consumers.

What are the best platforms for businesses looking to integrate live shopping into their strategy? 

Live commerce on your own platform offers greater control over content and audience engagement. Social platforms like Instagram and TikTok are better for quick, transactional moments. Both approaches can complement each other, social commerce for quick engagement and live commerce for long-term brand storytelling and connection.

How does live commerce impact cross border sales and international consumer trust?

Research shows that live commerce helps reduce return rates, benefiting cross-border sales.By offering real-time product views, interactive Q&As, and engagement with hosts, it builds trust and transparency. While studies on return rates are limited, many brands find that the immersive nature of live commerce reduces hesitation and fosters confident purchases, making it easier for brands to sell globally.

What challenges do brands face when using video commerce in different markets?

The same challenges brands already face when selling cross-border, including cultural differences and language barriers. To reach a broader audience, an English-speaking host and subtitles are essential, both of which YSS provides. However, live commerce offers cost-efficiency by enabling brands to run a single stream for multiple countries. 

Are there localization strategies that help make live commerce more effective globally?

To optimize live commerce across different markets, brands can supplement their streams with regional influencers or collaborate with influencers who have a broad European audience.  

The interactive nature of live commerce is key to engaging diverse audiences, but understanding cultural nuances and local preferences remains important for success. Using an English-speaking host with localized content, along with subtitles, can help bridge language barriers.

What are the common mistakes brands make when implementing live commerce?

The biggest challenge is treating live commerce as an innovative, ongoing project rather than just a series of pilot tests. Brands need to commit to running weekly or monthly live streams to build momentum and allow consumers to adjust to the new format. It’s essential to give it some time to take off.

Additionally, brands should focus on creating high quality video content and utilize data from each stream to optimize future broadcasts. Testing, optimizing, and refining content based on audience engagement will ensure continuous improvement and success.

What are the key elements of a high-converting live shopping experience?

A high-converting live shopping experience requires authentic content, seamless technical execution, and a strong brand fit. It should be engaging, entertaining, and create a sense of exclusivity with special discounts or products, driving viewer engagement and loyalty. 

How can small and medium-sized businesses compete with big brands in the video commerce space?

While larger companies benefit from a bigger audience and brand recognition, live commerce creates opportunities for smaller businesses, too. Since live stream production costs are relatively fixed, larger brands can cover them more easily, but smaller businesses can succeed by focusing on communities, using targeted paid media, collaborating with micro-influencers and using cost-effective live commerce solutions.

What role do influencers and live shopping events play in the future of ecommerce?

Influencers play a dual role in live commerce, now they are primarily used in live commerce for influencer marketing, acting as traffic generators and brand ambassadors. In addition to traditional influencers, we see the rise of Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs), experts who excel at live presentation, interaction, and building trust, making them highly effective in this space.

How do you see live commerce evolving in the next 5–10 years?

In five years, live shopping will be fully integrated into the marketing mix of brands and retailers, while broadcasters and publishers have developed new propositions in live commerce. AI will drive personalized shopping experiences, increasing customer engagement and loyalty. It will play a major role in e-commerce and entertainment.

What advice would you give to brands that want to stay ahead in video commerce?

Brands should stay innovative, experiment early, gather insights, and optimize continuously. Integrate live commerce for consistency and recognition. Manage data and inventory effectively; a strong brand fit with the format, the right hosts, and influencers for authenticity. Clearly defined goals will guide strategies for social commerce, partnerships, and maximizing reach.

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Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is working on a plan to ‘evolve’ how users interact on its social networks via AI profiles. According to the Financial Times, the company led by Mark Zuckerberg is developing thousands of fictitious user profiles created through generative AI.

Specifically, the goal is to enhance interaction and entertainment among its platforms' 3 billion active users. These artificial profiles, which began appearing in mid-2024, will feature bios, profile pictures, and AI-generated content, explained Connor Hayes, vice president of product for generative AI at Meta.

“We want interactions between real users and AI users to be more realistic and emerge more naturally and socially,” Hayes said. While most of these accounts are private, Meta is already exploring integrating them more openly with human profiles.

AI profiles vs human profiles 

However, Meta's plan has sparked fierce debate among users and analysts. One of the main fears is that these artificial accounts will contribute to the dehumanization of social networking relationships, a problem already seen with anonymous profiles and fake accounts.

In addition, communication experts have warned that this strategy could aggravate the proliferation of disinformation, 'fake news' and hoaxes on the platforms. Although Meta has assured that “content generated by these accounts will be clearly labeled as AI-produced,” the risk of manipulation and confusion among real users remains a major concern.

Meta has insisted that this initiative seeks to enrich the user experience and experiment with new forms of interaction. According to the company, AI-generated profiles will be designed to be compatible with humans, opening up a new dimension in the use of social networks.

Despite these intentions, the debate about the impact of this technology remains open. While some see an opportunity to explore creativity and innovation, others fear that this is a further step towards the depersonalization of platforms and an increase in the risks associated with artificial intelligence in the digital sphere.

For now, Meta is proceeding cautiously, but the first signs of its strategy are already generating controversy and questions about the future of social networks.

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TikTok faces a hard deadline in January. A U.S. federal appeals court has upheld the initial order forcing the social network TikTok to sever all ties with its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, by January 2025, because “this relationship poses a threat to national security and the security of Americans, whose data could end up in the hands of the Asian powerhouse without permission.

The three judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia District have disregarded TikTok's request to appeal the matter by insisting that the initial order against the platform—translated into a law signed in April by U.S. President Joe Biden and endorsed by the U.S. Congress—“withstands constitutional scrutiny.”

“The First Amendment exists to protect free speech in the United States,” Justice Douglas Ginsburg has made known in expressing the court's majority opinion on this order. “The Government has acted solely to protect that freedom from a foreign adversary nation and to limit that adversary's ability to collect data on persons in the United States,” adds the brief in a decision that will almost certainly take this case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

TikTok bets on the Supreme Court

If TikTok decides to appeal to the Supreme Court, the highest court in the country will have to rule before the order goes into effect on January 19. If it decides to hear the case, the order will be suspended until a final decision. A statement published by the company on its website immediately after the rejection of its appeal confirms that TikTok intends to present its case before the Supreme Court, “a court with a proven track record of protecting Americans' right to free speech".

“We hope it will do the same in this important constitutional matter. Unfortunately, the TikTok ban was conceived and pushed based on inaccurate, faulty, and hypothetical information, resulting in outright censorship of the American people. The TikTok ban, unless stopped, will silence the voices of more than 170 million Americans here in the U.S. and around the world on January 19, 2025,” TikTok denounces in that statement.

According to The New York Times, civil penalties would be imposed on app stores that distribute or update TikTok, such as Apple's and Google's. The app is already on millions of phones in the United States, but restricting updates will likely undermine users' ability to access it. This would be complemented by a measure prohibiting web hosting companies from helping distribute the app.

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Meta has launched Llama 3, its most powerful AI so far, which it claims “has no rival among AIs that can be used for free,” and to prove it is already integrating it into Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Messenger.

Meta’s Llama 3 is an open-source AI model that boasts of having the community as its main pillar, thanks to the “Meta open and transparent approach” claims Zuckerberg’s company. 

The Llama 3 assistant will be able to be used in feeds, chats, and Meta app searches. Moreover, Meta promises that this assistant will be faster when generating images, as it will be able to produce them as the user types in the chatbot.

Llama 3 is a version that features previously trained language models tuned to 8B and 70B parameter instructions. The company promises several new capabilities for this new model in the coming months, including longer context windows, additional model sizes, and improved performance. However, Llama 3 already enjoys improved reasoning capabilities over the previous generation.

Llama 3: Multilingual and multimodal 

Meta aims to make Llama 3 multilingual and multimodal, allowing it to enjoy a broader context and improve performance in aspects such as reasoning or coding. So much so that Llama 3 will be available on all platforms, such as AWS, Databricks or Vertex AI; it will even be the basis of Meta AI, Meta's leading assistant that will permeate other company services.

Meta AI is available in English in more than a dozen countries outside the U.S., including Australia, Canada, Ghana, Jamaica, Malawi, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Singapore, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. 

“Meta AI is better than ever. We're excited to share our next-generation assistant with even more people and can't wait to see how it improves people's lives,” Meta stresses. While these updates are specific to Meta AI on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger and the web, “Meta AI is also available in the U.S. on Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses and will be coming to Meta Quest. We'll have more to share in the coming weeks,” they assure.

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Meta will offer an ad-free subscription plan for Instagram and Facebook in Europe starting in November. The price will be 9.99 euros per month for the web version or 12.99 euros per month for iOS and Android to comply with European regulations. 

As had been rumored, users who want to stop advertising on these social networks will be able to do so from this month upon payment of a monthly fee. In this way, it could avoid future sanctions such as those it has recently received.

As explained by Meta, regardless of where it is purchased, the subscription will apply to all Facebook and Instagram accounts linked in a user's Account Center until March 1, 2024. After that date, however, an additional fee of €6 per month on the web and €8 per month on iOS and Android will apply for each additional account listed in a user's Account Center.

Meta promises compliance with the EU 

The company remains committed to an ad-supported Internet, even with its new subscription offering in the EU, EEA, and Switzerland. Despite this, they respect the spirit and purpose of these European regulations and are committed to complying with them.

Last August, the company announced a change in the legal basis underpinning personalized ads on its platforms to offer users a consent-based model, in line with European regulation.

Thus, the alternative for individuals to purchase an ad-free subscription balances the requirements of European regulators while giving users a choice and allowing Meta to continue to serve all individuals in the EU, EEA, and Switzerland. In its ruling, the CJEU expressly recognized that a subscription model, such as the one being advertised by Meta, is a valid form of consent to an ad-funded service.

Thus, users who use the free option of these social networks will consent to the collection of information and its use to display personalized advertisements. On the other hand, those who choose the paid option will no longer share this data with Facebook or Instagram.

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TikTok Shop is live in the USA in the first public testing phase. The social network's new venture for creators, partners, brands, and affiliates to offer their products on the social network is now available to some users in the United States. 

In a direct challenge to other major players in the sector, such as Amazon, for the moment, TikTok Shop only offers low-cost products from China.

As reported by Bloomberg, TikTok Shop will compete with Amazon in its goal of reaching 20 billion dollars (about 18.648 billion euros) in sales by 2023. Specifically, the company's goal is to take advantage of the app's potential to connect people according to their specific interests. However, the cited media details that the initial experience does not reflect the "ultra-personalized" algorithm that characterizes TikTok in its video feed, a key aspect to attracting its users. Similarly, TikTok is processing payments through its app, so the company will also collect additional information about users, which could intensify U.S. regulatory concerns.

In parallel, TikTok Shop also faces other challenges. According to the report, the platform offers a wide range of options in various product categories and subcategories, which can be "annoying" for users.

TikTok shop aims at impulsive shopping 

Following the AliExpress model, TikTok Shop also generates a sense of urgency by displaying the number of times a product has been purchased and a timer indicating the time remaining for a promotion. The idea is to foster or benefit from impulse shopping, which has become the bread-and-butter marketing strategy for social selling. 

As for product descriptions, most seem more focused on search engines and algorithms than shoppers. An example is the description of a yoga short: "Smiley yoga shorts with tummy control, butt enhancement and gathers on the 3-piece women's high waist."

The Bloomberg report further points to reviews, which "can be misleading when it comes to products sold by third parties." It has been noted that products from a seller on TikTok Shop are not priced the same as listed on the brand's website, and the manufacturing location mentioned needs to be corrected. Similarly, according to the publication, several Chinese brands have been identified on TikTok Shop that were banned from Amazon due to manipulation of buyer reviews.

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The new microblogging social network created by Meta and designed by Instagram, and linked to it, has been a huge success in its launch and promises to have unique features and tools that will captivate users of all kinds.

The app's potential is strengthened by its connection to the already successful Instagram. In fact, if you have an Instagram account, there is no need to create one on Threads. The potential for the over one billion users of the existing content social network to register on Threads is very high.

Threads allows users to create posts with text and add photos and videos. Messages will have a limit of 500 characters, and as a social network, users can reply to other people's posts, share them, or quote them by adding text or posts, etc.

Threads aims to be a decentralized social network in the future. That's why there are plans to implement the ActivityPub protocol, which is the same as Mastodon, making it part of the Fediverse.

Threads is compared to a new Twitter created by Instagram but with an independent app due to its great similarity.

However, being part of the Fediverse will be a significant advantage for Threads, as instead of all the content being stored on the servers of a single instance, its operation will be the opposite, with a network of servers and instances, even created by users, as in Mastodon.

This means that user data would be stored on the servers of the instance they are registered on, but they can read the content from all instances. In Threads, this translates into not needing to register but being able to follow users who use the same technology even if they are on different instances.

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