'TikTok may finally be entering its flop era'
Opinion, comment and editorials of the day


'TikTok is on the decline'
Nitish Pahwa at Slate
"TikTok is not anywhere near dead or dying," says Nitish Pahwa, but the short-video app has seen a "sharp slowdown in user growth over the past year." People are getting annoyed by "its ad-heavy push into e-commerce via the 'TikTok Shop'" and "its never-ending deluge of A.I.–generated spam and misinformation." And Universal Music Group yanked its "vast catalog," including Taylor Swift. It might be time to "start wondering what on earth might be coming for us next."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
'The problem with Democrats bragging about the economy'
Perry Bacon Jr. in The Washington Post
President Joe Biden should talk less about the economy's strength and more about how he'll make it better for those left in the cold, says Perry Bacon Jr. We have low unemployment and shrinking wage gaps between white and Black Americans. But 44 million still "struggle to afford food." Biden has the advantage over Donald Trump because Democrats' values, "aligning with unions," families, and environmentalists, can help him "make the economy great — not because it already is."
'How Russians and the West failed Navalny'
Garry Kasparov in The Wall Street Journal
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Russian President Vladimir Putin killed the jailed opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, "but there is blame enough to go around," says Garry Kasparov. Joe Biden once threatened "devastating" consequences if anything happened to Navalny, and the U.S. president now faces an "excruciating test." But we, Navalny's fellow Russians, "failed to match" his courage in challenging Putin's "dictatorship and war." Navalny might still be alive "if we had been as brave as the Ukrainians were" when Putin came for them.
'Women aren't showing up to vote. It could lead to disaster in 2024 election.'
Sarah Chamberlain in USA Today
There are "troubling signs" that "women are losing the habit of voting in greater numbers than men," says Sarah Chamberlain. Only 44% of voters at the Iowa Republican caucuses and 48% in the New Hampshire GOP primary were women. That's surprising now that "policies directly affecting women are being decided in a post-Roe country." It also could drive further polarization by letting candidates focus on partisan "brand-building" instead of topics like health care, education, and child care.
Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.
-
October 4 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Saturday's political cartoons include the Einstein files, defunding the police, and an odd tribute to Jane Goodall
-
Mustardy beans and hazelnuts recipe
The Week Recommends Nod to French classic offers zingy, fresh taste
-
Under siege: Argentina’s president drops his chainsaw
Talking Point The self-proclaimed ‘first anarcho-capitalist president in world history’ faces mounting troubles
-
‘Conspiracy theories about her disappearance do a disservice’
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Trump declares ‘armed conflict’ with drug cartels
speed read This provides a legal justification for recent lethal military strikes on three alleged drug trafficking boats
-
Why is this government shutdown so consequential?
Today's Big Question Federal employee layoffs could be in the thousands
-
Supreme Court rules for Fed’s Cook in Trump feud
Speed Read Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook can remain in her role following Trump’s attempts to oust her
-
‘This isn’t just semantics’
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Miami Freedom Tower’s MAGA library squeeze
THE EXPLAINER Plans to place Donald Trump’s presidential library next to an iconic symbol of Florida’s Cuban immigrant community has South Florida divided
-
Judge rules Trump illegally targeted Gaza protesters
Speed Read The Trump administration’s push to arrest and deport international students for supporting Palestine is deemed illegal
-
Trump: US cities should be military ‘training grounds’
Speed Read In a hastily assembled summit, Trump said he wants the military to fight the ‘enemy within’ the US