The brief – Friday 23 January –

📱 The US and China has reportedly signed off on a deal to sell TikTok’s US business to a consortium of investors, including Larry Ellison’s Oracle and Silver Lake, as well as MGX, a state-owned investment firm in the UAE. The deal is set to close this week. (Semafor)

>> Read more: US TikTok sale brings uncertainty for creators amid free speech chill

🧵 Meta will begin rolling out advertising on its microblogging platform Threads to all users globally beginning next week. The tech giant claims there are now 400m monthly active users on the platform, two years after launch. (Meta)

>> Read more: Will brands embrace ads on Threads?

📱 YouTube CEO Neal Mohan previewed in a blog post that creators on the platform will soon be able to create AI-generated Shorts that use their own likeness. (YouTube)

📈 In a trading update, Ebiquity said it expects to report full year 2025 revenues of £73.4m and adjusted Ebitda of £8.1m. Net debt is £13.1m. (Ebiquity)

🕹️ The New York Times launched its first multiplayer game, the Scrabble-esque Crossplay. Unlike its other games, Crossplay requires users download a standalone app and does not require an NYT subscription to play. (Adweek)

👻 Snapchat has released an update for its Family Centre feature, which gives parents insight into how their children use the app. Parents can now see how much time their teen spends on Snapchat each day, how that time is split across features, and details about new friend connections. (Snap)

📺 The US Federal Communication Commission has said it will enforce long-dormant rules on appearances by political candidates on network talk shows, namely the late night shows hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers. Under the new guidance, such shows are required to offer candidates vying for the same office equal airtime. The FCC’s lone Democratic commissioner called the move an attempt to “censor and control speech”. (New York Times)

🤖 More than 700 American artists have backed a new campaign against AI companies, titled  “Stealing Isn’t Innovation”, that favours licensing agreements and a respect for copyright. Ads for the campaign have already run in The New York Times and other outlets and social media platforms. Signatories include George Saunders, Jodi Picoult, Scarlett Johansson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, OneRepublic and Questlove. (The Verge)