As U.S. consumer debt climbs to record highs, social media creators are speaking candidly about a once-taboo topic.

In her new book, “Every Screen on the Planet: The War Over TikTok,” Forbes journalist Emily Baker-White looks at the story of TikTok and the developments that led to a potential deal with the Trump White House.

Algorithms, which are just sets of instructions expressed in code, are harder to restrict than physical goods. But governments, including the U.S., have long tried to prevent their export.

A scripted comedy series on TikTok has racked up over 4 million views. Most viewers don’t know that it’s a marketing campaign.

The company has 90 more days to come up with some kind of deal to avoid getting banned from U.S. app stores.

How can you spot a fraudulent e-commerce website? And what can you do to take it down? A minor scam sent a BBC reporter on a quest.

“What these factory owners are making is a point that, even with the tariff, it is still going to be drastically cheaper than when you’re buying from the brand directly,” said Caiwei Chen, a China reporter for MIT Technology Review.

Teens know social media and fast fashion work together to feed them trends, but find it hard to step away, says NYT writer Callie Holtermann.

The algorithm behind the app’s success is proprietary and hard to replicate. And Chinese-owned alternatives like RedNote could also be vulnerable to a ban.

The potential prohibition of the Chinese social media giant has sent users in search of other options. But some are based in China too.