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The new Trump administration is shaping up to be quite friendly to TikTok and its hopes of survival in the U.S. 

The latest development: President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday announced he wants to appoint Republican representative Matt Gaetz from Florida as his attorney general. 

Gaetz was one of 15 House Republicans who voted against the bill that requires a ban of TikTok in the U.S. if it doesn't cut ties with its Chinese parent company ByteDance. At the time, Gaetz said in a video that the short-form video app posed a national security concern and "should be banned," but called the bill "bad" and "overbroad." 

As we previously reported, TikTok executives hope Trump will take steps to blunt the impact of the bill, such as telling the Justice Department to not enforce the law or drop the case. In fact, CEO Shou Zi Chew and U.S. public policy chief Michael Beckerman wanted Trump to join the app, which he did in June, in part because he would have the power to influence the country's perception of TikTok, we reported. 

Still, legal experts say any intervention by the Trump White House to override the bill will be difficult—and could put companies like Apple, which hosts the app in its App Store, in a tricky position.  

TikTok declined to comment. 

There is also no guarantee Trump won't shed his campaign-trail attitude toward TikTok, which he has said is necessary to compete against Facebook, a reversal from his position in his first administration, when he tried to ban it. 

The President-elect is planning to appoint China hawks to key cabinet roles, such as Florida Rep. Michael Waltz as national security adviser, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio as secretary of state and Robert Lighthizer as his top trade official again, according to media reports. Trump could, for example, also potentially use the TikTok ban bill as a bargaining chip with China. 

Gaetz's other views suggest Trump's election may not change the environment for tech mergers very much from the Biden administration. Gaetz previously voiced support for breaking up big tech companies, and is one of a growing group of Republicans supportive of current Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan. 

"I would hope that whoever is the next FTC chair would continue many of the cases that Chair Khan has brought against predatory businesses," Gaetz told The Wall Street Journal earlier this year. 

While that's surely not what many executives of large tech companies want to hear, their dismay may be short-lived. Gaetz faces skeptics even among his own party, thanks to allegations he engaged sex trafficking and his role in the ouster of Republican Congressman Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker. 

As for TikTok, a scuttled nomination would mean the company will have to look for other sympathetic ears in the Trump White House.

Here's what else is going on…

Deals & Debuts

See The Information's Creator Economy Database for an exclusive list of private companies and their investors.

Meta Platforms plans to introduce ads on Threads early next year, hoping to cash in on the app's rapid growth, The Information reported on Wednesday. 

TikTok partnered with creator commerce startup LTK so that creators can now share links to their LTK accounts in their posts and boost their ability to earn commissions. 

Patreon announced that fans can now give a membership to a creator to their friends and family. Creators can now also gift memberships to their own fans as a reward or incentive, something the membership site had started testing in June. Creators can also now offer special discounts on their memberships.  

Amazon launched a Temu-like discount storefront called Haul. As of Wednesday morning, the storefront was visible on mobile in beta to some U.S. shoppers, offering items like $3 handbags and $14 pajama sets, The Information reported.

Alison.ai, which uses AI to make video ads, closed a $23.3 million seed round led by Almaz Capital.

Name That Tune

Spotify held an event in Los Angeles on Wednesday that underscored its ambitions to better compete with YouTube, which has become the dominant platform for video podcasts.

Spotify will start offering premium subscribers podcasts with no ads in some countries such as the U.S. and U.K. and a new Spotify Partner Program—which sounds awfully familiar to YouTube's revenue sharing YouTube Partner Program—offers new money-making opportunities to creators. 

The company also revealed financial results a day earlier. Spotify reported 19% growth in revenue to 3.98 billion euros ($3.8 billion), helped by recent price increases. Operating income surged to $430 million, 14 times the year-ago quarter.   

Creator Corner

Pinterest launched more than 1,000 gift guides curated by creators and celebrities including Paris Hilton, Emma Chamberlain and K-Pop girl group TWICE. 

Alix Traeger and Zoya Biglary, two influencers and the co-founders of Finneato Fysh Foods, nabbed $150,000 in funding from Daniel Lubetzky on ABC's "Shark Tank," in exchange for a 30% share in their company. Their company aims to offer a seafood alternative that replicates the taste and texture of sushi but without actual fish. 

Don Lemon, the former CNN host, announced he's leaving X. "I once believed it was a place for honest debate and discussion, transparency, and free speech, but I now feel it does not serve that purpose," he wrote in a statement. Lemon previously sued X and its owner Elon Musk over a canceled deal to stream his independent show on the social network. Separately, The Guardian also said it would stop posting on X.

‍🍼Campbell Puckett, the influencer better known as "Pookie," announced the birth of her first baby, Paloma, with husband Jett. 

People on the Move

Jack Brody, former head of product at Snap, joined AI music startup Suno as chief product officer. Read my colleague Erin Woo's interview with Brody in AI Agenda. 

Trump officially named Elon Musk to help lead a commission to reduce government bureaucracy. Musk will co-lead the "Department of Government of Efficiency" with entrepreneur and former Republican president hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy. The acronym for the effort, DOGE, is an apparent reference to cryptocurrency Dogecoin.

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