In today’s CMU Daily: TikTok has failed to overturn a law passed in the US earlier this year that says China-based owner Bytedance must sell the app or it will be banned in the country. It will now take the matter to the US Supreme Court, and wants an emergency injunction to delay the current 19 Jan deadline

Also today: Jay-Z was added as a defendant on one of the lawsuits filed against Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs this weekend, accused of raping a thirteen year old girl in 2000. The Roc Nation boss has strongly denied that claim and lashed out at the lawyer behind the lawsuit, Tony Buzbee

Plus: US Senator Richard Blumenthal has called on the country’s Federal Trade Commission to do more to crack down on the dodgy tactics employed by ticket scalpers. The 2016 BOTS Act empowers the FTC to go after touts using bots, but Blumenthal says it has only enforced that law once in eight years

Releases & Tours: Each week CMU rounds up standout releases and tour announcements from the last seven days. This week: DITZ, Blawan, Sam Fender, Sky Ferreira, Skepta + more, while tour announcements include Luke Sital-Singh, Greentea Peng, The Black Keys and others

TikTok requests emergency injunction after judges warn app will be “effectively unavailable” in US from 19 Jan 2025

A US appeals court has upheld the law targeting TikTok that was passed by Congress earlier this year, saying that - unless owner Bytedance sells the app - after 19 Jan 2025, TikTok “will effectively be unavailable in the United States, at least for a time”.

The judges added that they “recognise that this decision has significant implications for TikTok and its users” but - assuming Bytedance stands firm on its position that selling TikTok isn’t an option - that those users may “need to find alternative media of communication”.

TikTok says it is still hopeful the legislation will be blocked in the US Supreme Court, because the judges there have an “established historical record of protecting Americans’ right to free speech”, and has already asked the courts for an emergency injunction to have the 19 Jan deadline paused while it goes through with its appeal.

Otherwise, the ban will shut down “one of the nation’s most popular speech platforms” used by 170 million people in the US “on the eve of a presidential inauguration”, a “critical time in our nation’s history”, TikTok’s new legal filing declares.

Without an injunction, says TikTok, the Supreme Court would be forced to make a decision on a “weighty constitutional question in mere weeks (and over the holidays, no less)”.

Given the significant implications of any ban going into force, the Supreme Court should have the opportunity to review this “exceptionally important” case. Pushing back the deadline will also give incoming President Donald Trump time to consider his position on the ban.

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Diddy hotline lawyer slammed as “ambulance chaser in a cheap suit” by Jay Z as he denies rape allegation

Jay-Z has issued a statement after being accused of raping a thirteen year old girl in one of the many lawsuits filed against Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs. That lawsuit, originally filed in October, was amended this weekend to formally identify Jay-Z, real name Shawn Carter, as a co-defendant.

That development quickly prompted denials from Carter, who also took aim at the lawyer behind the lawsuit, Tony Buzbee, who he dubs an “ambulance chaser in a cheap suit”, and a “deplorable human” who is prone to legal “theatrics”.

Addressing the attorney directly in a written statement, Carter says, “These allegations are so heinous in nature that I implore you to file a criminal complaint, not a civil one!!” Anyone who would “commit such a crime against a minor should be locked away, would you not agree?”, he continues.

In the amended lawsuit, an unnamed woman claims that she was assaulted by Combs and Carter at an after party that followed the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards. She says she began to “feel woozy” after consuming a drink at the party and subsequently found herself in a bedroom, where she was raped by Carter and then Combs.

Buzbee’s law firm has been proactively seeking clients with allegations against Combs in recent months, setting up a bespoke hotline for people to call. He has filed more than a dozen lawsuits against the musician already and has promised dozens more will follow.

US touting bot ban isn’t enforced and has only been used once since 2021, says Senator Richard Blumenthal

As Taylor Swift’s ‘The Eras Tour’ came to an end this weekend, US Senator Richard Blumenthal published an open letter to the US Federal Trade Commission reminding everyone that - despite the success of the tour - it kicked off with Ticketmaster “mishandling” the ticket pre-sale in November 2022.

“High-profile ticketing failures, such as Ticketmaster’s mishandling of Taylor Swift’s ‘Eras Tour’, have brought renewed attention to the persistent and pervasive issue of scalpers and misleading marketplaces”, the senator declares, while urging the government agency to “investigate and bring enforcement actions against deceptive and unlawful practices in the live event ticketing market”.

The FTC has both the power and a duty to do just that under the 2016 Better Online Tickets Sales Act, Blumenthal says, and the agency’s failure to properly enforce that act - it has “only taken action once” in eight years, Blumenthal points out - has “fostered a sense of impunity” among scalpers, inviting them to employ ever more “sophisticated schemes” to scam fans.

Despite dissing Live Nation’s Ticketmaster at the start of the letter, Blumenthal’s demands on the FTC will actually be welcomed by the live giant, because it focuses entirely on ticket touting, or ‘scalping’ in US terminology.

⏩ Releases & Tours: Dec 2024 (Week 49)

Each week CMU rounds up standout releases and tour announcements from the last seven days. This week: DITZ, Blawan, Sam Fender, Sky Ferreira, Skepta + more, while tour announcements include Luke Sital-Singh, Greentea Peng, The Black Keys and others

Tour announcements