Good morning. Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a holiday honoring the life and work of the civil rights leader.

We’re reflecting on this quote from King’s Christmas Eve sermon in 1967, which still rings true in 2025: “If you lose hope, somehow you lose that vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream.”

— Hannah Doyle 

TikTok Stays in the US…For Now

On Friday, we asked you whether yesterday’s proposed TikTok ban would happen. 45% said yes, 40% said no, and 15% weren’t sure. At some point during the weekend, everyone was right. 

What happened: Late Saturday night, TikTok made its app inaccessible to US users in compliance with the US law banning TikTok on Sunday. By Sunday afternoon—just 14 hours later—it returned. 

Now, the app is (mostly) back. Following President-elect Donald Trump’s promise to issue an executive order to delay the ban, TikTok reinstated its app to US users on Sunday. However, it’s not fully back to business as usual. 

• TikTok creators have reported that their payments from the Creator Fund, paid subs, and Live gifts are paused.

• The app is unavailable to download in the App Store and Google Play, meaning only users who didn’t delete the app can still access it. 

• Because the ban is still technically in effect (Trump has just promised not to enforce it), members of the GOP warned that the companies hosting TikTok’s app like Apple and Google could still be fined “hundreds of billions of dollars.”

Going forward: Trump is expected to sign an executive order to delay the ban today—the day he’s inaugurated as president. Given uncertainty, though, many creators are exploring their options—including China-owned video app RedNote. Over half a million creators have recently joined the app, and some have already gone viral on it.

TikTok Creator Kicks off a Comedy Tour

Short-form comedy creator Zachariah Porter, known for his sketches imitating east coast moms and people you know from high school, has grown to over 5 million followers across platforms after starting on TikTok in 2019. 

With TikTok’s uncertain future (see above), Porter shared with us how he’s going beyond short-form video with a live show tour that kicked off this month, called The Strip Mall Tease Tour →

Turning short form into long form. Porter created a variety show to perform his popular characters live, with a mix of stand up, storytelling, and crowd work. Before committing to a tour, he performed in select markets near his hometown in Boston and New York to gauge interest. 

“I had no experience in this—I came from a field of marketing and nonprofit work. But I’ve always wanted to entertain,” Porter said. “And I think if you want to do it and are brave enough, you just have to bring your energy to everything you do.”

Adapting to a live audience. Porter says pivoting from filming TikToks in his apartment to live crowd work has informed his characters and performance. “The audience will say things and I’ll have to pivot and it’s making me a stronger comedian,” Porter said. “I’m a better character writer than I was even a year ago because of [the show].”

Zoom out: Porter’s live show adds a new source of revenue for his business, which currently counts on Reels, brand partnerships, and his Camp Counselors podcast with his partner, Jonathan Carson.

“Over the past couple years I’ve continued to diversify the kind of content I’m creating, but it always comes from a place of wanting to do it before the money comes,” Porter said. “As of right now I’m writing, I have a bunch of character ideas, I just wrote an outline for a movie I’m trying to get produced—I see so much more potential and different avenues beyond just content creation.”

Sponsored by Artlist

Your All-in-One Creative Powerhouse for 2025

If you’re a brand or video creator, there’s no shortage of platforms offering AI tools to fuel your work. But cutting through the noise of countless options can feel overwhelming.

Lucky for you, since 2016, there’s Artlist. And in 2025, their vision is to simplify your workflow by giving you even more of the premium experience they’ve become known for, and expanding the boundaries of AI.

Maximize your creative potential with access to innovative GenAI features, exclusive high-quality music, footage, AI voiceovers, and more. You can have all this, in one place, without needing to become a prompt engineer.

“Our goal is to make these tools not just innovative but truly accessible and practical for every creator,” said Artlist Chief Product Officer, Roee Peled.

Ready to create without limits this year? Learn how Artlist can make it happen in this post.

Good Good Sponsors PGA Tour Players

Watch any PGA Tour event, and you’ll see the players rep brands like Under Armour, Nike, Srixon, Callaway, and Titleist. Now, for the first time, a YouTube brand is entering the field. 

Last week, golf YouTube channel Good Good announced that it’s sponsoring golfers at the highest level, including professional players Joel Dahmen, Michael Block, John Pak, Beau Hossler, and, as reported by Fox Business, Willie Mack III.

The players will wear Good Good apparel at competitive events and appear regularly in Good Good video content.

Big picture: The PGA Tour has recently invested more in creator content—instating a regular creator series and partnering with the producers of Netflix’s Full Swing golf docuseries (of which Dahmen was a cast member).

👀 Creator Moves

• Dude Perfect is looking for an assistant editor to help with post-production at its office in Frisco, TX.

• NYC business and lifestyle creator Taylor Bell is hiring a part-time video editor experienced in Final Cut Pro.

• Cleo Abram is hiring an experienced animator to work on short- and long-form videos.

Looking to bring on new team members? You can post opportunities on our (free) job board here.

🔥 Press Worthy

• Tina Choi aka Doobydobap starts a new chapter in Spain.

• Reddit launches an AI-generated search engine, Reddit Answers.

• Instagram rolls out a video editing app and extends its Reels length to three minutes.

• Rhett & Link, Pokimane, Markiplier, and more creators are participating in a livestream telethon to raise money for LA wildfire recovery on Friday.

• Food creator Matt Price aka Mr. Make It Happen is opening a restaurant in Washington, DC.