Kids want $70 wrinkle creams. Parents and lawmakers are "fighting a losing battle"

Jul 9, 2024
Elementary and middle school kids are flocking to stores to buy products recommended on TikTok. But they may be harming their skin.
Drunk Elephant is one of the most popular skin care brands among children.
Caleigh Wells/Marketplace

TikTok color analysis trend presents a vibrant business opportunity

Guessing at someone’s color season has become a popular internet parlor game. It’s also a growing business for people looking to boost their professional image and the entrepreneurs ready to help them do that.
From left to right, Debbie O'Keefe, color consultant Ashley Dworak and Lauren Kreuzberg at the House of Colour studio in Papillion, Nebraska, in late May.
Dylan Miettinen/Marketplace

A look at India's TikTok ban four years on

Jun 28, 2024
U.S. lawmakers passed a bill that could lead to a TikTok ban. But it wouldn't be the first country block the Chinese-owned platform.
When the Indian government banned TikTok in 2020, many content creators there migrated to American platforms like Instagram and YouTube.
Indranil Mukherejee/AFP via Getty Images

Kyla Scanlon wants to remind us that "people are the economy"

May 30, 2024
Scanlon explains her philosophy of economic education in this excerpt from her book, "In This Economy? How Money & Markets Really Work."
Jordan Mangi/Marketplace

Why the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. has been getting busier

May 7, 2024
CFIUS has a say in foreign transactions when national security is a concern, including venture capital and real estate deals.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who chairs the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, speaks at a conference in September.
Alex Wong/Getty Images

Worry about foreign ownership of telecom companies has a long history in the U.S.

Apr 24, 2024
It's part of an overall mistrust of foreign influence with deep roots in American history.
The founders were concerned countries would try to meddle in the U.S., so they passed measures like the Emoluments Clause which prohibits office holders from taking gifts from foreign officials.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The TikTok ban is poised to make the U.S.-China divide even starker

Apr 23, 2024
"You sort of have these two parallel internets that are existing in both countries," says WSJ technology reporter Meghan Bobrowsky.
Anna Barclay/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

A TikTok ban would be bad news for the beauty brands that advertise on it

Apr 2, 2024
A lot of brands don't seem to have a backup plan, says Jordan Holman of The New York Times. The platform is where "they need to be."
These days, TikTok is "the most formidable way that people are selling products," says Jordyn Holman of The New York Times.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Congressional crackdown on TikTok raises logistical and legal questions

Mar 14, 2024
Efforts to force parent company ByteDance to either divest or sell off the app would likely meet resistance from China.
Efforts to force parent company ByteDance to either divest or sell off TikTok would likely meet resistance from China.
Chesnot/Getty Images

Steamy, sultry and stigmatized no more: romance novels are having a moment

Feb 13, 2024
They used to sell as a guilty pleasure to be hidden away. Now they're cool and out in the open.
Books Inc. in Mountain View, California went from a couple shelves of romance to a full bay in recent years.
Meghan McCarty Carino/Marketplace