TikTok in last-ditch effort to prevent US ban

Hello. Lawyers for TikTok have appeared before the US Supreme Court in a last-ditch effort to prevent an impending ban in America. While on the other side of the country, my colleague Lucy Sherriff shares her heartbreaking story of how her home was burnt to the ground in the Los Angeles fires. And in China, we spoke to the road-tripping 'auntie' who's become an unwitting feminist icon.

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TikTok in last-ditch effort to stop US ban

TikTok has 170 million users across the US. Credit: Reuters

Justices on the US Supreme Court appear likely to uphold a law that will either ban TikTok in America or force its Chinese owner ByteDance to sell it. Earlier, lawyers for the social media giant appeared before the justices in a bid to overturn the impending 19 January ban, in a case testing the limits of national security and free speech. The US government argues that without a sale, TikTok could be used by China as a tool for spying and political manipulation, posing a "grave threat" to national security. But TikTok rejects that claim, arguing it has been unfairly targeted and the measure violates the free speech of its 170 million American users, something the justices appeared sceptical of. A decision will be made within days.

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The road-trip 'auntie' who became an icon

Su Min has captured the curiosity and awe of millions of Chinese women with her video diaries. Credit: Su Min

Su Min had no intention of becoming a feminist icon. The 60-year-old grandmother was only trying to escape her abusive husband when she hit the road in 2020. "I felt like I could finally catch my breath," she says, recalling the moment she drove away from her old life. Over the next four years, which saw her criss-cross China, she produced video diaries of her adventures in which she also detailed her decades of pain, garnering millions of cheerleaders online. They called her the "road-tripping auntie" as she inadvertently became a hero for women who felt trapped in their own lives.

And finally... in Australia

A woman has successfully petitioned to annul her marriage after realising that a fake wedding ceremony she took part in for a social media stunt was in fact real. The bizarre case began in September 2023, when the woman met her partner on an online dating platform. Read about how it unfolded.