🔴 TikTok REMOVES Compatibility Mode

Hey, it’s Harry.

Welcome back to another week of the streaming and content journey.

What on earth is TikTok doing? That’s what I’m wondering this week. They never fail to amaze me with the bizarre moves that they make.

📰 In Today’s Edition

• 🎥 TikTok removes compatibility mode from LIVE Studio

• 🔒 An update on the TikTok ban

• 🔴 How to be a TikTok LIVE VTuber

• 🚀 A powerful TikFinity update

🔴 TikTok Deletes Compatibility Mode

As I frequently say, TikTok is a poorly organised and understaffed company. This episode is yet another example of that.

At the end of the week, TikTok pushed an update that DELETED compatibility mode from LIVE Studio. It was the most innovative feature on LS and allowed viewers to pick between a landscape or vertical stream view.

Timeline Of Events

1. TikTok pushed an update late last week. Compatibility mode was gone.

2. A creator sent me a picture of the LS update screen. TikTok had "optimised the scene loading speed in compatibility mode". By removing it 🤣.

3. On Sunday, a TikTok employee in the unofficial LS Discord offered to enable compatibility mode for users who type their username. This thread was left unmoderated for hours, leading to spam and illegal plugin sales, reflecting poorly on the billion-dollar company.

4. Finally today (Monday) TikTok explained compatibility mode is “undergoing updates” and in an additional Discord message, an employee shared a longer explanation that “malicious behaviours” forced a temporary removal and that compatibility mode may not return for a few months.

My Thoughts

Another mess from TikTok. They do not act like a billion-dollar company with over a billion worldwide users. As the X post above says though, I am not surprised.

Compatibility mode was being abused by creators streaming automated games, which is a violation of the TikTok LIVE Rules and Guidance. TikTok’s automated AI was only scanning the landscape canvas, enabling the streaming of automated games on the vertical canvas with no detection.

That said, TikTok should not be punishing the majority of legitimate users. Compatibility mode was a great innovation that gave your viewers the choice of viewing experience.

All the more reason to be multistreaming…

🔒 Update On The TikTok Ban

Last week we spoke about the three steps you should be taking right now to protect yourself from a potential ban of TikTok in the US. Let’s look at what’s happened this week.

The week began with the House approving the bill to ban TikTok by a massive 352-65 votes. This is despite Donald Trump’s warning that a ban would help the 'enemy of the people' Facebook. Many Republicans ignored him and voted for the ban anyway, this is rare!

TikTok responded by engaging the PR machine including the X post above and yet more in-app notifications urging viewers and creators to call their Senators.

Things have since slowed down. The bill requires Senate approval and there are indications that they will “slow walk” it. If the bill does pass, Biden says he’ll sign it and then TikTok will slow this process down in the courts.

So a ban is likely many months away if it happens at all but you should still follow the best practices outlined in our weekly video below:

🎬 Weekly Video

📜 Post Of The Week

MrBeast talks about the perils of going full-time as a content creator.

🎯 Bullet Point News

• X/Twitter livestreams now show total views instead of the current concurrent viewer count in a controversial move. They are also adding the ability to rewind a stream.

• Twitch demonetises a creator who was caught buying views.

• Virtual avatars (AKA VTubers) are a great way to stream on TikTok LIVE without showing your face. I finally made a guide.

• TikFinity releases a very powerful StreamerBot integration. There are so many possibilities with this. Eventually, I’ll create a full video guide.

• Streamlabs is allowing you to apply for access to stream on TikTok from their client. Note that you can still also just get a free stream key instead.

👋 Thanks for reading!

Harry

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