Tech
What Is ‘Demure,’ the Latest TikTok Trend Taking the Internet by Storm
Published
2 years agoon

TikTok’s latest viral trend, “Demure,” has captured global attention, with businesses and influencers embracing the aesthetic. Even celebrities are now “very mindful” and jumping on the bandwagon to promote anything from upcoming films to cocktails.
Actresses Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan shared videos on Instagram, showcasing their demure looks and tagging their posts with #FreakierFriday to promote their upcoming Disney film. The movie, a sequel to the 2023 film Freaky Friday, directed by Mark Waters, is scheduled for release in 2025.
Singer Jennifer Lopez also joined the trend to promote her Delola cocktail line. And even starts without anything to plug, decided to try their own version of the trend to clock in views on social media: Penn Badgley posted a video about his last day on set filming season five of Netflix’s You. And Gillian Anderson has been captioning posts with the “very demure, very mindful” signature of the Summer 2024 trend.
Who Created the Demure Trend on TikTok?
The “Demure” trend, which gained traction in early August 2024, was started by TikTok influencer Jools Lebron. Based in Chicago, Lebron, who works as a cashier and creates videos during breaks, achieved viral success with a video that has amassed over 38 million views. In the video, Lebron describes her workplace makeup and attire as “very modest, very mindful.”
“You see how I do my makeup for work? Very demure. Very mindful. I don’t come to work with a green cut crease. I don’t look like a clown when I go to work. I don’t do too much. I’m very mindful while I’m at work.”
She continued: “You see how I look very presentable? The way I came to the interview is the way I go to the job. A lot of you girls go to the interview looking like Marge Simpson and go to the job looking like Patty and Selma. Not demure. I’m very modest. I’m very mindful. You see my shirt? Only a little chi chi out, not my cho cho. Be mindful of why they hired you. Here’s your reality check, diva. What’s the name you’d like me to make it out to?”
Lebron’s overnight fame has opened doors for new opportunities. “One day, I was playing cashier and making videos on my break. And now, I’m flying across the country to host events,” says Lebron, who identifies as a transgender woman. She plans to use her newfound fame to fund the remainder of her transition, and a new car is also on the cards.
How Influencer Jools Lebron Is Cashing In on the Demure Trend
It didn’t take long for brands to take notice of Jools Lebron’s viral success. On Monday, Verizon became the first major company to collaborate with Lebron, tapping into the “Demure” trend to promote their new trade-in program. Lebron’s video for Verizon garnered 120,000 reactions within 24 hours.
Lebron is also monetizing her popularity through Cameo, offering personalized 30-second demure videos starting at $100.
“I will do happy birthday, happy graduation. Very demure, very mindful, very cutesy. It will be kind of funny, as I have no self-control,” explains Lebron. She joined Cameo, a platform that allows users to request custom videos from celebrities, in March 2024.
Is There a Recipe for Viral Success on TikTok?
While TikTok boasts over 1 billion active users globally, there is no guaranteed formula for creating a viral video. However, creating video content that is timely can increase the chances of success. Additionally, collaborating with other creators, and engaging with your audience can help boost content’s visibility. The most important factor on the platform remains authenticity, with TikTok users being drawn to content that feels genuine and relatable.
But What Is Demure?
The adjective “demure” means reserved, modest, and shy, typically used to describe a woman. However, in August 2024, the term gained widespread popularity after influencer Jools Lebron posted a video using that word and it went viral. Recorded inside her car, the Chicago-based influencer used the word “demure” to describe her workplace makeup and hair – and her life changed forever.
Marcio Delgado is a Journalist, Producer and Influencer Marketing Manager working with brands and publications in Europe, America and Asia.

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Tech
OpenAI confirms GPT-6.1 Sol Codex and Work mode performance issues
Published
23 hours agoon
October 13, 2026
ChatGPT users faced performance problems on Tuesday, 13 October 2026, after OpenAI confirmed an ongoing technical issue affecting GPT-6.1 Sol Codex and Work mode.
The artificial intelligence company published an incident report on its official status page, warning of degraded performance across the affected services. The disruption raised concerns for users relying on OpenAI’s tools for coding, research, productivity and other professional tasks.
OpenAI had been investigating the incident for over an hour, with performance degradation starting at around 9am.
ChatGPT is being affected by performance issues
According to OpenAI’s own dashboard, ChatGPT had one affected component, while Codex had four affected components this morning. Both services were marked with yellow warning indicators, signalling degraded performance rather than a confirmed complete outage.
Users have also taken to the internet to complain about difficulties accessing ChatGPT on Tuesday morning, 13 October. On Reddit, users reported encountering error messages such as “Selected model is at capacity. Please try a different model” and “Connection interrupted. Waiting for the complete answer” when attempting to use GPT-6.1 Sol.
The complaints emerged as OpenAI acknowledged degraded performance, although it remains unclear whether all reported issues are directly linked to the ongoing disruption.
Exactly one month earlier, on 13 September 2026, a ChatGPT outage affected users across Europe, with OpenAI confirming elevated error rates. Later that month, further ChatGPT disruptions affected Plus and Pro subscribers. October has also seen a series of technical problems, with incidents reported on 6, 8 and 10 October. These included errors affecting ChatGPT conversations and issues preventing some Android users from accessing content in the app. The latest outage adds to a growing list of service disruptions affecting OpenAI’s popular AI chatbot.

When will ChatGPT Sol Codex be working normally again?
Users experiencing problems with ChatGPT, Codex or Work mode may have to wait for further information from OpenAI before normal service can be confirmed.
Degraded performance does not necessarily mean a platform is completely unavailable. Instead, affected users may encounter slower responses, unreliable functionality or difficulties completing certain tasks.
The disruption could be particularly inconvenient for developers using Codex for programming assistance and professionals depending on Work mode for complex workflows.
As of the status update shown on Tuesday morning, the incident remained classified as “Investigating”, with OpenAI yet to confirm the underlying cause or provide an estimated time for restoring normal performance.

Meta-owned messaging platform WhatsApp has announced a series of new updates designed to improve how users communicate in group chats, introducing enhanced polls, a new @all mention feature and the ability to create new chats from existing groups.
The latest additions build on several group chat improvements introduced earlier this year, as WhatsApp continues to refine one of its most widely used features. The updates aim to help users make decisions more quickly, improve communication in busy conversations and make it easier to organise discussions without creating unnecessary clutter.
New tools to simplify group decisions
WhatsApp has expanded its polling feature with three new options designed to make group decision-making more efficient.
Users can now set a closing time for polls, ensuring that voting automatically ends at a specified deadline. Poll creators also have the option to hide participants’ names, allowing members to vote privately. In addition, poll questions can now be edited within 15 minutes of being posted, making it possible to correct mistakes or clarify wording without creating a new poll.
The changes are intended to make organising meetings, events and group activities quicker and more straightforward.
New ways to keep everyone informed
Among the most significant additions is the introduction of @all, a feature that allows users to notify every member of a group with a single mention, rather than tagging individuals separately. The feature is designed for announcements such as schedule changes, event reminders or urgent updates. In groups with more than 32 members, only administrators will be able to use @all.
WhatsApp says users will continue to have control over their notifications and can choose to mute @all alerts through the app’s notification settings if they prefer. The platform has also introduced a feature that allows users to create a new group chat directly from an existing one. Instead of adding participants individually, members of an existing group can be selected with a single tap to start a separate conversation.
The latest updates follow the introduction earlier this year of group message history, member tags and event reminders, as WhatsApp continues to expand the tools available for managing group conversations.
Tech
TikTok Cracks Down on AI Spam as It Expands User Education
Published
3 months agoon
July 13, 2026
TikTok has announced a new set of initiatives focused on cracking down AI spam and how social media users can spot it. With more than 1 billion people using the app each month in 2025, the ByteDance‑owned company has become one of the world’s biggest public stages — a place where entertainment, commentary, activism and misinformation all travel at the same speed. And as AI‑generated content floods social feeds everywhere, TikTok is trying to stop its own platform from becoming a playground for synthetic junk.
The company’s latest update focuses on two fronts: helping users understand AI better, and stopping AI‑generated spam from overwhelming the real creators who keep the app alive.
AI literacy with focus on manipulated content
TikTok is expanding its AI literacy push with new resources created alongside NAMLE and AI and deepfakes expert Henry Ajder. The aim is to give users something more useful than vague safety tips — practical explanations of how AI tools work, how to spot manipulated content, and how to use AI without accidentally contributing to the mess.
It’s also doubling down on expert‑led content. Through the NoFiltr programme, launched in November 2025, helped trusted organisations to generate more than 200 million views with content that enables people better understand and use AI. TikTok says it has already invested more than $4 million behind the initiative and plans to keep scaling it.
“TikTok’s early and scaled implementation of Content Credentials demonstrates how provenance can deliver meaningful value in real-world environments around the world,” said Clement Wolf, Chair of the C2PA. “Bringing that experience to the Steering Committee will help accelerate our collective work to make transparency a consistent and trusted part of the digital ecosystem”.
AI spam is getting smarter
AI creativity is exploding on TikTok, but so is AI‑generated spam. The platform removed over 86 million fake accounts in the first three months of this year — a number that shows just how aggressively spam networks try to hijack trending topics.
Now TikTok is testing new detection systems aimed specifically at accounts that mass‑produce AI‑generated content on sensitive subjects like politics, current events, financial advice and medical claims.
Transparency is becoming a requirement
Two years ago, TikTok became the first major video platform to adopt C2PA Content Credentials, a technology that helps people see when a video has been generated or heavily edited using AI. It’s now joining the C2PA Steering Committee, giving it a seat at the table as transparency standards evolve across the industry.
So far, TikTok has labelled over 3 billion videos as AI‑generated using a mix of Content Credentials, creator‑applied labels and invisible watermarking.
Alongside safety measures, TikTok is still building creative AI tools like Smart Split and AI Outline, and testing features such as Manage Topics, which let users control how much AI‑generated content appears in their feed.
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