Disney and TikTok have agreed a deal which will allow creators to use clips from Disney films, including its subsidiaries, in their videos.

It means clips from hit franchises like Star Wars, Toy Story and the Marvel Cinematic Universe will soon start popping up in videos – which will also be shared on Disney’s short-form video platform, Verts.

The scheme will be launched in the US before being rolled out to other countries.

Neither company shared financial details of the agreement, although it follows the collapse of a $1bn (£745m) deal between Disney and OpenAI which would have let people use its characters in AI-generated videos.

That agreement was cancelled in March when OpenAI shut down its AI video generation tool Sora, citing a decision to focus on other parts of its business.

“Today, fans are celebrating our stories in entirely new ways,” said Disney’s chief marketing and brand officer Asad Ayaz, following the TikTok deal being announced.

“Disney owns some of the world’s biggest franchises but ownership of attention is shifting towards creators,” social media expert Matt Navarra told BBC News.

“Hollywood used to market at fans – now it needs to give fans the raw materials to market with it, and that is quite a profound shift.”

TikTok said its platform saw an average of 6.5 million posts relating to film and TV per day last year.

Fans like to use clips from films and TV shows in their videos, but without express permission, they would often be taken down due to copyright claims.

This makes it harder for a wide audience to engage with fan-created content around a big release.

TikTok would also benefit from the “credibility of becoming a formal distribution partner to one of Hollywood’s biggest studios,” Navarra said.

He added that TikTok’s recommendation algorithm gives it the power to “influence which character or scene or forgotten franchise suddenly becomes very valuable again”.

Disney and TikTok said a jointly-run programme would boost some creators’ videos and give them access to exclusive events.

“This is a deal that repositions and recovers Disney in the UGC [user-generated content] space following the content gap left by the sudden collapse of Sora,” Gareth Sutcliffe from Enders Analysis said.

But he said it was not without risk.

“There is an ongoing safety debate around TikTok under European online rules,” he said.

“At a minimum, Disney will need to employ significant guardrails to curate the creator content that is selected.”

Online creators and influencers are becoming more important to brands’ marketing strategies.

Last year, a report from Oxford Economics said YouTube content creators contributed £2.2bn to the UK economy in 2024 and supported 45,000 jobs.

There is also a recognition that even very small influencers, who focus on niche topics, might have lower follower counts but come with a hyper-engaged audience.

Disney launched its short form video platform Verts in the US in March, with plans to expand that further around the world.

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Chelsea and Juventus meet Wednesday in one of the summer’s most closely watched preseason friendlies, with both European giants using the match at Kai Tak Sports Park in Hong Kong to fine-tune their squads ahead of the 2026-27 season.

The match, part of the Hong Kong Football Festival 2026, kicks off at 7:30 p.m. local time in Hong Kong, which translates to 8 a.m. UTC. That puts the start time at roughly 4 a.m. Eastern time in the United States, giving American fans an early wake-up call if they want to catch the match live.

How to Watch in the United States

Fans in the United States have multiple ways to follow the match. The game will be shown live on Prime Video, Paramount+ and CBS Sports Golazo, giving viewers a choice between several major streaming platforms depending on existing subscriptions. Paramount+ carries CBS Sports’ soccer coverage broadly, including UEFA Champions League matches, in addition to a wide slate of other sports and entertainment programming, while CBS Sports Golazo offers dedicated soccer coverage as part of its programming lineup.

How to Watch in the UK and Elsewhere

For fans in the United Kingdom, the match will not be shown on traditional television. Instead, Chelsea is streaming the game live through the club’s own CFC+ subscription service, available via the Chelsea Official App and the club’s website. Supporters should note that the CFC+ stream will not be available in Hong Kong, Macau or Italy, meaning fans in those specific markets will need to seek alternative broadcast options where available.

For those without access to a CFC+ subscription or one of the U.S. streaming platforms, Chelsea’s Matchday Live service offers minute-by-minute updates throughout the match via the club’s official app and website, including confirmed starting lineups as soon as they are announced, along with live text commentary, statistics and imagery throughout the game. Juventus has also indicated the match will be available to watch for free through its own club channels as part of coverage of what the Italian club is calling the first fixture of its Summer Tour.

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A Big Test for Both Sides

Wednesday’s match represents a significant challenge for both clubs as they continue building toward the new season. Chelsea enter the fixture off the back of a disappointing 2-1 defeat to rivals Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday in Sydney, a result that saw manager Xabi Alonso continuing to experiment with his tactical setup as his first full season in charge of the Premier League side approaches. Alonso’s side also faced 10-man Tottenham during the Australian leg of their preseason tour before moving on to face Juventus and, subsequently, AC Milan in Hong Kong and Jakarta.

Juventus, meanwhile, arrive in strong defensive form, having yet to concede a goal across their preseason warmup matches so far, most recently claiming a 2-0 win over Nice. Manager Igor Tudor is using the club’s preseason schedule to continue establishing his tactical identity with the Serie A side ahead of the new campaign, and is expected to field a strong lineup against Chelsea given the profile of the opponent.

Squad News and Returning Players

Among the storylines surrounding Chelsea’s squad ahead of the match is the potential involvement of winger Mykhailo Mudryk, who could make his return to competitive football after a 20-month suspension following an adverse finding for a banned substance in 2024. Alonso has confirmed that the 25-year-old, who joined Chelsea for $115 million in January 2023, is available for selection as the club continues preparing for the new season. Chelsea has been using its preseason friendlies broadly to build squad chemistry, improve match fitness, and integrate several new signings, while also providing valuable minutes to players returning from injury or international duty over the offseason.

What Comes Next

Wednesday’s match against Juventus is not Chelsea’s final preseason test. The club is scheduled to continue its Asia tour with a subsequent friendly against AC Milan in Hong Kong before wrapping up preparations with a match in Jakarta, Indonesia. Once the squad returns to London, Chelsea will host Real Sociedad at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, Aug. 15, in what is expected to be their final home tune-up before officially opening the 2026-27 Premier League season away to Fulham on Monday, Aug. 24.

For Juventus, Wednesday’s fixture against Chelsea is similarly positioned as one of the tougher tests of their preseason slate, with the Italian club continuing preparations for their own return to competitive football as the new Serie A campaign approaches.

A Marquee Preseason Matchup

While no trophy or competition points are on the line, Wednesday’s friendly carries added significance given the profile of both clubs and the timing within their respective preseason schedules. With Chelsea working to sharpen its form under Alonso following back-to-back tour matches, and Juventus looking to extend a clean defensive record under Tudor, the match offers both managers a valuable opportunity to assess squad depth and tactical cohesion against high-level opposition before facing the pressures of the regular season.

Fans looking to follow the match across any platform are advised to confirm regional streaming availability ahead of kickoff, given the blackout restrictions in place for Hong Kong, Macau and Italy on Chelsea’s own CFC+ service, as well as the early morning start time facing viewers across North America.

The development of a skyscraper in New York City that will house Ken Griffin’s Citadel is moving forward despite his feud with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

The skyscraper project at 350 Park Avenue is being developed by Griffin’s Citadel in partnership with Vornado Realty Trust and Rudin, and will see two of Griffin’s firms being anchor tenants.

Steven Roth, CEO of Vornado Realty Trust, said on the company’s earnings call on Tuesday that the project is underway and that the REIT will maximize its stake in the venture.

“If you drive or walk past Park Avenue at 52nd Street, you will see that our 350 Park Avenue site is now under construction, actually under demolition. We intend to shortly exercise our investment option to participate in this deal at our maximum ownership alongside Ken Griffin as our 60% partner and with Citadel as our 1-million-square-foot anchor tenant.”

HEDGE FUND BILLIONAIRE EXPANDS MIAMI DEVELOPMENT PLANS AFTER MAMDANI FEUD

The new skyscraper being built by Citadel, Vornado and Rudin will be at 350 Park Ave. in New York City. (Fox Business)

Roth said on the call that Citadel holds a 60% stake in the partnership, while Vornado’s will top out at 36%.

The project is moving forward after Mamdani specifically criticized Griffin for owning a penthouse on Central Park South in a video detailing his new pied-a-terre tax, which is levied on high-value residential properties whose owners don’t live in the city full-time.

Mamdani spurred the controversy with an April 15 video the mayor recorded in front of Griffin’s penthouse, calling him out as a wealthy hedge fund owner who would be subject to the new luxury property tax.

NEW YORK’S WEALTHY RUSH TO AVOID MAMDANI’S SECOND-HOME TAX

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani stands outside of Citadel CEO Ken Griffin’s Park Avenue penthouse in an April 15, 2026, video.  (NYC Mayor’s Office)

“When I ran for mayor, I said I was going to tax the rich. Well, today we’re taxing the rich… This is an annual fee on luxury properties worth more than $5 million whose owners do not live full-time in the city – like this penthouse, which hedge fund CEO Ken Griffin bought for $238 million,” Mamdani said in his video.

Griffin responded, calling the personal attack “creepy and weird,” worrying that it put him in harm’s way and demonstrated a “profound lack of judgment,” on Mamdani’s part.

MAMDANI’S TAX ROLL BLUNDER WILL BACKFIRE ON EVERYDAY NEW YORKERS AS BUYERS HEAD SOUTH, DEVELOPER WARNS

Citadel CEO and founder Ken Griffin said Mamdani’s video was “creepy and weird.” (Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Citadel executives went on to suggest that the new office space could become a casualty of Mamdani’s not-so-business-friendly policies.

Gerald Beeson, the firm’s COO, wrote in an April 23 memo to employees that the firm’s development of 350 Park Avenue was about to begin and would create “6,000 highly paid construction jobs” as well as support the “creation of more than 15,000 permanent jobs in Midtown New York.”

“The project – if we move forward – will entail more than $6 billion dollars of spending,” Beeson wrote.

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Mamdani eventually softened his rhetoric and thanked Griffin for his contributions to the city, including funding a memorial wall for police officers killed in the September 11 attacks and those who died of illnesses related to the recovery from the attacks that will open later this year in NYC Police Headquarters.

FOX Business’ Robert McGreevey contributed to this report.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index declined 0.2%, with South Korea’s Kospi Index falling 1%. Earlier, the S&P 500 Index pulled back from a record high while an index of semiconductor stocks lost more than 1%, even as Nvidia Corp. advanced. SpaceX tumbled 14% despite strong earnings, ahead of the release of about $101 billion of shares for trading Thursday.

Sentiment improved in early Asian trading, with S&P 500 Index futures rising 0.1%. However, a cautious tone lingered as memory makers Sandisk Corp. slid 7.5% and Western Digital Corp. plunged 11% in post-market trading after reporting earnings.

US crude edged lower on Thursday after Iran said it had reached an agreement with Oman on a proposed shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz, a potential step toward reopening the critical waterway. West Texas Intermediate fell 0.4% to below $75 per barrel. The dollar held its losses from the previous session, while gold hovered around $4,270 an ounce after posting its biggest gain since February.

Wednesday’s pause in the US stock rally came as investors reassessed valuations after AI-related shares rebounded sharply from last month’s bruising selloff, which hit several hedge funds. Traders are now focused on developments in the Middle East for clues on the direction of oil prices, with knock-on effects for inflation and central bank policy.

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“AI-related results and commentary have sparked some profit taking,” said Colin Cieszynski, chief market strategist and portfolio manager at SIA Wealth Management Inc.
Meanwhile, Treasury yields were little changed on Wednesday after data showed the US services sector expanded at a steady pace in July, even as higher costs for labor and materials continued to weigh on businesses. Hiring slowed, with companies adding fewer workers than expected.If Friday’s monthly payrolls report confirms signs of a cooling labor market, it may give Federal Reserve officials room to keep their focus on stubborn inflation, rather than employment.

Even so, policymakers continued to signal they are prepared to tighten policy further if price pressures persist. Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari told CNBC the central bank should begin raising interest rates incrementally now, while Governor Lisa Cook said she was prepared to act if inflation failed to keep slowing.

“If I do not see signs of continued disinflation soon, I am prepared to act,” Cook said Wednesday in a speech at an event in Alaska. “With five years of above-target inflation, the risk grows that higher inflation may become entrenched in price- and wage-setting behavior, leading to persistence that would be much harder for us to attack.”

Facebook owner Meta says an error during an evaluation by an independent testing company allowed one of its artificial intelligence (AI) models to connect to the internet and hack another organisation’s system.

The announcement follows recent incidents across the AI industry, including breaches by OpenAI and Anthropic models, that have raised cyber-security concerns.

A Meta spokesperson told the BBC that it was investigating the hack that was caused by a “misconfiguration”, which it described as similar to previously reported incidents at other firms.

The incidents have prompted researchers and governments to call for tougher safeguards and more rigorous testing.

Meta said the tests were conducted by Irregular, an AI security vendor, which notified it about the breach.

The BBC has contacted Irregular for comment.

Meta also said it will publish more information on the incident “once we have all the facts.”

In the past two weeks, AI leaders OpenAI and Anthropic have also reported incidents in which their models hacked into other organisation’s systems during testing.

ChatGPT-maker OpenAI said in a series of announcements that its agents attacked several publicly available services, including AI tools hub Hugging Face.

OpenAI’s disclosure prompted rival Anthropic to conduct its own checks, leading to the discovery that its Claude AI model had carried out similar attacks on several firms after a “misconfiguration” gave it access to the internet.

Some commentators have questioned the timing of disclosures about the incidents as tech firms wrestle for dominance in AI development.

OpenAI and Anthropic are preparing blockbuster stock market listings that are expected to value each firm at around $1tn (£740bn).

This week, the UK’s AI Security Institute (AISI) said that its testing had found that some models tried to carry out cyber-attacks by creating fake human profiles to try and trick people.

In the most serious case, the AISI said Anthropic’s Mythos AI tried to gain access to a service by sending private messages using fake accounts mimicking real people.

Anthropic said AISI’s tests were not “representative of any of our production models”. OpenAI, whose models were also tested, said AISI’s evaluations did not reflect ordinary use.