Media News Daily: Top Stories for 03/03/2026

Nearly Half of U.S. Consumers Now Use TikTok as a Search Engine, Adobe Finds

A new study from Adobe, based on surveys of 807 U.S. consumers and 200 small business owners, reports that nearly half of American consumers now use TikTok as a search engine, a figure that has risen almost 20% in two years. The report highlights TikTok’s growing role as a discovery platform, driven by short-form video, personalized content, and authentic storytelling. While Google, Reddit, and ChatGPT remain more trusted and widely valued sources of information overall, TikTok’s scale, with more than 200 million U.S. users, positions it as a powerful in-app discovery tool. Read More (Social Media Today Rating)

Anthropic’s Claude Tops App Store as Users React to OpenAI Defense Deal

Anthropic’s Claude AI app surged to No. 1 in Apple’s App Store rankings, surpassing ChatGPT amid backlash over OpenAI’s reported agreement with a Trump administration defense initiative referred to by critics as a “Department of War” deal. According to reporting cited by Business Insider, some users publicly stated they were deleting ChatGPT and switching to Claude in protest of OpenAI’s government alignment. Anthropic had previously declined certain government deployment terms before being replaced by OpenAI. Read More (The Hill Rating)

U.S. Supreme Court Declines AI Copyright Case, Reinforces Human Authorship Rule

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal from computer scientist Stephen Thaler, who sought copyright protection for artwork generated by his AI system. Lower courts upheld the U.S. Copyright Office’s determination that AI-generated works without human authorship are not eligible for copyright protection under current law. Thaler has pursued the case since 2018, arguing for a reinterpretation of copyright statutes in light of technological advancements. Regulators maintain that copyright requires human creative input, though works may qualify if AI is used as a tool and a human determines the expressive elements. Read More (Social Media Today Rating)