TikTok is a happy place. From cute kitties to lip-syncing stars, the Chinese short-video service is a place where people go to entertain and to be delighted. Unlike Twitter and Facebook, the site is abjectly apolitical. Yet, politicians increasingly find it quite objectionable. This is not dichotomous. What makes TikTok so harmonious is also the very thing that attracts ...

  At the heart of banking regulation sits a tradeoff between competition and financial stability. Competition allows consumers access to better prices and better products. But it can also encourage banks to do wayward things, often at the expense of soundness. Faced with the choice, regulators typically come down on the side of safety. Regulators in Ireland have adopted this ...

  Collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX was a magnet for the so-called smart money. Backers included the biggest names in finance and venture capital, from BlackRock Inc. to SoftBank Group Corp. to pension funds. Even after this summer’s crypto crash, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan described its investment in the firm as “lowest-risk” — because it was the venue where “everybody else” ...