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It’s been a tumultuous year and a half for TikTok in the U.S. In April of 2024, President Biden signed a law forcing the app’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell its majority stake to an American company, or face a ban in the U.S. ByteDance never did, and so, in January, the app went dark.
It was mostly performative, however. Then President-elect Trump had already assured TikTok that his incoming administration would not enforce the ban, as did the outgoing President Biden. As such, once Trump was sworn in, he signed an executive order kicking the TikTok ban down the road. Trump continued to delay enforcing the ban, which, while legally dubious, allowed the app to continue operating as usual.
It seems, however, this wild ride is coming to a close. On Thursday, Trump signed an executive order that sets the stage for a U.S.-majority stake in TikTok. Nothing is set in stone, but American companies like Oracle, as well as individuals like Larry Ellison (Oracle co-founder) and Rupert Murdoch could be among the newest owners of the app. Curiously, a non-American company, the Abu Dhabi-based MGX investment fund, would also be involved. This joint venture would control a majority of the new American TikTok, while ByteDance would control less than 20%.
Trump says Chinese President Xi Jinping has okayed the deal, though no Chinese representatives were present at the order’s signing. Again, nothing is for certain at this point, but we can take a look at the early details to get a sense for how a new “America-approved” TikTok would operate in the U.S.
How would TikTok change in the US?
First things first: the app itself. It’s highly possible you’ll need to download a new app entirely in order to keep using TikTok. This has been a focus of speculation for a couple months now, but as the Washington Post reports, TikTok engineers have been working on a U.S.-version of the app. The new app will likely appear identical to the TikTok experience you already know, and, in fact, might be accessible via a link within the current app. The Post makes the point that the harder it is for users to access the new TikTok app, the higher the chance they leave the platform entirely for alternatives like Instagram and YouTube, so TikTok engineers will no doubt be working on ways to make the transition as seamless as possible.
Then, there’s the famous algorithm. This is what makes TikTok so addictive; the app’s algorithm is so good, it learns what you like and shows you content to keep you scrolling for hours. Without the algorithm, TikTok very well could lose its addictive nature, and, along with it, its users. The Post reports that, at least at this time, the algorithm is staying put, and will be leased out from ByteDance by the new American TikTok venture. Plus, you should still be able to see international content going forward, not just videos posted by Americans. TikTok should, in theory, be as entertaining (and addicting) as ever.
What do you think so far?
But that’s not the end of the story. According to Trump’s executive order, the algorithm will be “retrained and monitored” by “trusted security partners” of the U.S. That does not necessarily inspire confidence in a neutral algorithm for Americans, especially as Trump says he would make it “100% MAGA” if he could.
Finally, there’s the question of user data. This was a major concern of the U.S. government, and part of why both the Trump and Biden administrations went after the app. It wasn’t without reason either, as we learned ByteDance did in fact store American user data and had used it to obtain the IP addresses of American journalists. According to the executive order, all user data from the U.S. version of TikTok will need to be stored in a cloud environment operated by an American company.
We’ll need to see how both ByteDance and the Chinese government address the executive order and potential divestiture going forward, as things could change. As of now, however, it seems both nothing will change, and everything will change. You’ll still be able to endlessly scroll through your feed as you do now, but you may need to use a new, yet identical version of the app to do so. You may see the same content you do now, or you might start to see some new content, suspiciously aligned with the values of the current administration. And your data will still be controlled by a faceless third-party, only now it’ll be by your own country, rather than a foreign nation.
