everything you need to know about the app takeover saga

Five days before the deadline imposed for the sale of TikTok, uncertainty remains regarding the future in the United States of the social network, which could survive even in the absence of a sale by its parent company ByteDance.

Axel Pigman / afp

Part of the fate of the Chinese platform rests on the Supreme Court, urgently seized by the group to block the application of the law passed in April in Congress and which leaves it, as it stands, with no other outcome than a sale.

At the hearing which took place on Friday, several magistrates of the highest American court seemed sensitive to the arguments linked to national security raised by Congress, which fears the exploitation by the Chinese government of the data of American users of TikTok .

The Supreme Court’s decision is expected any day this week.

What happens if Tiktok is banned?

In the event of a ban, it will be up to the American government to force mobile application stores to remove the social network from their platform.

TikTok would then no longer be downloadable. Users already equipped with the app would keep it but would no longer be able to update it, which would ultimately make it difficult, or even impossible to use.

As the social network is still accessible elsewhere than in the United States, American Internet users who wish could use a VPN, software that allows sites and application stores to be deceived about their geographic location.

In an internal note, cited by the specialized media The Vergethe company informed its employees that its offices would remain “open, even if the situation is still not resolved by January 19”deadline to transfer the application to another owner.

How to get around the ban?

However, the application of the law will be left to the discretion of the new Trump government and, more particularly, to the future Minister of Justice, Pam Bondi.

Given Donald Trump’s opposition to the disappearance of TikTok, she could choose inaction, thus effectively preserving the social network.

As part of the Supreme Court proceedings, Trump asked the top justices to postpone their decision until after his inauguration. The president-elect believes he is able to “save the platform while addressing national security concerns.”

Then, he could notably suggest to the Republican majority in Congress to amend the text to offer room for maneuver to TikTok.

Who could buy?

Until now, ByteDance had opposed the idea of ​​selling its jewel but, according to the agency Bloombergthe Chinese government would be open to a takeover by Elon Musk, already majority shareholder of another social network, X (formerly Twitter), and ally of Donald Trump.

TikTok on Monday described this scenario as «pure fiction».

Other candidates are in the running, notably businessman Frank McCourt. He brought together investors around his Project Liberty concept, which wants to make TikTok a platform focused on the security of its users. The one who also owns the French football club Olympique de Marseille estimates the value of TikTok US at $20 billion.

The former boss of video game publisher Activision Blizzard, Bobby Kotick, also remains interested, according to the site The Information.

Who will benefit?

If all the servers on which TikTok US runs are now located in the United States, the question of the technical feasibility of a split is debated, such an operation having no known precedent.

The potential extinction of the American version of the social network would appear to be a blessing for its rivals, first and foremost YouTube (Shorts) and Instagram (Reels), which have declined, in recent years, the format of short videos that have made them globally successful. from TikTok.

Many of the content creators have already diversified across multiple platforms, with the first threats to TikTok’s future dating back nearly five years, during the first Trump administration.

The site then owed its survival only to legal decisions blocking the execution of a decree issued by Trump which, in effect, condemned TikTok, unless ByteDance sold it.

In recent days, creators have also found refuge on the Chinese application Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book), likely to also be targeted by the American authorities for the same reasons as TikTok.

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(afp/svp)

TikTok, this social network that makes you want to blow very hard