The TikTok app sparked great impatience in the United States on Saturday, as a looming federal ban threatened to cut off access to the Chinese app that has captivated nearly half of Americans, fueled small businesses and shaped the online culture.
The company announced last Friday that it would no longer be available in the United States on Sunday unless President Joe Biden’s administration assures companies like Apple and Google that they will not be subject to action. coercive measures when the ban comes into force.
The ban would be enacted under a law signed by President Joe Biden in April and would mark the first U.S. shutdown of a major social media app, with TikTok having about 170 million domestic users and a figure of business estimated at $20 billion in 2025.
The platform has until Sunday to cut ties with its China-based parent company ByteDance or shut down its U.S. operations to address concerns it poses a threat to national security.
Supreme Court justices upheld the ban on Friday in a unanimous decision and a White House statement suggested Mr Biden would take no action to save TikTok before the deadline.
If Mr. Biden does not decide to formally invoke a 90-day delay, companies that provide services to TikTok or host the app could face legal liability. It is unclear whether TikTok’s business partners, including Apple, Google (Alphabet) and Oracle, will continue to work with the app before Mr. Trump’s inauguration on Monday.
Uncertainty about the future of the application has pushed users – mainly young people – to turn to other solutions, notably RedNote, based in China. Rivals Meta and Snap also saw their shares rise this month before the ban, as investors bet on an influx of users and advertising dollars.
-Marketing companies that rely on TikTok rushed to prepare contingency plans this week, in what one executive described as a “conflagration” moment, after months of conventional wisdom that a solution was coming. would materialize to keep the application running.
There are signs that TikTok could make a comeback under new US President Donald Trump, who wants a “political resolution” to the issue and who last month asked the Supreme Court to halt implementation of the prohibition.
Mr. Trump said Friday that the decision on the future of the TikTok app would be up to him, but he did not give details on what steps he would take. Media reports said he was considering an executive order that would suspend enforcement of the law on the sale or ban of TikTok for 60 to 90 days.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew plans to attend the US president’s inauguration ceremony on January 20 and sit among the high-profile guests invited by Trump, a source told Reuters.
Suitors, including former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, have expressed interest in the growing company, which analysts say could be worth as much as $50 billion. Media reports say Beijing also discussed selling TikTok’s U.S. operations to billionaire and Trump ally Elon Musk, although the company has denied the report.
ByteDance, a private company, is 60% owned by institutional investors such as BlackRock and General Atlantic, while its founders and employees each own 20% of the shares. It employs more than 7,000 people in the United States.
