What’s going to happen to TikTok in the US? ‘China shows its teeth’

What’s going to happen with TikTok? The tension about the future of the popular app in the US is increasing, especially now that China has also entered the sales process.

Trump considers the app a security risk as long as it is part of the Chinese company ByteDance; the user data could end up in the hands of the Beijing government. The company contradicts this. Still, the Trump administration’s app must be sold to an American party. Only then can TikTok remain active in the US.

Two sales deadlines will expire next week: Tuesday one named by Trumpd and Sunday one ratified by decree by the president. It is unclear which applies. The expectation is that TikTok is not going to meet the sales deadlines and Trump don’t want to delay.

First with success in the west

It is the first social media app from China with great success in the west. In the Netherlands, the app – on which users share dances or other acts in short films – counts about 3.5 million users. In Amerika 100 million.

ByteDance doesn’t actually want to sell the app at all, but thinks it has no choice. There are two potential buyers: Microsoft in partnership with supermarket chain Walmart and Oracle in partnership with investors.

The fact that there is so much uncertainty now is because China got involved in the process at the last minute. A deal seemed like a matter of days at the end of August, but then the Beijing government decided to change its technology export rules. Because of this, TikTok has to request permission for a sale, as the app’s algorithm has been labeled as ‘sensitive’. The question is whether the company will receive this permission: China would rather have for the app to close in the US, then for a sale to proceed.

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