The end is near for TikTok…right? The ultra-popular social media platform is on the brink of a US ban that would remove it from app stores and quickly render it unusable on iPhones and Androids. 150 million users could lose access to audiences around the world and five million TikTok businesses could disappear in an instant.
But it’s not that simple. Last-minute saviors could emerge, even in the form of those who initially sought to ban the Chinese app.
A little context here before diving into the minute-by-minute machinations that hold TikTok’s future in the balance.
TikTok is a nearly decade-old social media platform that, in the United States, began life as Music.ly and was primarily a lip-syncing app (people created videos dancing and lip-syncing their lips to their favorite pop songs). The app was purchased by ByteDance, a Chinese software company, which quickly combined it with its own social media app and renamed it TikTok (in China the app is called Douyin).
Initially, few people knew about or were interested in TikTok, other than teenagers who had already used Music.ly. The pandemic changed all that, however, as families were forced to stay indoors and, with little else to do, turned to TikTok as a creative outlet and digital community builder . The app’s popularity exploded and it became a cultural phenomenon.
It was also around this time that relations between the United States and China deteriorated and concerns about cyberespionage increased. A Chinese-owned app in the hands of virtually every American suddenly seemed like a really bad idea. At issue was the Chinese government’s free access to all technology and data of any company operating within its borders.
Then, President Donald Trump signed an executive order in 2020 to ban TikTok in the United States. The company responded by moving all data and operations related to the US version of the app to the United States. Oracle would host the data and U.S.-based employees would handle virtually everything else.
That wasn’t enough, however, and ultimately President Joe Biden signed a law setting a timetable to force TikTok to sell by January 19, 2025, or face a ban in the United States.
Now the final hours are drawing to a close, but this is where things get interesting. We’re about to give you the latest news on the fate of TikTok in the United States. Stick to this live blog for all the latest developments.
