Compared to Twitter, which is officially submitted to the American state. The app TikTok must surrender to the United States, that is close in America unless China accedes to the Americans becoming more involved in the TikTok program. This has been preceded by a long-held speculation regarding the Chinese-owned app which has more than $100 million users in America. TikTok has been the center of national security concerns as lawmakers have worried that the social platform by ByteDance might provide user information to the Chinese government or allow it to manipulate what U.S. users see.
In 2024, Congress enacted legislation requiring ByteDance to sell or divest the American operations of TikTok, failing which it would be shut down. Things have been sluggish ever since the continued negotiation of deals and several deadline extensions. President Donald Trump has thrice adjourned the deadline, and the new date that remains is September 17. Unless ByteDance sells out before the mentioned date, TikTok will be banned in the U.S.
However, Lutnick insisted that America should possess influence on the TikTok technology and algorithm. Americans will own the technology. He said, Americans will dominate the algorithm. This is a quote echoing the U.S. government’s effort to make the country secure by avoiding the occurrence of foreign ownership of big digital platforms. Nonetheless, the negotiations are not transparent. In spite of Trump saying that he can find some affluent American investors willing to acquire TikTok, the deal has not been concluded yet.
Most recently, Blackstone, the big firm in private equity, has withdrawn a consortium bid, and this casts a shadow on whether it will sell within time. This effectively jeopardizes the future of TikTok in the U.S. In case China does not allow the sale and ByteDance does not take the necessary steps on time; millions of American users will lose access to the app quite unexpectedly. This would be one of the most significant government decisions ever taken against a foreign-owned technology platform in the history of the U.S. This decision will probably define the further design of policies related to data confidentiality, digital security, and U.S.-China technological relations. As of today, the only thing we are looking forward to is the September 17 deadline, after which ByteDance will either accept the terms of the U.S. or leave TikTok in the dark in America.
