Q&A: What does the future hold for TikTok?
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The future of TikTok in the United States remains uncertain as a ban on the app looms, but the incoming Donald Trump administration has hinted at keeping it online. The uncertainty has already sparked some users in the US to look elsewhere for their social media output, and users in other countries have raised concerns about what any US ban could mean for the app globally.
Here is a closer look at what could happen to TikTok, why it is happening and what it might mean for users around the world. – Why is TikTok facing a ban in the US?. Last April, US President Joe Biden signed a law which gave TikTok until this month to separate its US business from parent firm ByteDance, a China-based company whose control of TikTok is seen as a national security threat by the US government.
The US Justice Department has said the government has two main concerns around TikTok and ByteDance: that TikTok collects large amounts of data and this could all into the hands of the Chinese government; and that the algorithm that powers TikTok recommendations could be manipulated by Beijing.
To combat this, the US has therefore ruled that TikTok must split from ByteDance in order to stay online in the United States. The deadline for this split is Sunday January 19 – a day before Joe Biden leaves office and is replaced by Donald Trump – itself a key moment as the two man have conflicting views on the issue.
In response to the American concerns, TikTok has repeatedly said it does not and would not share data with the Chinese government, and warned that a break-up would effectively cut off the US version of TikTok from the rest of the world, making it a “shell of its former self”.
