Maggie Clancy
SheKnows
Sun, January 19, 2025
On the evening of January 18, TikTok users in the U.S. found themselves in social media limbo as they got their last scrolls in before the ban set in. Opening the app, they were greeted with two cryptic messages. The first promised that TikTok was working on restoring service quickly, while the second had an eerie addendum: “We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office.”
Just a little over 12 hours later, TikTok was back. A new message congratulated users for their patience, saying, “As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.
A feel-good moment orchestrated by a returning savior leader? Not quite. While some users happy to see the return of the app and some of its recent favorites like Spencer Pratt posting as soon as it was back up, many TikTok users were quick to take to Reddit with their receipts, blasting through any attempt at rewriting history.
“Remember,” one user began. “Trump started this in 2020 with an Executive Order… He created this problem.” They weren’t exaggerating. Back in August 2020, an in-office President Trump threatened to ban TikTok outright, citing vague national security concerns. Users shared screenshots ofheadlines from that summer, with dominating declarations like, “Trump says he’s banning TikTok in the U.S.” What began as a legally questionable executive order to ban the app ended up being dismissed by the courts.
Now, with political theater in full swing, many users see these fresh TikTok developments as little more than a self-serving act.
“The message is so dystopian,” another frustrated commenter weighed in. “He’s not even president yet, but now he’s swooping in like some savior? This feels so suspicious and makes me not even want to be on the app.” Echoes of distrust reverberated through the threads, with some drawing attention to Meta’s recent decision to eliminate fact-checking on its platforms, including Facebook and Instagram. “I don’t trust any of it,” another user concluded. “State-run media feels like the next step.”
Elon Musk isn’t off the hook either, with X (formerly Twitter) adding to the digital chaos. Musk’s erratic leadership at X, along with Zuckerberg’s history of fostering misinformation and propaganda — like the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal that heavily influenced the 2016 presidential election — is sparking serious concern. Many are questioning whether TikTok might shift from a platform for creativity, small businesses, and activists to organize to a tool for blatant propaganda.
While Trump might be eager to recast himself as the steward of free speech, many aren’t buying it — or all that trusting of the post-ban form of TikTok.
Sun, January 19, 2025
On the evening of January 18, TikTok users in the U.S. found themselves in social media limbo as they got their last scrolls in before the ban set in. Opening the app, they were greeted with two cryptic messages. The first promised that TikTok was working on restoring service quickly, while the second had an eerie addendum: “We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office.”
Just a little over 12 hours later, TikTok was back. A new message congratulated users for their patience, saying, “As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.
A feel-good moment orchestrated by a returning savior leader? Not quite. While some users happy to see the return of the app and some of its recent favorites like Spencer Pratt posting as soon as it was back up, many TikTok users were quick to take to Reddit with their receipts, blasting through any attempt at rewriting history.
“Remember,” one user began. “Trump started this in 2020 with an Executive Order… He created this problem.” They weren’t exaggerating. Back in August 2020, an in-office President Trump threatened to ban TikTok outright, citing vague national security concerns. Users shared screenshots ofheadlines from that summer, with dominating declarations like, “Trump says he’s banning TikTok in the U.S.” What began as a legally questionable executive order to ban the app ended up being dismissed by the courts.
Now, with political theater in full swing, many users see these fresh TikTok developments as little more than a self-serving act.
“The message is so dystopian,” another frustrated commenter weighed in. “He’s not even president yet, but now he’s swooping in like some savior? This feels so suspicious and makes me not even want to be on the app.” Echoes of distrust reverberated through the threads, with some drawing attention to Meta’s recent decision to eliminate fact-checking on its platforms, including Facebook and Instagram. “I don’t trust any of it,” another user concluded. “State-run media feels like the next step.”
Elon Musk isn’t off the hook either, with X (formerly Twitter) adding to the digital chaos. Musk’s erratic leadership at X, along with Zuckerberg’s history of fostering misinformation and propaganda — like the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal that heavily influenced the 2016 presidential election — is sparking serious concern. Many are questioning whether TikTok might shift from a platform for creativity, small businesses, and activists to organize to a tool for blatant propaganda.
While Trump might be eager to recast himself as the steward of free speech, many aren’t buying it — or all that trusting of the post-ban form of TikTok.
‘This Was All a Stunt’: TikTok Trolled for Coming Back Online Hours After Shutdown
Corbin Bolies
Sun, January 19, 2025
CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty
TikTok announced it would restore access to the app to more than 170 million Americans on Sunday, hours after President-elect Donald Trump promised to grant its parent company a short reprieve from a national ban.
In a note posted to X, it thanked Trump for agreeing not to enforce the ban.
“In agreement with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring service,” it wrote from its policy X account. “We thank President Trump for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans and allowing over 7 million small businesses to thrive.”
TikTok completed its effusive praise for Trump in a notice to users when they open the app. “Thanks for your patience and support,” the notice read. “As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!”
The move came after Trump wrote he would sign an executive order on Monday delaying the enforcement of a law that demands ByteDance, TikTok’s China-based owner, sell the app over national security concerns. He also promised tech companies there would be “no liability” should they restore access to the app and its services before his order was signed.
“Americans deserve to see our exciting Inauguration on Monday, as well as other events and conversations,” he wrote.
A solution he proposed was a joint venture between the U.S. and “the current owners and/or new owners,” allowing the platform to stay active. “By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to say up,” he wrote. “Without U.S. approval, there is no Tik Tok.”
TikTok said on Sunday it “will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States.”
Users were split under the post over its lavish praise of the president-elect. Some lauded Trump for his public efforts in getting the app back online while others blasted the app for capitulating to a politician who initially wanted it banned years ago.
“this was all a stunt to make trump look good,” one poster wrote.
“It’s been less than 24 hours and you’re already coming back? Y’all have no shame,” another poster responded. “All of this has just been a wasted attempt to try to make Trump look better.”
TikTok’s brief shutdown blasted as likely ‘deliberate PR stunt’ to create ‘sense of panic’
Thomas Barrabi
Sun, January 19, 2025
TikTok ban
TikTok’s decision to shut the app down for barely 12 hours – only to restore access to the China-owned app on Sunday after President-elect Donald Trump chimed in – appeared to be a PR stunt meant to stoke a public outcry, policy experts told The Post.
“TikTok’s early shutdown either came down to corporate incompetence or a deliberate PR stunt to encourage a manufactured sense of panic,” said Joel Thayer, a DC-based tech lawyer and president of the Digital Progress Institute. “Given it’s waffling, I’m assuming it’s the latter.”
The popular video-sharing app pulled the plug for all US users late Saturday night but began restoring service Sunday afternoon after Trump vowed to “save” TikTok through an executive order Monday that would delay enforcement of the divestiture law requiring parent company ByteDance to sell its stake.
The company thanked Trump “for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties.”
However, the Biden administration had already said it would not enforce the law, and Trump previously signaled ahead of the shutdown that he was against the ban and would “most likely” issue the executive order.
TikTok came back online Sunday after a 12-hour shutdown. Christopher Sadowski
The company’s leadership has acted as “an unsympathetic and disingenuous broker” in its dealings with Congress and the public over the last several years, Thayer said.
“The truth is that, even before Congress enacted the law, the US has told TikTok how to fix its blatant national security concerns for over 5 years and the company did nothing,” he added. “Now, after it attempted to bring bogus First Amendment claims to delay the law’s enforcement and on the eve of its ban, it wants a pity party.”
Under the divestiture law, app store operators like Google and Apple face penalties of $5,000 per user if they allow new downloads of the Bytedance-owned app after the Jan. 19 deadline. Service providers like Oracle and Akamai also faced lesser liability for supporting the app’s operation.
As written, the law did not require TikTok to go dark for people who had already downloaded it on their phones, or nor did it ban Americans from accessing the app.
A TikTok representative declined further comment and pointed to the company’s earlier statement.
Searches for TikTok yielded no results in Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App store as of 2:45 pm ET – a sign that the US tech giants still weren’t willing to risk massive penalties outlined in the law, even after Trump’s statement.
Google declined comment on the situation. A message in Apple’s App Store said the company was “obligated to follow the laws in the jurisdictions where it operates.”
Oracle and Akamai representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“This may be a game for TikTok, but it isn’t a game for Apple and Google,” said Michael Sobolik, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and author of “Countering China’s Great Game. “They need to comply with the law, regardless of TikTok’s shenanigans.”
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is set to attend Trump’s inauguration. Getty Images
Trump said he would “like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture.”
“By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to say up [sic],” Trump said. “Without US approval, there is no TikTok.”
TikTok said it would “work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States.”
Despite Trump’s assurances, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who previously warned that the liabilities could amount to $850 billion, told service providers to think twice about ignoring the law.
“Any company that hosts, distributes, services, or otherwise facilitates communist-controlled TikTok could face hundreds of billions of dollars of ruinous liability under the law, not just from DOJ, but also under securities law, shareholder lawsuits, and state AGs,” Cotton wrote on X. “Think about it.”
TikTok still wasn’t available in app stores as of Sunday afternoon. Getty Images
Cotton and fellow Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts had earlier said there was “no legal basis for any kind of ‘extension’ of its effective date.”
“For TikTok to come back online in the future, ByteDance must agree to a sale that satisfies the law’s qualified-divestiture requirements by severing all ties between TikTok and Communist China,” the senators said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a close Trump ally, also threw cold water on the notion that TikTok could come back without adhering to the law’s requirement that its parent company ByteDance divest.
“I think we will enforce the law,” Johnson told NBC News.
The Biden White House had previously referred to TikTok’s threat to go dark as a “stunt.”
“It is a stunt, and we see no reason for TikTok or other companies to take actions in the next few days before the Trump Administration takes office on Monday,” outgoing White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said earlier this week.
TikTok said its service providers had received necessary assurances from Trump. REUTERS
Congress passed the divestiture law with overwhelming bipartisan support due to concerns that TikTok essentially functioned as a spyware and propaganda tool for the Chinese Communist Party – facilitating everything from mass data collection on Americans to subtle manipulation of public opinion through its algorithm.
TikTok has denied wrongdoing. The company repeatedly said it would not sell, even as the deadline approached. Chinese government officials vowed to block any forced sale.
The company unsuccessfully argued that the divestiture law violated the First Amendment. The Supreme Court’s nine justices unanimously ruled against TikTok and ByteDance.
“Unless and until TikTok is no longer controlled by Beijing, the national security threat that motivated the divestiture law hasn’t been addressed,” said Evan Swarztrauber, a senior fellow at the Foundation for American Innovation.”
As The Post reported, some so-called “TikTok refugees” flocked to China-owned alternative RedNote ahead of the ban – even as experts warned that it carried even greater security risks.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is set to attend Trump’s inauguration on Monday.
Katie Hawkinson
Tue, January 21, 2025
President Donald Trump signed an order extending TikTok’s availability in the U.S. for 75 days. Can he actually save the app? (AP)
On Sunday, the 170 million Americans who use TikTok saw the same message when they opened the app.
“As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S."
Now, TikTok is operational in the U.S. following a short shutdown that began Saturday evening. The closure came after Congress passed a law last year requiring TikTok to be sold to an American buyer by January 19 or be banned from US app stores. The Supreme Court even ruled in favor of the law, citing threats to national security.
Trump has claimed he wants to “save” TikTok and that the decision on its ban is “ultimately” up to him, despite the fact that the law is already in existence.
“It ultimately goes up to me, so you’re going to see what I’m going to do,” Trump told CNN. “Congress has given me the decision, so I’ll be making the decision.”
Can Trump actually save TikTok?
It’s unclear.
However, Stephen Carter, a Yale University law professor and Bloomberg opinion columnist, published an op-ed Tuesday explaining Trump could save TikTok using “prosecutorial discretion” to negate the consequences for violating a law.
“True, as a legal matter, a president can’t simply suspend the operation of a duly enacted law,” Carter wrote. “As a practical matter, however, Trump will stand in a long line of chief executives who have used prosecutorial discretion to achieve the same end.”
Prosecutorial discretion is the president’s ability to not enforce a law by instructing his justice department to not prosecute those who violated it. Carter describes it as “the all-but-unreviewable freedom of the Oval Office’s occupant to decide which laws to enforce, when, and how.”
The Supreme Court has even said that the decision of whether or not to enforce a law through prosecution is “a decision which has long been regarded as the special province of the Executive Branch,” Carter noted.
The current law banning TikTok would impose a $5,000 fine on companies — such as Apple or Google — for each user accessing TikTok through their services. If Trump exercises prosecutorial discretion, Carter explained, he can direct his administration to not levy the fines and essentially not enforce the law.
TikTok credited “Trump’s efforts” for returning service in the U.S. after it went dark for a few hours when the ban started (TikTok)
Trump already issued an executive order noting that companies will not be penalized for keeping the app online for the next 75 days.
It’s also unclear to what extent Trump will use prosecutorial discretion. He also said he wants TikTok to be 50 percent U.S.-owned, despite its parent company ByteDance giving no indication they plan to sell.
"I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to say up."
Trump even said on Sunday he changed his mind on TikTok (after initially wanting to ban it in his first term) because he used it in his campaign.
“As of today, TikTok is back,” Trump told his supporters at a pre-inauguration victory rally. “So, you know, I did a little TikTok thing. We have a guy...he’s a young kid, like 21 years old, and we hired this guy, and I went on Tiktok. Can you believe what I’ll do to win an election?”
“So I like Tiktok,” he added.
But not everyone is happy with Trump’s decision — including some of his Republican allies.
Republican Senators Tom Cotton and Pete Ricketts said Sunday there is no legal basis for an extension on TikTok’s operation in the U.S.
"Now that the law has taken effect, there’s no legal basis for any kind of ‘extension’ of its effective date," the senators said. "For TikTok to come back online in the future, ByteDance must agree to a sale that satisfies the law’s qualified-divestiture requirements by severing all ties between TikTok and Communist China."
Corbin Bolies
Sun, January 19, 2025
CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty
TikTok announced it would restore access to the app to more than 170 million Americans on Sunday, hours after President-elect Donald Trump promised to grant its parent company a short reprieve from a national ban.
In a note posted to X, it thanked Trump for agreeing not to enforce the ban.
“In agreement with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring service,” it wrote from its policy X account. “We thank President Trump for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans and allowing over 7 million small businesses to thrive.”
TikTok completed its effusive praise for Trump in a notice to users when they open the app. “Thanks for your patience and support,” the notice read. “As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!”
The move came after Trump wrote he would sign an executive order on Monday delaying the enforcement of a law that demands ByteDance, TikTok’s China-based owner, sell the app over national security concerns. He also promised tech companies there would be “no liability” should they restore access to the app and its services before his order was signed.
“Americans deserve to see our exciting Inauguration on Monday, as well as other events and conversations,” he wrote.
A solution he proposed was a joint venture between the U.S. and “the current owners and/or new owners,” allowing the platform to stay active. “By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to say up,” he wrote. “Without U.S. approval, there is no Tik Tok.”
TikTok said on Sunday it “will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States.”
Users were split under the post over its lavish praise of the president-elect. Some lauded Trump for his public efforts in getting the app back online while others blasted the app for capitulating to a politician who initially wanted it banned years ago.
“this was all a stunt to make trump look good,” one poster wrote.
“It’s been less than 24 hours and you’re already coming back? Y’all have no shame,” another poster responded. “All of this has just been a wasted attempt to try to make Trump look better.”
TikTok’s brief shutdown blasted as likely ‘deliberate PR stunt’ to create ‘sense of panic’
Thomas Barrabi
Sun, January 19, 2025
TikTok ban
TikTok’s decision to shut the app down for barely 12 hours – only to restore access to the China-owned app on Sunday after President-elect Donald Trump chimed in – appeared to be a PR stunt meant to stoke a public outcry, policy experts told The Post.
“TikTok’s early shutdown either came down to corporate incompetence or a deliberate PR stunt to encourage a manufactured sense of panic,” said Joel Thayer, a DC-based tech lawyer and president of the Digital Progress Institute. “Given it’s waffling, I’m assuming it’s the latter.”
The popular video-sharing app pulled the plug for all US users late Saturday night but began restoring service Sunday afternoon after Trump vowed to “save” TikTok through an executive order Monday that would delay enforcement of the divestiture law requiring parent company ByteDance to sell its stake.
The company thanked Trump “for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties.”
However, the Biden administration had already said it would not enforce the law, and Trump previously signaled ahead of the shutdown that he was against the ban and would “most likely” issue the executive order.
TikTok came back online Sunday after a 12-hour shutdown. Christopher Sadowski
The company’s leadership has acted as “an unsympathetic and disingenuous broker” in its dealings with Congress and the public over the last several years, Thayer said.
“The truth is that, even before Congress enacted the law, the US has told TikTok how to fix its blatant national security concerns for over 5 years and the company did nothing,” he added. “Now, after it attempted to bring bogus First Amendment claims to delay the law’s enforcement and on the eve of its ban, it wants a pity party.”
Under the divestiture law, app store operators like Google and Apple face penalties of $5,000 per user if they allow new downloads of the Bytedance-owned app after the Jan. 19 deadline. Service providers like Oracle and Akamai also faced lesser liability for supporting the app’s operation.
As written, the law did not require TikTok to go dark for people who had already downloaded it on their phones, or nor did it ban Americans from accessing the app.
A TikTok representative declined further comment and pointed to the company’s earlier statement.
Searches for TikTok yielded no results in Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App store as of 2:45 pm ET – a sign that the US tech giants still weren’t willing to risk massive penalties outlined in the law, even after Trump’s statement.
Google declined comment on the situation. A message in Apple’s App Store said the company was “obligated to follow the laws in the jurisdictions where it operates.”
Oracle and Akamai representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“This may be a game for TikTok, but it isn’t a game for Apple and Google,” said Michael Sobolik, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and author of “Countering China’s Great Game. “They need to comply with the law, regardless of TikTok’s shenanigans.”
“The law that Congress passed and the Supreme Court upheld requires Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their app stores if it is still owned and controlled by a foreign adversary today – which it is,” Sobolik added.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is set to attend Trump’s inauguration. Getty Images
Trump said he would “like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture.”
“By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to say up [sic],” Trump said. “Without US approval, there is no TikTok.”
TikTok said it would “work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States.”
Despite Trump’s assurances, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who previously warned that the liabilities could amount to $850 billion, told service providers to think twice about ignoring the law.
“Any company that hosts, distributes, services, or otherwise facilitates communist-controlled TikTok could face hundreds of billions of dollars of ruinous liability under the law, not just from DOJ, but also under securities law, shareholder lawsuits, and state AGs,” Cotton wrote on X. “Think about it.”
TikTok still wasn’t available in app stores as of Sunday afternoon. Getty Images
Cotton and fellow Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts had earlier said there was “no legal basis for any kind of ‘extension’ of its effective date.”
“For TikTok to come back online in the future, ByteDance must agree to a sale that satisfies the law’s qualified-divestiture requirements by severing all ties between TikTok and Communist China,” the senators said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a close Trump ally, also threw cold water on the notion that TikTok could come back without adhering to the law’s requirement that its parent company ByteDance divest.
“I think we will enforce the law,” Johnson told NBC News.
The Biden White House had previously referred to TikTok’s threat to go dark as a “stunt.”
“It is a stunt, and we see no reason for TikTok or other companies to take actions in the next few days before the Trump Administration takes office on Monday,” outgoing White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said earlier this week.
TikTok said its service providers had received necessary assurances from Trump. REUTERS
Congress passed the divestiture law with overwhelming bipartisan support due to concerns that TikTok essentially functioned as a spyware and propaganda tool for the Chinese Communist Party – facilitating everything from mass data collection on Americans to subtle manipulation of public opinion through its algorithm.
TikTok has denied wrongdoing. The company repeatedly said it would not sell, even as the deadline approached. Chinese government officials vowed to block any forced sale.
The company unsuccessfully argued that the divestiture law violated the First Amendment. The Supreme Court’s nine justices unanimously ruled against TikTok and ByteDance.
“Unless and until TikTok is no longer controlled by Beijing, the national security threat that motivated the divestiture law hasn’t been addressed,” said Evan Swarztrauber, a senior fellow at the Foundation for American Innovation.”
As The Post reported, some so-called “TikTok refugees” flocked to China-owned alternative RedNote ahead of the ban – even as experts warned that it carried even greater security risks.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is set to attend Trump’s inauguration on Monday.
Was the whole TikTok drama a bait-and-switch to make Trump look good?
Trump signed an executive order to impose sanctions on TikTok in August 2020 (REUTERS)
“This TikTok scam by Trump is really something,” Ron Filipowski, a defense attorney and editor-in-chief of the left-leaning MeidasTouch news outlet said. “In a few days, we will be hearing from Trump about how he ‘saved Tik Tok’ & ‘brought it back.’ He literally created the problem by calling for a ban. Rs pass a law. It gets banned. It goes dark for a day or 2, then Trump ‘saves’ it.”
Journalist Aaron Rupar said that Trump now has the big tech companies “working on his behalf.”
“Trump hated TikTok (because China) until it helped him win an election (as even he acknowledges) and now he’s going to save it and take a victory lap,” Rupar said. “So he’ll have X, TikTok, Insta, and Facebook all working on his behalf. That’s a big difference between now and 2017.”
The message U.S. TikTok users were greeted with when the app went dark
Rhian Lubin and John Bowden
THE INDEPENDENT UK
Sun, January 19, 2025
Political commentators have suggested that the drama surrounding TikTok is a “scam” to make President-elect Donald Trump “look good” after he has vowed to save it.
The Chinese-owned social media app went dark in the U.S. on Saturday night and posted a message at about 10.30 p.m. Eastern time saying: “Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now. We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!”
The Biden administration blasted TikTok’s statement as a “stunt” in a statement on Saturday.
And on Sunday morning, Trump vowed to issue an executive order on Monday, the day of his inauguration, to give the app’s parent company ByteDance more time to find a buyer. Early Sunday afternoon, TikTok announced it was “in the process of restoring service” to the app — and thanked Trump for his support.
“We thank President Trump for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans and allowing over 7 million small businesses to thrive,” it said in a statement. “It’s a strong stand for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship. We will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States.”
Skeptics have highlighted how Trump was the one who initially called for the controversial Chinese-owned social media app to be banned in 2020. But since Trump’s following on TikTok grew — he has now amassed 14.8 million followers — and he hinted it helped to clinch the election, the president-elect has changed his tune.
“I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok because I won youth by 34 points,” Trump said in December. “And there are those that say TikTok had something to do with that.”
Sun, January 19, 2025
Political commentators have suggested that the drama surrounding TikTok is a “scam” to make President-elect Donald Trump “look good” after he has vowed to save it.
The Chinese-owned social media app went dark in the U.S. on Saturday night and posted a message at about 10.30 p.m. Eastern time saying: “Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now. We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!”
The Biden administration blasted TikTok’s statement as a “stunt” in a statement on Saturday.
And on Sunday morning, Trump vowed to issue an executive order on Monday, the day of his inauguration, to give the app’s parent company ByteDance more time to find a buyer. Early Sunday afternoon, TikTok announced it was “in the process of restoring service” to the app — and thanked Trump for his support.
“We thank President Trump for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans and allowing over 7 million small businesses to thrive,” it said in a statement. “It’s a strong stand for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship. We will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States.”
Skeptics have highlighted how Trump was the one who initially called for the controversial Chinese-owned social media app to be banned in 2020. But since Trump’s following on TikTok grew — he has now amassed 14.8 million followers — and he hinted it helped to clinch the election, the president-elect has changed his tune.
“I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok because I won youth by 34 points,” Trump said in December. “And there are those that say TikTok had something to do with that.”
Trump signed an executive order to impose sanctions on TikTok in August 2020 (REUTERS)
“This TikTok scam by Trump is really something,” Ron Filipowski, a defense attorney and editor-in-chief of the left-leaning MeidasTouch news outlet said. “In a few days, we will be hearing from Trump about how he ‘saved Tik Tok’ & ‘brought it back.’ He literally created the problem by calling for a ban. Rs pass a law. It gets banned. It goes dark for a day or 2, then Trump ‘saves’ it.”
Journalist Aaron Rupar said that Trump now has the big tech companies “working on his behalf.”
“Trump hated TikTok (because China) until it helped him win an election (as even he acknowledges) and now he’s going to save it and take a victory lap,” Rupar said. “So he’ll have X, TikTok, Insta, and Facebook all working on his behalf. That’s a big difference between now and 2017.”
The message U.S. TikTok users were greeted with when the app went dark
(Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
Heath Mayo, founder of the conservative group Principles First, added: “Trump got China to place what amounts to a front-page ad on the phone of every American on TikTok. Selling out US national security to promote himself as some savior. Surprise, surprise.”
Senator Chris Murphy (D-Ct) said the move by Trump was “terrifying.”
“TikTok tucking itself in with Trump. Twitter under control of the White House. Facebook making major changes to placate MAGA, doing PR campaign to align w Trump,” Murphy wrote in a post on X. “Does everyone not see what’s happening here and how terrifying this is.”
Others shared dismay at the idea that Trump can effectively void a federal law. “I’m trying, and I hope other people will try, to hold onto the simple notion that a US president cannot simply declare a federal law that was passed last year and literally upheld this week to be a nullity—even if it’s a not-so-hot law,” writer and lawyer Luppe B. Luppen said in a post on BlueSky. “The Congress is the body that can amend or repeal federal laws.”
On August 6, 2020, Trump issued an executive order to impose sanctions on TikTok. “The United States must take aggressive action against the owners of TikTok to protect our national security,” Trump said in the order.
It called for ByteDance to divest its U.S. interests or face sanctions, but Trump’s effort to ban the app was then blocked by a federal judge.
Trump has thrown his support behind the app more recently
Heath Mayo, founder of the conservative group Principles First, added: “Trump got China to place what amounts to a front-page ad on the phone of every American on TikTok. Selling out US national security to promote himself as some savior. Surprise, surprise.”
Senator Chris Murphy (D-Ct) said the move by Trump was “terrifying.”
“TikTok tucking itself in with Trump. Twitter under control of the White House. Facebook making major changes to placate MAGA, doing PR campaign to align w Trump,” Murphy wrote in a post on X. “Does everyone not see what’s happening here and how terrifying this is.”
Others shared dismay at the idea that Trump can effectively void a federal law. “I’m trying, and I hope other people will try, to hold onto the simple notion that a US president cannot simply declare a federal law that was passed last year and literally upheld this week to be a nullity—even if it’s a not-so-hot law,” writer and lawyer Luppe B. Luppen said in a post on BlueSky. “The Congress is the body that can amend or repeal federal laws.”
On August 6, 2020, Trump issued an executive order to impose sanctions on TikTok. “The United States must take aggressive action against the owners of TikTok to protect our national security,” Trump said in the order.
It called for ByteDance to divest its U.S. interests or face sanctions, but Trump’s effort to ban the app was then blocked by a federal judge.
Trump has thrown his support behind the app more recently
(Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
Since then, he has pledged support for the social media giant, even inviting TikTok’s CEO to his inauguration.
The Independent has contacted the Trump transition team for comment.
Trump’s incoming national security adviser Mike Waltz defended the president-elect on Sunday.
He said that Trump was working in “real time” with tech companies to reach an agreement for new US ownership of TikTok — something a number of his allies, including Canada’s Kevin O’Leary, have also been at work seeking to make a reality.
Waltz also indicated that it was possible for TikTok to remain under Chinese ownership, albeit with “firewalls” (such as Americans’ data being stored in US-based servers) to guard against perceived national security threats.
Asked by CNN’s Dana Bash on State of the Union whether that meant "capitulating" to China by accepting a deal wherein the app was not sold, Waltz issued a denial.
“No, no, no,” he told Bash. “Both can be true at the same time. TikTok can continue to exist, and whether that’s in American hands, owned by an American company, or whether the data and algorithms are fully protected from Chinese interference, there’s a number of...formulas this can take.”
Since then, he has pledged support for the social media giant, even inviting TikTok’s CEO to his inauguration.
The Independent has contacted the Trump transition team for comment.
Trump’s incoming national security adviser Mike Waltz defended the president-elect on Sunday.
He said that Trump was working in “real time” with tech companies to reach an agreement for new US ownership of TikTok — something a number of his allies, including Canada’s Kevin O’Leary, have also been at work seeking to make a reality.
Waltz also indicated that it was possible for TikTok to remain under Chinese ownership, albeit with “firewalls” (such as Americans’ data being stored in US-based servers) to guard against perceived national security threats.
Asked by CNN’s Dana Bash on State of the Union whether that meant "capitulating" to China by accepting a deal wherein the app was not sold, Waltz issued a denial.
“No, no, no,” he told Bash. “Both can be true at the same time. TikTok can continue to exist, and whether that’s in American hands, owned by an American company, or whether the data and algorithms are fully protected from Chinese interference, there’s a number of...formulas this can take.”
Team Trump Admits It Doesn’t Mind China Running TikTok After All
Maurício Alencar
Trump has given new life to TikTok in the US...but can he actually save the app from its ban?
Maurício Alencar
DAILY BEAST
Sun, January 19, 2025
CNN via x/@brianstelter
One of Donald Trump’s close allies let slip that the social media giant TikTok could operate in the U.S. while remaining in the hands of its current Chinese ownership.
Mike Waltz, who is set to become Trump’s national security adviser after his inauguration on Monday, told CNN that the president-elect’s team were exploring ways to get the app back online after its blackout on Sunday.
“We’re working literally real time, working with various tech companies, to get it back online and buy some time to one, save it, but protect Americans data and protect Americans from any type of foreign interference,” he told CNN State of the Union host Dana Bash.
The app switched off for some 170 million Americans after the Supreme Court upheld a ruling that banned TikTok due to its alleged links to the Chinese government.
The China-based technology firm ByteDance, which owns TikTok, was given until January 19 to sell the US version of the platform, but Trump has vowed to offer the company a 90-day extension to settle the controversial issue.
Waltz surprised viewers when he suggested the app would not have to be sold after all all.
“It is a fantastic app. It’s something that 170 million Americans enjoy, and we’re confident that we can save Tiktok, but also protect Americans data and protect them from influence, whether that’s an outright sale, whether that’s some mechanism of firewalls to make sure that the data is protected here on US soil,” he said.
Bash appeared to be in shock over Waltz’s revelation that the Trump administration could allow the app to be owned by ByteDance as she questioned him on whether the president-elect was “totally capitulating to China.”
“It’s not capitulating at all,” he said. “Again, we can do both. Both can be true at the same time. TikTok can continue to exist, and whether that’s an American hands owned by an American company, or whether the data and the algorithms are fully protected from Chinese interference, there’s a number of formulas this could take.”
“Let’s give the president some time to make that decision,” he added.
Some of that time will doubtless be spent with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, who recently praised Trump in a video message and will be in attendance at Inauguration Day in Washington DC.
Trump on Sunday confirmed himself that he was working to get the app back online for his inauguration on Monday.
“I’m asking companies not to let TikTok stay dark! I will issue an executive order on Monday to extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect, so that we can make a deal to protect our national security. The order will also confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order,” Trump wrote on TruthSocial.
“Americans deserve to see our exciting Inauguration on Monday, as well as other events and conversations.”
Trump made the case that a U.S. entity could purchase 50% of the platform to continue its operation.
“I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture,” he said. “By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to say up. Without U.S. approval, there is no Tik Tok. With our approval, it is worth hundreds of billions of dollars - maybe trillions.”
Sun, January 19, 2025
CNN via x/@brianstelter
One of Donald Trump’s close allies let slip that the social media giant TikTok could operate in the U.S. while remaining in the hands of its current Chinese ownership.
Mike Waltz, who is set to become Trump’s national security adviser after his inauguration on Monday, told CNN that the president-elect’s team were exploring ways to get the app back online after its blackout on Sunday.
“We’re working literally real time, working with various tech companies, to get it back online and buy some time to one, save it, but protect Americans data and protect Americans from any type of foreign interference,” he told CNN State of the Union host Dana Bash.
The app switched off for some 170 million Americans after the Supreme Court upheld a ruling that banned TikTok due to its alleged links to the Chinese government.
The China-based technology firm ByteDance, which owns TikTok, was given until January 19 to sell the US version of the platform, but Trump has vowed to offer the company a 90-day extension to settle the controversial issue.
Waltz surprised viewers when he suggested the app would not have to be sold after all all.
“It is a fantastic app. It’s something that 170 million Americans enjoy, and we’re confident that we can save Tiktok, but also protect Americans data and protect them from influence, whether that’s an outright sale, whether that’s some mechanism of firewalls to make sure that the data is protected here on US soil,” he said.
Bash appeared to be in shock over Waltz’s revelation that the Trump administration could allow the app to be owned by ByteDance as she questioned him on whether the president-elect was “totally capitulating to China.”
“It’s not capitulating at all,” he said. “Again, we can do both. Both can be true at the same time. TikTok can continue to exist, and whether that’s an American hands owned by an American company, or whether the data and the algorithms are fully protected from Chinese interference, there’s a number of formulas this could take.”
“Let’s give the president some time to make that decision,” he added.
Some of that time will doubtless be spent with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, who recently praised Trump in a video message and will be in attendance at Inauguration Day in Washington DC.
Trump on Sunday confirmed himself that he was working to get the app back online for his inauguration on Monday.
“I’m asking companies not to let TikTok stay dark! I will issue an executive order on Monday to extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect, so that we can make a deal to protect our national security. The order will also confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order,” Trump wrote on TruthSocial.
“Americans deserve to see our exciting Inauguration on Monday, as well as other events and conversations.”
Trump made the case that a U.S. entity could purchase 50% of the platform to continue its operation.
“I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture,” he said. “By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to say up. Without U.S. approval, there is no Tik Tok. With our approval, it is worth hundreds of billions of dollars - maybe trillions.”
Trump has given new life to TikTok in the US...but can he actually save the app from its ban?
Katie Hawkinson
Tue, January 21, 2025
President Donald Trump signed an order extending TikTok’s availability in the U.S. for 75 days. Can he actually save the app? (AP)
On Sunday, the 170 million Americans who use TikTok saw the same message when they opened the app.
“As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S."
Now, TikTok is operational in the U.S. following a short shutdown that began Saturday evening. The closure came after Congress passed a law last year requiring TikTok to be sold to an American buyer by January 19 or be banned from US app stores. The Supreme Court even ruled in favor of the law, citing threats to national security.
Trump has claimed he wants to “save” TikTok and that the decision on its ban is “ultimately” up to him, despite the fact that the law is already in existence.
“It ultimately goes up to me, so you’re going to see what I’m going to do,” Trump told CNN. “Congress has given me the decision, so I’ll be making the decision.”
Can Trump actually save TikTok?
It’s unclear.
However, Stephen Carter, a Yale University law professor and Bloomberg opinion columnist, published an op-ed Tuesday explaining Trump could save TikTok using “prosecutorial discretion” to negate the consequences for violating a law.
“True, as a legal matter, a president can’t simply suspend the operation of a duly enacted law,” Carter wrote. “As a practical matter, however, Trump will stand in a long line of chief executives who have used prosecutorial discretion to achieve the same end.”
Prosecutorial discretion is the president’s ability to not enforce a law by instructing his justice department to not prosecute those who violated it. Carter describes it as “the all-but-unreviewable freedom of the Oval Office’s occupant to decide which laws to enforce, when, and how.”
The Supreme Court has even said that the decision of whether or not to enforce a law through prosecution is “a decision which has long been regarded as the special province of the Executive Branch,” Carter noted.
The current law banning TikTok would impose a $5,000 fine on companies — such as Apple or Google — for each user accessing TikTok through their services. If Trump exercises prosecutorial discretion, Carter explained, he can direct his administration to not levy the fines and essentially not enforce the law.
TikTok credited “Trump’s efforts” for returning service in the U.S. after it went dark for a few hours when the ban started (TikTok)
Trump already issued an executive order noting that companies will not be penalized for keeping the app online for the next 75 days.
It’s also unclear to what extent Trump will use prosecutorial discretion. He also said he wants TikTok to be 50 percent U.S.-owned, despite its parent company ByteDance giving no indication they plan to sell.
"I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to say up."
Trump even said on Sunday he changed his mind on TikTok (after initially wanting to ban it in his first term) because he used it in his campaign.
“As of today, TikTok is back,” Trump told his supporters at a pre-inauguration victory rally. “So, you know, I did a little TikTok thing. We have a guy...he’s a young kid, like 21 years old, and we hired this guy, and I went on Tiktok. Can you believe what I’ll do to win an election?”
“So I like Tiktok,” he added.
But not everyone is happy with Trump’s decision — including some of his Republican allies.
Republican Senators Tom Cotton and Pete Ricketts said Sunday there is no legal basis for an extension on TikTok’s operation in the U.S.
"Now that the law has taken effect, there’s no legal basis for any kind of ‘extension’ of its effective date," the senators said. "For TikTok to come back online in the future, ByteDance must agree to a sale that satisfies the law’s qualified-divestiture requirements by severing all ties between TikTok and Communist China."
As TikTok prepares to shut down, billionaire Frank McCourt wants to buy it to radically change how the internet works
Paolo Confino
Sat, January 18, 2025
At the moment, Frank McCourt is the only bidder who has made a public offer to purchase TikTok.
As Washington, D.C., and Silicon Valley sit on the edge of their seats awaiting the fate of TikTok after the Supreme Court upheld a law banning it if wasn’t sold by Jan. 19, one Boston billionaire is eyeing an “incredibly serendipitous” opportunity to buy the app from owner ByteDance and reconfigure the inner workings of the internet.
Last week, after several months of public interest, Frank McCourt and a group of coinvestors, including Shark Tank host Kevin O’Leary, sent ByteDance a formal offer to buy TikTok. Leading the bid is McCourt’s internet advocacy group Project Liberty. McCourt said he currently values TikTok—without its famed algorithm—at $20 billion. As of December 2023, the entirety of ByteDance’s global operations was estimated to be worth somewhere around $268 billion.
On Friday, the Supreme Court upheld the bipartisan law that forces TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, to sell its U.S. operations by Jan. 19 or be banned because of national security concerns. At the same time, President-elect Donald Trump, who is set to take office a day later, is mulling his options on how to stall a shutdown of the app, which seems imminent. Trump officials are reportedly drafting an executive order that would delay enforcement of a ban by either 60 or 90 days, according to the Washington Post.
However, owning the crown jewel of the internet’s youngest generations isn’t the endgame for McCourt. He has his gaze fixed on a broader goal: fundamentally altering how user data is handled on the internet. In technical terms, McCourt wants to build a decentralized version of the internet where individual users, rather than tech companies, own the reams of data spawned by their online lives. Users would then opt-in to having their data collected by certain companies, rather than having that be the norm, as it is on most websites and apps.
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“The problem with our current Internet technology is that the data is being taken from us, scraped, stolen—call it what you will—as opposed to it being permissioned by the users, and it's being taken from us through different surveillance devices,” McCourt told Fortune.
McCourt, the former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers and scion of a wealthy family of Boston industrialists, has long been a critic of the current business model of the internet, and social media companies in particular. In 2021, he founded Project Liberty as a think-tank- investment-vehicle hybrid to begin researching ways to wrest user data from tech companies’ control. He considers their constant hoovering up of data, which then gets sold and resold to advertisers, to be an invasion of privacy that places too much power in the hands of a select few Big Tech companies.
His Project Liberty envisions a model for social media in which it is users, not tech companies, that own their social graph—the complex web of data points used to map out their online personas and lives. It’s a novel concept that would require tech companies to fork over the secret sauce that allows them to micro-target their billions of users for digital advertisers. In McCourt’s ideal world, a user who owns their social graph could allow certain advertisers or other users access to it. For example, someone with a passion for fine wines might share that with a platform that would then tailor their social-media feed with videos of Burgundys, Barolos, wine influencers, and tours of lavish cellars around the globe.
Project Liberty has already piloted this idea on a small scale with MeWe, a social media also-ran that has roughly 20 million users and both free and paid offerings. McCourt’s company, McCourt Global, led MeWe’s Series A in 2022 with a $15 million investment. Only about one million of MeWe’s users currently use McCourt’s privacy-forward version of the app.
Buying TikTok and access to its 170 million U.S. users would serve as a proving ground for McCourt’s long-held ambitions to create an internet free of its current digital, corporate Big Brother.
“It would really catalyze this alternative internet because it would compress timelines and create scale very quickly,” McCourt said in an interview before the offer to ByteDance was made public.
Any deal to pry TikTok from the hands of an unwilling seller is already complex enough, even more so if they plan to upend the plumbing of the internet. But the complications don’t stop there. In the event TikTok does get sold, the buyer will almost certainly be getting a company with limited tech of its own. A potential TikTok sale would likely not include its coveted algorithm, which serves up video after video to audiences, because social media algorithms are subject to strict export controls in China. McCourt and O’Leary have both said they do not want or need the algorithm for their new vision for TikTok.
“Anybody that might be considering buying U.S. TikTok and is depending on the Chinese algorithm is just wasting their time,” McCourt said.
The pair's offer would include an acquisition of the TikTok brand, its user base, and the app’s vast content library of everything that’s been posted on the site, O’Leary said. Their new TikTok would build its own algorithm, McCourt added. Project Liberty would need to build a “clean tech stack” that is both powerful enough to support the countless hours of TikTok videos users watch and insulated from any possible Chinese interference so as to comply with the law.
But removing the algorithm from TikTok is not just a technical footnote in the sale. The algorithm is the beating heart of TikTok. Without it, users would still be able to post content, but they wouldn’t be served up the endless stream of videos perfectly tailored to their interests—everything from cake frosting videos to slam dunk compilations to the ever-popular “get ready with me” content.
“Essentially, you would get the platform, but you would rip out the engagement algorithm, effectively disconnecting all the important dots within the system that make content discovery even possible,” said Amir Kaltak, CEO of Own.App, a social media startup that also doesn’t collect data on users.
TikTok will remain an ad-based model, but having users opt-in to their interests will make ad spending more efficient, according to McCourt.
He estimates that in the event of a sale, the transition from the current iteration of TikTok to the new version would take approximately one year. In that case, TikTok would likely operate with an “off-the-shelf” algorithm that would keep the platform from shutting down completely, Kaltak said. Replicating the success of the original algorithm is a difficult task because the entirety of TikTok’s tech architecture is built for a centralized system, not the decentralized one McCourt envisions, he explained.
“You would have to gather the best data scientists you can get your hands on to make sense out of this huge chunk of data on user behavior in order to reconstruct a new algorithm that is going to match [the old one] and hopefully give them a great user experience,” Kaltak added. “That's essentially a lot of work.”
As a marquee tech company and one of the most popular social media platforms, the price of TikTok won’t be cheap. In addition to its investors, Project Liberty has secured a “significant commitment” on the debt side from one of the nation's largest banks, according to Project Liberty president Tomicah Tilleman. Investment bank Guggenheim Securities and the law firm Kirkland & Ellis are advising Project Liberty in the transaction. Details of the offer were not released. Tilleman declined to comment on investors.
A major outstanding question is how many of TikTok’s current shareholders will want to roll their stock into a new McCourt-O’Leary led vehicle and how many will want to cash out, according to O’Leary. “We don't know what that mix is yet,” he said. “I'm assuming the majority of them, who are not stupid, want the upside we're going to offer them in the new vision of Tiktok.”
ByteDance’s U.S. investors include VC firms General Atlantic and Sequoia Capital and trading firm Susquehanna International Group.
Another significant hurdle to any deal is that ByteDance does not want to sell. In fact, it has vowed to fight tooth and nail to avoid being forced to do so. Project Liberty sent Bytedance its official proposal last week, the day before the start of the Supreme Court oral arguments on whether to uphold the ban. That timing wasn’t coincidental, said O’Leary. It was meant to neutralize any of ByteDance’s potential arguments that there were no legitimate offers for TikTok, he said.
“We were concerned that the justices were going into their considerations for the Friday hearing under the assumption that the company claimed there were no American buyers because the Chinese government was not going to sell the algorithm,” O’Leary said.
So far, ByteDance appears unmoved by McCourt and O’Leary’s play. Indeed, ByteDance is preparing for the app to shut down rather than begin negotiating a sale. The few comments that have trickled out from TikTok employees maintained the party line that no sale was happening, while brushing off any offers. “These billionaires who are going around saying they are going to buy TikTok are nothing but peacockers and masqueraders,” a TikTok employee told Puck.
TikTok did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
As with any major corporate asset rumored to be on the market, there is more than one bidder eyeing the chance to snap it up at a bargain price.
Last spring, former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who now runs the Washington, D.C.-based private equity firm Liberty Strategic Capital, announced his intention to put together an investment group to buy TikTok. His interest, or at least his public interest, has waned since then.
Similarly, former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick had a conversation about the logistics of training a new algorithm using large language models with a table of executives that included OpenAI CEO Sam Altman at an Allen & Co. dinner in March, according to the Wall Street Journal. Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported that Elon Musk, who already owns X, was an 11th hour candidate due to his support from the Chinese government. TikTok called that possibility “pure fiction.” Kotick declined to comment. Mnuchin and Musk did not respond to requests for comment.
Another notable threat to McCourt and O’Leary’s plans is the possibility that TikTok might not be sold at all. Trump’s nominee for solicitor general, John Sauer, submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court asking it to delay the deadline for a TikTok sale. As currently constructed, the law allows President Joe Biden to trigger a 90-day extension to the Jan. 19 deadline if TikTok is in the middle of negotiating a sale. Project Liberty is eager for the clause to be activated because it believes it can get a deal done in that time frame, according to Tilleman.
Enforcement of the ban will inevitably straddle two presidential administrations while remaining at the center of two of the country’s most pressing issues: national security and the brewing trade war with China. The national security issues that were the impetus for the law remain salient. However, TikTok’s importance to China as a source of national pride makes it an important bargaining chip in trade negotiations with Beijing that could encompass everything from tariffs to oil and natural gas, according to Frank Kelly, senior political advisor at global asset manager DWS.
“As President Trump has been coming out of the campaign, he's been thinking and talking internally about what they're calling a grand bargain with China,” Kelly said. “I have to think that whatever that bargain may be, this would have to be on the table as one of the things that could be included in it.”
Project Liberty is plotting its own grand bargain with Trump. “President Trump is good at deals and likes making deals. [McCourt] is good at deals and likes making deals,” Tilleman said.
But running in opposition to an incoming presidential administration’s priorities—even tangentially—could almost certainly spell the end of any TikTok bid, including McCourt and O’Leary’s. To press their case, O’Leary traveled to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump.
“Trump is going to get his wish,” O’Leary said. “He's going to keep the platform lit up. All he has to do is help us buy it.”
For now, the question for O’Leary and McCourt isn’t whether Trump wants to keep TikTok “lit up,” but rather if he’ll hand them the switch.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Paolo Confino
Sat, January 18, 2025
FORTUNE
At the moment, Frank McCourt is the only bidder who has made a public offer to purchase TikTok.
As Washington, D.C., and Silicon Valley sit on the edge of their seats awaiting the fate of TikTok after the Supreme Court upheld a law banning it if wasn’t sold by Jan. 19, one Boston billionaire is eyeing an “incredibly serendipitous” opportunity to buy the app from owner ByteDance and reconfigure the inner workings of the internet.
Last week, after several months of public interest, Frank McCourt and a group of coinvestors, including Shark Tank host Kevin O’Leary, sent ByteDance a formal offer to buy TikTok. Leading the bid is McCourt’s internet advocacy group Project Liberty. McCourt said he currently values TikTok—without its famed algorithm—at $20 billion. As of December 2023, the entirety of ByteDance’s global operations was estimated to be worth somewhere around $268 billion.
On Friday, the Supreme Court upheld the bipartisan law that forces TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, to sell its U.S. operations by Jan. 19 or be banned because of national security concerns. At the same time, President-elect Donald Trump, who is set to take office a day later, is mulling his options on how to stall a shutdown of the app, which seems imminent. Trump officials are reportedly drafting an executive order that would delay enforcement of a ban by either 60 or 90 days, according to the Washington Post.
However, owning the crown jewel of the internet’s youngest generations isn’t the endgame for McCourt. He has his gaze fixed on a broader goal: fundamentally altering how user data is handled on the internet. In technical terms, McCourt wants to build a decentralized version of the internet where individual users, rather than tech companies, own the reams of data spawned by their online lives. Users would then opt-in to having their data collected by certain companies, rather than having that be the norm, as it is on most websites and apps.
ADVERTISEMENT
“The problem with our current Internet technology is that the data is being taken from us, scraped, stolen—call it what you will—as opposed to it being permissioned by the users, and it's being taken from us through different surveillance devices,” McCourt told Fortune.
McCourt, the former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers and scion of a wealthy family of Boston industrialists, has long been a critic of the current business model of the internet, and social media companies in particular. In 2021, he founded Project Liberty as a think-tank- investment-vehicle hybrid to begin researching ways to wrest user data from tech companies’ control. He considers their constant hoovering up of data, which then gets sold and resold to advertisers, to be an invasion of privacy that places too much power in the hands of a select few Big Tech companies.
His Project Liberty envisions a model for social media in which it is users, not tech companies, that own their social graph—the complex web of data points used to map out their online personas and lives. It’s a novel concept that would require tech companies to fork over the secret sauce that allows them to micro-target their billions of users for digital advertisers. In McCourt’s ideal world, a user who owns their social graph could allow certain advertisers or other users access to it. For example, someone with a passion for fine wines might share that with a platform that would then tailor their social-media feed with videos of Burgundys, Barolos, wine influencers, and tours of lavish cellars around the globe.
Project Liberty has already piloted this idea on a small scale with MeWe, a social media also-ran that has roughly 20 million users and both free and paid offerings. McCourt’s company, McCourt Global, led MeWe’s Series A in 2022 with a $15 million investment. Only about one million of MeWe’s users currently use McCourt’s privacy-forward version of the app.
Buying TikTok and access to its 170 million U.S. users would serve as a proving ground for McCourt’s long-held ambitions to create an internet free of its current digital, corporate Big Brother.
“It would really catalyze this alternative internet because it would compress timelines and create scale very quickly,” McCourt said in an interview before the offer to ByteDance was made public.
Any deal to pry TikTok from the hands of an unwilling seller is already complex enough, even more so if they plan to upend the plumbing of the internet. But the complications don’t stop there. In the event TikTok does get sold, the buyer will almost certainly be getting a company with limited tech of its own. A potential TikTok sale would likely not include its coveted algorithm, which serves up video after video to audiences, because social media algorithms are subject to strict export controls in China. McCourt and O’Leary have both said they do not want or need the algorithm for their new vision for TikTok.
“Anybody that might be considering buying U.S. TikTok and is depending on the Chinese algorithm is just wasting their time,” McCourt said.
The pair's offer would include an acquisition of the TikTok brand, its user base, and the app’s vast content library of everything that’s been posted on the site, O’Leary said. Their new TikTok would build its own algorithm, McCourt added. Project Liberty would need to build a “clean tech stack” that is both powerful enough to support the countless hours of TikTok videos users watch and insulated from any possible Chinese interference so as to comply with the law.
But removing the algorithm from TikTok is not just a technical footnote in the sale. The algorithm is the beating heart of TikTok. Without it, users would still be able to post content, but they wouldn’t be served up the endless stream of videos perfectly tailored to their interests—everything from cake frosting videos to slam dunk compilations to the ever-popular “get ready with me” content.
“Essentially, you would get the platform, but you would rip out the engagement algorithm, effectively disconnecting all the important dots within the system that make content discovery even possible,” said Amir Kaltak, CEO of Own.App, a social media startup that also doesn’t collect data on users.
TikTok will remain an ad-based model, but having users opt-in to their interests will make ad spending more efficient, according to McCourt.
He estimates that in the event of a sale, the transition from the current iteration of TikTok to the new version would take approximately one year. In that case, TikTok would likely operate with an “off-the-shelf” algorithm that would keep the platform from shutting down completely, Kaltak said. Replicating the success of the original algorithm is a difficult task because the entirety of TikTok’s tech architecture is built for a centralized system, not the decentralized one McCourt envisions, he explained.
“You would have to gather the best data scientists you can get your hands on to make sense out of this huge chunk of data on user behavior in order to reconstruct a new algorithm that is going to match [the old one] and hopefully give them a great user experience,” Kaltak added. “That's essentially a lot of work.”
As a marquee tech company and one of the most popular social media platforms, the price of TikTok won’t be cheap. In addition to its investors, Project Liberty has secured a “significant commitment” on the debt side from one of the nation's largest banks, according to Project Liberty president Tomicah Tilleman. Investment bank Guggenheim Securities and the law firm Kirkland & Ellis are advising Project Liberty in the transaction. Details of the offer were not released. Tilleman declined to comment on investors.
A major outstanding question is how many of TikTok’s current shareholders will want to roll their stock into a new McCourt-O’Leary led vehicle and how many will want to cash out, according to O’Leary. “We don't know what that mix is yet,” he said. “I'm assuming the majority of them, who are not stupid, want the upside we're going to offer them in the new vision of Tiktok.”
ByteDance’s U.S. investors include VC firms General Atlantic and Sequoia Capital and trading firm Susquehanna International Group.
Another significant hurdle to any deal is that ByteDance does not want to sell. In fact, it has vowed to fight tooth and nail to avoid being forced to do so. Project Liberty sent Bytedance its official proposal last week, the day before the start of the Supreme Court oral arguments on whether to uphold the ban. That timing wasn’t coincidental, said O’Leary. It was meant to neutralize any of ByteDance’s potential arguments that there were no legitimate offers for TikTok, he said.
“We were concerned that the justices were going into their considerations for the Friday hearing under the assumption that the company claimed there were no American buyers because the Chinese government was not going to sell the algorithm,” O’Leary said.
So far, ByteDance appears unmoved by McCourt and O’Leary’s play. Indeed, ByteDance is preparing for the app to shut down rather than begin negotiating a sale. The few comments that have trickled out from TikTok employees maintained the party line that no sale was happening, while brushing off any offers. “These billionaires who are going around saying they are going to buy TikTok are nothing but peacockers and masqueraders,” a TikTok employee told Puck.
TikTok did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
As with any major corporate asset rumored to be on the market, there is more than one bidder eyeing the chance to snap it up at a bargain price.
Last spring, former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who now runs the Washington, D.C.-based private equity firm Liberty Strategic Capital, announced his intention to put together an investment group to buy TikTok. His interest, or at least his public interest, has waned since then.
Similarly, former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick had a conversation about the logistics of training a new algorithm using large language models with a table of executives that included OpenAI CEO Sam Altman at an Allen & Co. dinner in March, according to the Wall Street Journal. Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported that Elon Musk, who already owns X, was an 11th hour candidate due to his support from the Chinese government. TikTok called that possibility “pure fiction.” Kotick declined to comment. Mnuchin and Musk did not respond to requests for comment.
Another notable threat to McCourt and O’Leary’s plans is the possibility that TikTok might not be sold at all. Trump’s nominee for solicitor general, John Sauer, submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court asking it to delay the deadline for a TikTok sale. As currently constructed, the law allows President Joe Biden to trigger a 90-day extension to the Jan. 19 deadline if TikTok is in the middle of negotiating a sale. Project Liberty is eager for the clause to be activated because it believes it can get a deal done in that time frame, according to Tilleman.
Enforcement of the ban will inevitably straddle two presidential administrations while remaining at the center of two of the country’s most pressing issues: national security and the brewing trade war with China. The national security issues that were the impetus for the law remain salient. However, TikTok’s importance to China as a source of national pride makes it an important bargaining chip in trade negotiations with Beijing that could encompass everything from tariffs to oil and natural gas, according to Frank Kelly, senior political advisor at global asset manager DWS.
“As President Trump has been coming out of the campaign, he's been thinking and talking internally about what they're calling a grand bargain with China,” Kelly said. “I have to think that whatever that bargain may be, this would have to be on the table as one of the things that could be included in it.”
Project Liberty is plotting its own grand bargain with Trump. “President Trump is good at deals and likes making deals. [McCourt] is good at deals and likes making deals,” Tilleman said.
But running in opposition to an incoming presidential administration’s priorities—even tangentially—could almost certainly spell the end of any TikTok bid, including McCourt and O’Leary’s. To press their case, O’Leary traveled to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump.
“Trump is going to get his wish,” O’Leary said. “He's going to keep the platform lit up. All he has to do is help us buy it.”
For now, the question for O’Leary and McCourt isn’t whether Trump wants to keep TikTok “lit up,” but rather if he’ll hand them the switch.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Meet Shou Zi Chew, the CEO leading TikTok as it fights a US ban
Katie Canales,Sarah Jackson,Lauren Edmonds
Sat, January 18, 2025
Katie Canales,Sarah Jackson,Lauren Edmonds
Sat, January 18, 2025
BUSINESS INSIDER
Shou Zi Chew is the face of TikTok's effort to stay up and running in the US.Kin Cheung/AP
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is the company's public face, rallying its fans and testifying before Congress.
He went to Harvard Business School and interned at Facebook when it was a startup.
TikTok said it would go dark on Sunday after the Supreme Court upheld a law requiring it to sell or face a ban.
TikTok is under a lot of pressure right now.
As US lawmakers worry the video-sharing platform, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, poses a danger to national security, TikTok is scrambling to fight a law requiring it be sold to a US owner by January 19 or else risk being banned in the country.
TikTok said it would "go dark" for American users on the scheduled deadline after the US Supreme Court upheld the law.
So, who's leading the company through this turbulent period?
That would be Shou Zi Chew, TikTok's CEO from Singapore, who got his start as an intern at Facebook.
Here's a rundown on TikTok's head honcho:
Chew worked for Facebook when it was still a startup.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is the company's public face, rallying its fans and testifying before Congress.
He went to Harvard Business School and interned at Facebook when it was a startup.
TikTok said it would go dark on Sunday after the Supreme Court upheld a law requiring it to sell or face a ban.
TikTok is under a lot of pressure right now.
As US lawmakers worry the video-sharing platform, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, poses a danger to national security, TikTok is scrambling to fight a law requiring it be sold to a US owner by January 19 or else risk being banned in the country.
TikTok said it would "go dark" for American users on the scheduled deadline after the US Supreme Court upheld the law.
So, who's leading the company through this turbulent period?
That would be Shou Zi Chew, TikTok's CEO from Singapore, who got his start as an intern at Facebook.
Here's a rundown on TikTok's head honcho:
Chew worked for Facebook when it was still a startup.
Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg in 2010, before he took his company public.Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP
He earned his bachelor's degree in economics at the University College London before heading to Harvard Business School for his MBA in 2010.
While a student there, Chew worked for a startup that "was called Facebook," he said in a post on Harvard's Alumni website. Facebook went public in mid-2012.
Chew met his now-wife, Vivian Kao, via email when they were both students at Harvard.
Shou Zi Chew and Vivian Kao attend The 2022 Met Gala.Theo Wargo/WireImage
They are "a couple who often finish each other's sentences," according to the school's alumni page, and have three kids.
Chew was CFO of Xiaomi before joining Bytedance.
Shou Zi Chew and Xiaomi's CEO give thumbs up at the listing of Xiaomi at the Hong Kong Exchanges on July 9, 2018REUTERS/Bobby Yip
He became chief financial officer of the Chinese smartphone giant, which competes with Apple, in 2015. Chew helped secure crucial financing and led the company through its 2018 public listing, which would become one of the nation's largest tech IPOs in history.
He became Xiaomi's international business president in 2019, too.
He earned his bachelor's degree in economics at the University College London before heading to Harvard Business School for his MBA in 2010.
While a student there, Chew worked for a startup that "was called Facebook," he said in a post on Harvard's Alumni website. Facebook went public in mid-2012.
Chew met his now-wife, Vivian Kao, via email when they were both students at Harvard.
Shou Zi Chew and Vivian Kao attend The 2022 Met Gala.Theo Wargo/WireImageThey are "a couple who often finish each other's sentences," according to the school's alumni page, and have three kids.
Chew was CFO of Xiaomi before joining Bytedance.
Shou Zi Chew and Xiaomi's CEO give thumbs up at the listing of Xiaomi at the Hong Kong Exchanges on July 9, 2018REUTERS/Bobby YipHe became chief financial officer of the Chinese smartphone giant, which competes with Apple, in 2015. Chew helped secure crucial financing and led the company through its 2018 public listing, which would become one of the nation's largest tech IPOs in history.
He became Xiaomi's international business president in 2019, too.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew in Washington, DC on Tuesday, February 14, 2023.Matt McClain/The Washington Post/Getty Images.
Before joining Xiaomi, Chew also worked as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs for two years, according to his LinkedIn profile.
He also worked at investment firm DST, founded by billionaire tech investor Yuri Milner, for five years. It was during his time there in 2013 that he led a team that became early investors in ByteDance, as the Business Chief and The Independent reported.
For a while, Chew was both the CEO of TikTok and the CFO of its parent company, ByteDance.
Before joining Xiaomi, Chew also worked as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs for two years, according to his LinkedIn profile.
He also worked at investment firm DST, founded by billionaire tech investor Yuri Milner, for five years. It was during his time there in 2013 that he led a team that became early investors in ByteDance, as the Business Chief and The Independent reported.
For a while, Chew was both the CEO of TikTok and the CFO of its parent company, ByteDance.
ByteDance founder Zhang YimingZheng Shuai/VCG via Getty Images
Chew joined ByteDance's C-suite in March 2021, the first person to fill the role of chief financial officer at the media giant.
He was named CEO of TikTok that May at the same time as Vanessa Pappas was named COO. Bytedance founder and former CEO Zhang Yiming said at the time that Chew "brings deep knowledge of the company and industry, having led a team that was among our earliest investors, and having worked in the technology sector for a decade."
That November, it was announced that Chew would leave his role as ByteDance's CFO to focus on running TikTok.
TikTok's former CEO, Kevin Mayer, had left Walt Disney for the position in May 2020 and quit after three months as the company faced pressure from lawmakers over security concerns.
Some government officials in the US and other countries remain concerned that TikTok's user data could be shared with the Chinese government.
Chew joined ByteDance's C-suite in March 2021, the first person to fill the role of chief financial officer at the media giant.
He was named CEO of TikTok that May at the same time as Vanessa Pappas was named COO. Bytedance founder and former CEO Zhang Yiming said at the time that Chew "brings deep knowledge of the company and industry, having led a team that was among our earliest investors, and having worked in the technology sector for a decade."
That November, it was announced that Chew would leave his role as ByteDance's CFO to focus on running TikTok.
TikTok's former CEO, Kevin Mayer, had left Walt Disney for the position in May 2020 and quit after three months as the company faced pressure from lawmakers over security concerns.
Some government officials in the US and other countries remain concerned that TikTok's user data could be shared with the Chinese government.
The Biden administration has demanded that TikTok divest its American business from ByteDance or risk being banned.Jacquelyn Martin, Pool
Donald Trump's administration issued executive orders designed to force ByteDance into divesting its TikTok US operations, though nothing ever happened.
President Biden signed an executive order in June 2021 that threw out Trump's proposed bans on the app.
Last year, the Biden administration demanded that TikTok divest its American business from its Chinese parent company or risk being banned in the US. In response, Chew said such a divestment wouldn't solve officials' security concerns about TikTok.
In a TikTok last March, Chew announced the company has amassed 150 million monthly active users in the US and broached the subject of the ban threats.
Donald Trump's administration issued executive orders designed to force ByteDance into divesting its TikTok US operations, though nothing ever happened.
President Biden signed an executive order in June 2021 that threw out Trump's proposed bans on the app.
Last year, the Biden administration demanded that TikTok divest its American business from its Chinese parent company or risk being banned in the US. In response, Chew said such a divestment wouldn't solve officials' security concerns about TikTok.
In a TikTok last March, Chew announced the company has amassed 150 million monthly active users in the US and broached the subject of the ban threats.
Chew took to TikTok to discuss the ban threats. TikTok
"Some politicians have started talking about banning TikTok," he said. "Now this could take TikTok away from all 150 million of you."
Chew testified before Congress that month about the company's privacy and data security practices.
Wall Street said his testimony didn't do much to help his case to keep TikTok alive in the US, though Chew seemed to win over many TikTok users, with some applauding his efforts and even making flattering fancam edits of him.
Now, Chew and TikTok are in the spotlight again as the company tries to stave off a looming potential ban.
"Some politicians have started talking about banning TikTok," he said. "Now this could take TikTok away from all 150 million of you."
Chew testified before Congress that month about the company's privacy and data security practices.
Wall Street said his testimony didn't do much to help his case to keep TikTok alive in the US, though Chew seemed to win over many TikTok users, with some applauding his efforts and even making flattering fancam edits of him.
Now, Chew and TikTok are in the spotlight again as the company tries to stave off a looming potential ban.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testifies during a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on Thursday, March 23, 2023.
Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
The House of Representatives passed a bill on March 13 that would require any company owned by a "foreign adversary" to divest or sell to a US-based company within 180 days to avoid being banned in the US.
Chew put out a video response shortly after, asking users to "make your voices heard" and "protect your constitutional rights" by voicing opposition to lawmakers.
He called the vote "disappointing" and said the company has invested in improving data security and keeping the platform "free from outside manipulation."
"This bill gives more power to a handful of other social media companies," he added. "It will also take billions of dollars out of the pockets of creators and small businesses. It will put more than 300,000 American jobs at risk."
The Senate also passed the bill, and President Biden signed it into law in April.
In September, a hearing on the potential TikTok ban began in federal appeals court and in December, a three-judge panel from the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the law is constitutional.
On the heels of the bad news, Chew met with the president-elect at Mar-a-Lago several days later.
The House of Representatives passed a bill on March 13 that would require any company owned by a "foreign adversary" to divest or sell to a US-based company within 180 days to avoid being banned in the US.
Chew put out a video response shortly after, asking users to "make your voices heard" and "protect your constitutional rights" by voicing opposition to lawmakers.
He called the vote "disappointing" and said the company has invested in improving data security and keeping the platform "free from outside manipulation."
"This bill gives more power to a handful of other social media companies," he added. "It will also take billions of dollars out of the pockets of creators and small businesses. It will put more than 300,000 American jobs at risk."
The Senate also passed the bill, and President Biden signed it into law in April.
In September, a hearing on the potential TikTok ban began in federal appeals court and in December, a three-judge panel from the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the law is constitutional.
On the heels of the bad news, Chew met with the president-elect at Mar-a-Lago several days later.
Chew and Trump recently met.
Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Trump said in a press conference on the day they met that he has a "warm spot" for TikTok, which he has criticized in the past, because he says it helped him win over young voters in the 2024 election.
Also on the day of their meeting, TikTok asked the Supreme Court to block the law that requires it be sold to avoid a shutdown, arguing that it violates Americans' First Amendment rights.
Chew commended Trump while discussing the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the TikTok ban.
Trump said in a press conference on the day they met that he has a "warm spot" for TikTok, which he has criticized in the past, because he says it helped him win over young voters in the 2024 election.
Also on the day of their meeting, TikTok asked the Supreme Court to block the law that requires it be sold to avoid a shutdown, arguing that it violates Americans' First Amendment rights.
Chew commended Trump while discussing the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the TikTok ban.
Shou Zi Chew praised President-elect Donald Trump in a TikTok video.
JIM WATSON/Getty Images
The US Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the law requiring the app's parent company, ByteDance, to divest its operations in the US or undergo a ban did not infringe on the First Amendment.
In response, Chew appeared in a video shared to TikTok's official account, during which he spoke about American TikTok users and thanked Trump.
"On behalf of TikTok and all our users across this country, I want to thank President Trump for his commitment to work with us to find a solution that keeps TikTok available in the United States," Chew said.
"This is a strong for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship," he added.
Trump also discussed the Supreme Court's decision on Friday with a Truth Social post.
"The Supreme Court decision was expected, and everyone must respect it. My decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I must have time to review the situation. Stay tuned!
Chew plans to attend Trump's inauguration on Monday, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to Business Insider.
When he's not fighting efforts to ban TikTok, Chew makes appearances at some pretty high-profile events.
The US Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the law requiring the app's parent company, ByteDance, to divest its operations in the US or undergo a ban did not infringe on the First Amendment.
In response, Chew appeared in a video shared to TikTok's official account, during which he spoke about American TikTok users and thanked Trump.
"On behalf of TikTok and all our users across this country, I want to thank President Trump for his commitment to work with us to find a solution that keeps TikTok available in the United States," Chew said.
"This is a strong for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship," he added.
Trump also discussed the Supreme Court's decision on Friday with a Truth Social post.
"The Supreme Court decision was expected, and everyone must respect it. My decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I must have time to review the situation. Stay tuned!
Chew plans to attend Trump's inauguration on Monday, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to Business Insider.
When he's not fighting efforts to ban TikTok, Chew makes appearances at some pretty high-profile events.
Shou Zi Chew leaves Congress on March 23.
Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
He's been seen at the Met Gala, and also posted about attending the 2023 Super Bowl and even Taylor Swift's Eras Tour.
His hobbies include playing video games like Clash of Clans and Diablo IV, golfing, and reading about theoretical physics.
TikTok said the app will 'go dark' for American users on January 19.
He's been seen at the Met Gala, and also posted about attending the 2023 Super Bowl and even Taylor Swift's Eras Tour.
His hobbies include playing video games like Clash of Clans and Diablo IV, golfing, and reading about theoretical physics.
TikTok said the app will 'go dark' for American users on January 19.
TikTok CEO Shou Chew has made multiple appearances before Congress in the past year.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.
Following the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the law, TikTok said in an X post it would "go dark" for American users at the deadline to sell unless Biden intervened.
"The statements issued today by both the Biden White House and the Department of Justice have failed to provide the necessary clarity and assurance to the service providers that are integral to maintaining TikTok's availability to over 170 million Americans," the post read. "Unless the Biden Administration immediately provides a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers assuring non-enforcement, unfortunately TikTok will be forced to go dark on January 19."
Following the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the law, TikTok said in an X post it would "go dark" for American users at the deadline to sell unless Biden intervened.
"The statements issued today by both the Biden White House and the Department of Justice have failed to provide the necessary clarity and assurance to the service providers that are integral to maintaining TikTok's availability to over 170 million Americans," the post read. "Unless the Biden Administration immediately provides a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers assuring non-enforcement, unfortunately TikTok will be forced to go dark on January 19."
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