the completely different situations for TikTook within the United States | EUROtoday
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TTic, tac, the clock is ticking for TikTook. The regulation handed by the American Congress and signed by Joe Biden final spring was easy: it gave the video software 9 months to chop all monetary ties with the Chinese group ByteDance, below penalty of being banned within the United States, the place it’s utilized by 170 million Americans. The ultimatum expires this Sunday, January 19, and ByteDance doesn’t appear to have discovered – and even sought – a purchaser, even when the Bloomberg company mentions last-minute discussions with Elon Musk.
As creators panic and Americans flip to the Chinese app RedNote, the Supreme Court or Congress can nonetheless intervene. Just like Donald Trump… after his inauguration on January 20.
1st situation: an extension of the deadline
The Supreme Court should nonetheless rule, doubtlessly as early as this Wednesday, on the constitutionality of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications regulation. During oral arguments final week, the justices appeared deaf to TikTook’s legal professionals’ arguments about free speech, paving the way in which for a ban within the identify of nationwide safety. But it can’t be dominated out that the Supreme Court will give ByteDance extra time to discover a purchaser.
ALSO READ Why TikTook has so many enemies around the globeIn Congress, Democratic Senator Edward Markey (Massachusetts) introduced that he was going to introduce a invoice geared toward granting an extra 9 months to the Chinese group to promote TikTook, believing that the ban was “rushed without a catch “take into sufficient account the profound consequences it would have on the 170 million Americans who use the platform.” But there is no guarantee that Congress will agree to revisit a text which saw Republicans and Democrats unite, and which was adopted by 79 votes to 18 in the Senate and by 352 votes to 65 in the House.
2nd scenario: a sale
So far, ByteDance has focused its efforts on the legal battle. A ban in the United States could be a game-changer. How much is TikTok worth? The consensus estimate is around $100 billion… if the sale includes the valuable algorithm that makes users addicted by choosing which videos to show them. Without it, TikTok would be worth much less, $30 to $40 billion, estimates CBS analyst Dan Ives.
ALSO READ Will Elon Musk buy TikTok? According to Bloomberg, preliminary discussions have taken place with Elon Musk – which TikTok has denied. On paper, such a deal would make sense: the richest man in the world has established links in China with Tesla, as well as with Donald Trump. With X and TikTok, it would have two complementary applications and valuable data to feed xAI’s artificial intelligence models.
American Big Tech (Alphabet, Meta or Microsoft) has the means to buy TikTok, but such an acquisition would risk being blocked by the competition watchdog. Several billionaires, such as the owner of Olympique de Marseille, Frank McCourt, and investment funds are also in the running.
3rd scenario: a ban
What will happen on Sunday if the ban comes into force? “As I understand it, we go dark (the curtain closes), in essence, the platform will shut down,” one among TikTook’s legal professionals, Noel Francisco, advised the Supreme Court.
Technically, TikTook is just not going to vanish from Americans’ smartphones. On the opposite hand, Google and Apple can be pressured to take away it from their app retailer, and the appliance would now not be up to date, with a gradual deterioration in its efficiency and safety. American justice may additionally power Internet service suppliers and phone operators to geoblock TikTook – such a measure may, nevertheless, on paper, be circumvented through the use of a VPN. Finally, as a result of the regulation would additionally apply to hosts, movies must be hosted overseas, which might decelerate their loading.
4th situation: an intervention by Donald Trump
To Discover
Kangaroo of the day
Answer
A fervent supporter of banning TikTook when he was president, Donald Trump reversed his place through the marketing campaign. A turnaround, as we defined to you final week, as a result of success of its movies and the lobbying of billionaire Jeff Yass, who owns 15% of ByteDance shares through his SIG funding fund. Donald Trump notably acquired the boss of TikTook, Shou Zi Chew, at Mar-a-Lago final December.
ALSO READ Why Donald Trump completely desires to avoid wasting TikTookBack on the White House, the American president could have a number of choices. He may grant TikTook a 90-day deadline to discover a purchaser – and Beijing may use this leverage as a bargaining chip within the looming commerce conflict. Trump may additionally stress Republicans in Congress to repeal the regulation. As a final resort, he may order his Justice Department to not implement the prevailing textual content, promising, in brief, Google and Apple to not sue them. A high-risk promise: the regulation supplies for fines of $5,000 per person, or as much as… $850 billion.
https://www.lepoint.fr/monde/interdiction-vente-ou-delai-les-differents-scenarios-pour-tiktok-aux-etats-unis-15-01-2025-2580002_24.php