US President-elect Donald Trump, eyeing the clock, is pondering an extension for TikTok amid a looming ban deadline. [File: Antonin UTZ and Seth Wenig/AFP]
In a surprising twilight twist, TikTok is back online in the United States. The wildly popular video-sharing app had briefly vanished like a magician’s trick, thanks to a federal directive. Trump, with his characteristic flair, hinted at reversing the ban with a simple gesture of his presidential pen as soon as he crosses the White House threshold.
On a fine Sunday morning, the partly cloudy news rolled out of Trump’s loud digital trumpet, Truth Social. He’s set on signing an order to allow TikTok’s Chinese ownership a little more time on the clock — 90 days, precisely. “Let’s give it a go”, he implies, while TikTok users in the US were wiping sleep from their eyes only to find a void where their app once was.
Meanwhile, in a preemptive maneuver that left many users scratching their heads, Google and Apple discreetly yanked TikTok from their digital shelves. The compliance act followed a strict federal demand: ByteDance, the Beijing-based parent, needed to offload its American lodgings by Sunday or face a curtain call.
The biting law, embraced with bipartisan fists of steel in April over appal at unfamiliar ‘foreign influence’, promised a wallet-whopping penalty for defiance.
Trump’s love note to TikTok, however, assures a gentle reprieve from darkness. It promises to keep companies free from guilt if they help pause TikTok’s descent into digital oblivion before he snaps his fingers with an order.
Breathing a tempest of relief, TikTok informed its fans via a tweet: “The fog has cleared. There shall be no repercussions for offering TikTok to 170 million Americans.”
Like birds pecking at a newly filled feeder, users reported seeing the TikTok app spring back to life, offering dancing cats and lip-syncing revolutionaries. Albeit, new downloads remained a hanging fruit, untouchable in the app gardens owned by Apple and Google.
The law, previously whispered in Washington, does allow an extra 90 ticks on the clock if a sale is afoot. But, like a child holding onto their favorite toy, ByteDance has held out against sales. Investors came knocking with hopes and dreams, some even with chequebooks in their hands.
Trump’s Sunday musings on a 50 percent US stake compelled us to ask, who exactly would own this joint venture? Uncle Sam himself, or perhaps an American corporate entity with gleaming ambitions?
In a reflective moment, Trump taps out woefully, “No TikTok without US signing on the dotted line. Together, it’s worth a fortune, maybe a mountain of money, who knows?”
Meanwhile, Trump’s future foreign fixer-upper, Mike Waltz, mentioned to CNN: “We’re keeping the door ajar for some Chinese tenue, with proper safeguards against sneaky peeks of private data, mind you.”
“It’s a balance. Enjoy the app but keep it safe from the prying eyes abroad,” Waltz asserted with the conviction of someone whose morning coffee is still warm in their cup.
Last Friday saw the US Supreme Court underlining the necessity of a TikTok ban unless ByteDance hands over its US bright ideas. Outgoing President Biden’s camp invoked concerns of espionage-mania — fears that our data, zipping across the internet, might fall into uninvited hands.
Alerts have been sounded that TikTok’s algorithm, that digital genie influencing content flow, might be pulled by invisible strings. Yet, skeptical voices whisper: “Show us the proof of these data handshakes!” ByteDance stands firm denying the villainy amid a shadowy standstill.
The law has scribbled a must-do for Apple and Google: remove TikTok from their virtual vistas, stopping fresh downloads in their tracks. Noncompliance, they say, comes with a $5,000 sting for every user allowed access. That’s some dough to cough up!
Oracle, like a digital gatekeeper, would need to slam the server doors shut if this ban takes full swing, while hometown competitors like Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts polish their dance moves.
Meanwhile, Xiaohongshu, wielding its own form of magic wand, quietly turned heads stateside, claiming its newfound title as Apple’s darling in US app land.
Suitors are lining up like contestants on a reality dating show, offering lifelines to TikTok. Among them: Perplexity AI, a brainchild backed by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. They pitched a grand plan, marriage of minds, merging TikTok with its US counterpart and granting ByteDance a slice of the new pie.
Also in the mix, a tantalizing $20 billion proposition from a posse of Canadian investor Kevin O’Leary and magnate Frank McCourt, hoping for a swipe right from TikTok’s board.
Experts caution that perchance Trump’s order arrives with pomp, paperwork battles might ensue. “Congress sprinkled this law with president-proof pixie dust,” avowed Adam Kovacevich, honcho of the digital industry association Chamber of Progress.
So, we wait, eyes glued to the shifting shadows in DC, wondering if TikTok holds its breath for salvation or whispers goodbye for now. What will the sands of time unveil? Only the coming days promise revelation.
Source: Report By Axadle
