5 questions and answers about the dispute between TikTok and the USA

The USA has gotten serious in the dispute with the social media platform TikTok and its Chinese parent ByteDance. After the House of Representatives, the US Senate also voted for a law that requires ByteDance to sell its US business within a year. Otherwise the app will be banned. What the dispute is about and how it could continue – the OÖN answers the most important questions.

1. What are the US authorities accusing TikTok of?
   For both Democratic and Republican lawmakers, TikTok is a threat to national security. They warn of the danger that the Chinese government could force the company to hand over user data and see the app as a spying tool for the Chinese. The topic is particularly sensitive because of the upcoming US presidential election. Chinese interference using TikTok as a tool should be prevented at all costs.
2. How does TikTok react to the allegations?
   For TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, the US action is “a ban on TikTok, a ban on your voice.” With these words he calls on TikTok users to protest on the platform. The 170 million Tiktok users in the USA should continue to share their stories on the platform – with relatives, friends and “your senators”. A similar approach to previous legislative initiatives has already brought the company boss the displeasure of US politicians. One argument that TikTok repeatedly uses is “Project Texas,” in which it claims to have invested $1.5 billion in data protection. Data from US users would only be stored in Texas and never passed on to China.
3. What is ByteDance doing?
   The TikTok mother has announced that she will sue against the law. As a first step, lawyers could seek an injunction to prevent implementation of the law until its constitutionality is reviewed. ByteDance describes the law as unconstitutional and appears confident of victory. After all, it wouldn’t be the first unsuccessful attempt to force a sale of TikTok. Donald Trump simply failed in 2020 because the US courts saw a violation of constitutionally protected freedom of speech. Some MPs fear the new law will face a similar fate.
4. Sale or ban – what will happen next?
   ByteDance has 270 days to find a buyer acceptable to the US government. The deadline can be extended by three months if the US President – a re-elected Joe Biden or challenger Trump – is of the opinion that the negotiations are fruitful. It is unclear whether China would even allow TikTok sales. The sale, including all algorithms, could even require approval from Beijing. According to experts, without these algorithms, TikTok would be worth significantly less than it is currently. It is not yet clear whether the future path for TikTok will be towards a ban or a sale. In the event of a ban, the courts’ decisions would have to be awaited. Buyers would need regulatory approvals to buy TikTok. Speaking of buyers: Analysts at the asset manager Wedbush see Microsoft and Oracle as possible interested parties. Both companies have already expressed interest in the past. Former US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin also expressed his interest.
5. What consequences would a TikTok ban have?
   If ByteDance does not separate from the subsidiary’s US business within the deadline, providers such as Apple or the Alphabet subsidiary Google would have to throw TikTok out of their respective app stores. In addition, US companies are no longer allowed to run the services of companies controlled by ByteDance on their servers. Theoretically, this would make it impossible for US users to access TikTok.