How did we get here, and is TikTok really going away for good?
A very brief history of TikTok
TikTok hasn’t always been TikTok.
That’s 11.2 million to over 150 million.
Like TikTok, Douyin relies on advertising and shopping to drive profits.
TikTok, which is massively popular all over the world, accounted for the other 20 percent.
Why is TikTok a security threat?
Sure, TikTok is popular, but plenty of other apps are popular as well.
In short, the Chinese government.
ByteDance is a Chinese-based company, and, as such, must comply with China’s corporate laws.
From here, there are also fears TikTok is manipulating the content American viewers see.
But the TikTok problem goes beyond that: Remember Douyin?
The company was looking for sources of ByteDance leaks reported on by these targeted journalists.
That year,39 states followed the Biden administration’s leadin banning TikTok from government devices.
The campaigned backfired, and actually sped up legislation.
So, is TikTok dead in the U.S.?
In fact, its fate is far from certain.
So, no matter what, this won’t be a problem until next year.
That means the app will be very much in play for the 2024 elections.
The videos will no doubt be spicy leading up to a potential January exit.
But TikTok won’thaveto leave the U.S. if ByteDance sells to an American company.
Former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchinis interested in buying TikTok, as areformer Activision CEO Bobby Kotickandinvestor Kevin O’Leary.
Perhaps Oracle will make a bid, or Microsoft, but nothing is certain.
Don’t be so quick to write up TikTok’s obituary quite yet.
