Internet Trump wants to find a solution for Tiktok
A few weeks before the Chinese-based video app Tiktok is threatened with closure in the USA, Donald Trump has intervened in the dispute. The US President-elect called on the country's Supreme Court to suspend the law on the sale of the video app.
28.12.2024, 01:19
SDA
Trump argued that he could save the platform through negotiations and at the same time find a solution to the US government's security concerns.
According to the law, which came into force in April, the video app must change hands by January 19. Otherwise it will be banned from the app stores in the USA and lose access to infrastructure.
Supreme Court as the last chance
Tiktok's resistance in court has so far been unsuccessful. However, at the request of the platform, the Supreme Court intends to deal with the case. A hearing has been scheduled for January 10. The judges want to examine the question of whether the law on the change of ownership violates the constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of speech.
President Joe Biden could extend the deadline for Tiktok by another three months - but only if there are promising sales negotiations. So far, however, Tiktok has refused to even consider a change of ownership. The app claims to have 170 million users in the USA.
Trump, who will become the next US president on 20 January, failed in court himself during his first term in office in an attempt to sell Tiktok. However, he recently spoke out against a ban on the platform. He cannot override the law himself.
Fears of Chinese influence and espionage
The video platform belongs to the China-based group Bytedance. The law refers to the risk of China gaining access to American data and exerting influence.
Bytedance is viewed as a Chinese company by all parties in the USA. Tiktok counters that Bytedance is almost 60 percent owned by Western investors. The company is based in the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean. However, US politicians emphasize that the Chinese founder has control thanks to higher voting rights with a share of around 20 percent and that Bytedance's headquarters are in Beijing, where it is impossible to escape the influence of the authorities.
At the same time, Tiktok itself pointed out in the lawsuit that the Chinese government wanted to block the sale of the recommendation software developed in China as the core of the app. The algorithm decides which video is shown next and reacts very sensitively to, among other things, how long a clip on a particular topic is viewed.
