Are the days of TikTok counted? Despite the platform’s large user base, President Donald Trump has made it very clear that he needs to ban TikTok for security reasons and looks at what that would mean and whether it is more likely to happen.
“Many other people have climbed to TikTok since quarantine. Its use has skyrocketed,” Taylor Lorenz, a technical reporter for the New York Times, recently told ET.
According to Lorenz, “the challenge is that [TikTok] belongs to the Chinese generation conglomerate ByteDance” and the US government fears that the app “may reveal knowledge to the Chinese government.”
Trump said Monday that TikTok has until September 15 until it is banned, through an executive order, unless the U.S. branch of operations. It is purchased and operated through a U.S.-led company. Microsoft is reportedly in talks with ByteDance to reach an agreement for the application’s U.S. operations.
“I’ve set a date around September 15, when it will stop operations,” Trump told the White House press, ABC News reported. “But if someone, whether it’s Microsoft or someone else, buys it, will be interesting.”
In response, TikTok content creators are disappointed that the platform will be shut down.
“We’ve noticed that thousands of creators stream live, some cry and tell users they stick to them on Instagram and YouTube,” Lorenz recalls. “Many of those TikTok users depend on the app for their livelihood … [some] creators potentially earn tens of thousands or even thousands of dollars according to the publication.”
The app will no longer be available in other regions, adding India and Hong Kong, which the company voluntarily withdrew due to considerations of a new Chinese security law.
“Users have encountered screens that say:” This app is no longer available in this location.” Suddenly, the app didn’t appear on your phone,” Lorenz explained.
That said, TikTok CEO Vanessa Pappas said in a video posted on the platform that she “wasn’t going anywhere.”
“In terms of protection and security, we’re introducing the most secure app because we know it’s the right thing to do,” he added.
A recurring question is whether the considerations raised by the president regarding the protection and security of American knowledge are legitimate.
“He is very skeptical of any Chinese-led company operating in the United States,” Lorenz said. However, it also presses that TikTok “is not the only Chinese app we use”, however, it is the only one facing a ban at the president’s request.
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