Goodbye Tik Tok?
Life without TikTok? Many would say unimaginable, but it may be time to get used to the idea. TikTok, A place everyone knows and loves, is owned by Chinese company, ByteDance. President Trump will be banning TikTok in the U.S. on September 15, unless TikTok is bought from ByteDance by a U.S. company.
TikTok began in September of 2017 and has since grown to house 800 million users. It is a video-sharing social network app that has helped many content creators grow their careers.
Microsoft recently made an offer to ByteDance to takeover TikTok. With Microsoft as owner, America would continue to have access to the app. On Sunday, September 13 ByteDance rejected Microsoft’s offer and will not be selling TikTok or its algorithm. Microsoft made a statement that confirmed that ByteDance denied Microsoft’s offer. The statement said,
The Trump administration has made it very clear that TikTok will be banned if it is not owned by the U.S. The next company predicted to make an offer to buy TikTok from ByteDance is Oracle. Their efforts must be made within the next two days or else TikTok will be gone from America. Trump’s deadline for ByteDance to sell is September 15, Trump had this to say about the entire situation,
Rumors that the Trump administration extended the deadline to November 12 are swirling. This would allow Oracle time to form a deal with ByteDance. Now that Microsoft has been denied. Oracle is the new leading company to save TikTok is America.
ByteDance has made few statements on what will happen. They are not looking to sell TikTok or the algorithm. This situation is ongoing and changing by the minute. A final update on the status of TikTok cannot be given yet because no one knows. this involves international affairs, so TikTok users are all waiting for answers with little to no information.
The Chinese Government supports ByteDance’s decision to not sell TikTok. The Chinese Government said they cannot sell the TikTok algorithm. ByteDance would be willing to let TikTok technology teams in America develop a new algorithm but ByteDance will not hand out code to any U.S. buyers.
The U.S. could make a new algorithm, but this takes time. Not only does this take time, users need to get used to the new format, and the app industry is very competitive. A good algorithm takes time.
A solution to keep TikTok in America would be to extend the deadline. If the Trump administration extends the deadline this gives oracle a chance to give their offer to ByteDance. The Government must keep in mind that losing the U.S. will cause TikTok to lose money. If the Trump administration compromises, then maybe ByteDance will too.
