Trump said he will take a decision on Monday.

Washington:

TikTok plans to shut U.S. operations of its social media app used by 170 million Americans on Sunday, when a federal ban is set to take effect, barring a last-minute reprieve, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

The Washington Post reported President-elect Donald Trump, whose term begins a day after a ban would start, is considering issuing an executive order to suspend enforcement of a shutdown for 60 to 90 days. The newspaper did not say how Trump could legally do so.

The law signed in April mandates a ban on new TikTok downloads on Apple or Google app stores if Chinese parent ByteDance fails to divest the site.

Users who have downloaded TikTok would theoretically still be able to use the app, except that the law also bars U.S. companies starting Sunday from providing services to enable the distribution, maintenance, or updating of it.

The Trump transition team did not have an immediate comment. Trump has said he should have time after taking office to pursue a “political resolution” of the issue.

“TikTok itself is a fantastic platform,” Trump’s incoming national security adviser Mike Waltz told Fox News on Wednesday. “We’re going to find a way to preserve it but protect people’s data.”

A White House official told Reuters Wednesday President Joe Biden has no plans to intervene to block a ban in his final days in office if the Supreme Court fails to act and added Biden is legally unable to intervene absent a credible plan from ByteDance to divest TikTok.

U.S. Senator Ed Markey on Wednesday sought unanimous consent to extend the deadline for ByteDance to divest TikTok by 270 days but Republican Senator Tom Cotton blocked the proposal.

If it is banned, TikTok plans that users attempting to open the app will see a pop-up message directing them to a website with information about the ban, the people said, requesting anonymity as the matter is not public.

“We go dark. Essentially, the platform shuts down,” TikTok lawyer Noel Francisco told the Supreme Court last week.

The company also plans to give users an option to download all their data so that they can take a record of their personal information, the sources said.

The U.S. Supreme Court is currently deciding whether to uphold the law and allow TikTok to be banned on Sunday, overturn the law, or pause the law to give the court more time to make a decision.

Shutting down TikTok in the U.S. could make it unavailable for users in many other countries, the company said in a court filing last month, because hundreds of service providers in the U.S. help make the platform available to TikTok users around the world – and could no longer do so starting Sunday.

TikTok said in the court filing an order was needed to “avoid interruption of services for tens of millions of TikTok users outside the United States.”

TikTok had said that the prohibitions would eventually make the app unusable, noting in the filing that “data centers would almost certainly conclude that they can no longer store” TikTok code, content, or data.

The sources said the shutdown aims to protect TikTok service providers from legal liability and make it easier to resume operations if President-elect Donald Trump opted to roll back any ban.

Shutting down such services does not require longer planning, one of the sources said, noting that most operations have been continuing as usual as of this week. If the ban gets reversed later, TikTok would be able to restore service for U.S. users in a relatively short time, sources said.

TikTok and its Chinese parent, ByteDance, did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

U.S. tech publication The Information first reported the news late on Tuesday.

Privately held ByteDance is about 60% owned by institutional investors such as BlackRock and General Atlantic, while its founders and employees own 20% each. It has more than 7,000 employees in the United States.

President Joe Biden last April signed a law requiring ByteDance to sell its U.S. assets by Jan. 19, or face a nationwide ban. Last week, the Supreme Court seemed inclined to uphold the law, despite calls from Trump and lawmakers to extend the deadline.

TikTok and ByteDance have sought, at the very least, a delay in the implementation of the law, which they say violates the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment protection against government abridgment of free speech.

TikTok said in the court filing last month it estimated one-third of its 170 million American users would stop accessing the platform if the ban lasted a month.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

Two Democratic lawmakers on Monday urged Congress and President Joe Biden to extend a Jan. 19 deadline for China-based ByteDance to sell the U.S. assets of TikTok or face a U.S. ban.

The Supreme Court held arguments Friday on Tiktok and ByteDance’s challenge to the law. A lawyer for the companies, Noel Francisco, said it would be impossible to complete a sale by next week’s deadline.

He said if banned, the the short video app used by 170 million Americans would quickly go dark and “essentially the platform shuts down.”

Biden could extend the deadline by 90 days if he certifies ByteDance is making substantial progress toward a divestiture but it is unlikely ByteDance could meet that standard.

Senator Edward Markey said he planned to introduce legislation to delay the deadline by which ByteDance must sell TikTok or face a ban by an additional 270 days.

“A ban would dismantle a one-of-a-kind informational and cultural ecosystem, silencing millions in the process,” Markey said Monday.

“A TikTok ban would impose serious consequences on millions of Americans who depend on the app for social connections and their economic livelihood. We cannot allow that to happen.”

President-elect Donald Trump has asked the court to delay implementation of the law, arguing he should have time after taking office on Jan. 20 to pursue a “political resolution” to the issue.

Representative Ro Khanna, a Democrat, on Monday urged Biden and Trump “to put a pause on this ban so 170 million Americans don’t lose their free speech. Millions of Americans’ livelihood will be ended if this ban takes place.”

If the court does not block the law by Sunday, new downloads of TikTok on Apple or Google app stores would be banned but existing users could continue to access the app for some period. Services would degrade and eventually stop working as companies will be barred from providing support.

The White House did not immediately comment.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

Erich Andersen, general counsel for TikTok and Chinese parent company ByteDance, said on Friday he will step down from the role in June, according to a company statement.

Andersen will become special counsel to the company to focus on helping lead TikTok’s effort to overturn legislation signed into law by President Joe Biden on Wednesday that gives ByteDance 270 days to divest short-video app TikTok in the United States or face a ban.

TikTok said this week it plans to file a lawsuit to challenge the legislation, but has declined to say when it plans to do so.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

TikTok on Wednesday said it will fight a new US law that orders the popular video sharing app to break away from its Chinese owners or face an outright ban in the United States.

Here is what could happen next for one of the world’s most downloaded apps.

What does the law say?

The bill signed by President Joe Biden gives TikTok 270 days (roughly nine months) to find a non-Chinese buyer or face a ban in the United states. The White House can extend the deadline one time only by 90 days.

During that time, the app would continue to operate for its roughly 170 million US users.

What will happen in the courts?

Tiktok says it will fight the law in the US courts, saying that it grossly violates free speech rights.

The company has some reason to feel that it will prevail; in 2020, the company survived a similar order from then President Donald Trump.

TikTok filed a lawsuit challenging the ban, and a federal judge temporarily blocked Trump’s effort, saying the reasons for banning the app were likely overstated and that free speech rights were in jeopardy.

Still, the Trump administration tried to broker a deal in which data server firm Oracle and supermarket giant Walmart would buy a joint stake in TikTok, but those negotiations went nowhere.

The new effort signed by Biden was designed to overcome the same legal headaches and some experts believe the US Supreme Court could be open to allowing national security considerations to outweigh free speech protection, though this is hardly certain.

Trump, who is running for president against Biden, now says he opposes the potential ban as it would benefit rival Meta, the owner of Instagram and Facebook.

Who will buy TikTok?

Finding a buyer for TikTok will be no easy matter given the deep pockets needed to walk home with one of the world’s most popular apps.

Big tech’s usual suspects, such as Meta or YouTube’s Google, will likely be barred from snapping up TikTok over antitrust concerns. They already command too much of the social media market.

Even Microsoft, owner of the more niche LinkedIn and now the world’s biggest company by market capitalization, would face a hard look by competition regulators.

Oracle could be interested in trying again to take part in a deal.

Since its first attempt during the Trump administration, the company controlled by Larry Ellison helped TikTok devise a way to satisfy US national security concerns in a scheme called Project Texas, that essentially carves out US data into a stand alone company, but still owned by ByteDance.

Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin earlier this month said he was assembling a team of investors to propose an offer for the company, but he has little tech experience and his ambition was considered far fetched by observers.

What if no one buys it?

Barring any decision by the courts, the deadline to sell Tiktok would be roughly one year from April 24 if the 90 day extension is used.

Starting around that time, TikTok would no longer be available on the US Apple or Android app stores and, crucially, software updates and bug fixes would no longer take place.

In other words, Tiktok would slowly wither away, with Bytedance unable to update the app, though it could decide to shutter it completely.

What does China say?

In the battle over TikTok’s US future, China has come out swinging in its defense.

Beijing does not want a precedent to be set where a Chinese company is strong-armed into selling one of its most valuable assets, including an algorithm that is the envy of competitors.

Fears are also rife that an alarming precedent is being set and that other Chinese companies will face a similar fate in the future.

The row was discussed in a phone call between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping earlier this month.

Who will benefit?

The clear winners from an eventual ban of TikTok would be Meta and Google, which have launched their own copycats of TikTok: Meta’s Reels and YouTube Shorts.

Both alternatives have been gaining ground in the US market, just as Tiktok appears to be stalling, perhaps affected by the doubts about its future.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Image used for representative purpose only.
| Photo Credit: AFP

China blasted Washington’s “bandit” mentality after the U.S. House passed a bill that would ban TikTok unless it splits from its Chinese owner, and vowed to “take all necessary measures” to protect the interests of its companies overseas.

The short-video app has soared in popularity worldwide but its ownership by Chinese technology giant ByteDance – and alleged subservience to Beijing’s ruling Communist Party – has fuelled concern in Western capitals.

Also Read | U.S. lawmakers see TikTok as China’s tool, even as it distances itself from Beijing

“The U.S. should truly respect the principles of a market economy and fair competition (and) stop unjustly suppressing foreign companies,” Beijing’s commerce ministry spokesperson He Yadong said at a press conference.

Washington should also “provide an open, fair, just, and non-discriminatory environment for foreign companies to invest and operate in the U.S.”, He added.

“China will take all necessary measures to resolutely safeguard its legitimate rights and interests,” he said.

Logic of a bandit

At a separate press briefing, foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said the vote “runs contrary to the principles of fair competition and international economic and trade rules”.

“If so-called reasons of national security can be used to arbitrarily suppress excellent companies from other countries, then there is no fairness and justice at all,” Mr. Wang said.

“When someone sees a good thing another person has and tries to take it for themselves, this is entirely the logic of a bandit.”

Prior to the vote, Beijing had warned that the proposed ban would “inevitably come back to bite the United States”.

China has blocked western online platforms such as Facebook and X for years on its heavily-censored internet.

U.S. lawmakers voted 352 in favour of the proposed law and 65 against, striking a rare note of unity in politically divided Washington.

The White House has said President Joe Biden will sign the bill – known officially as the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act – into law if it reaches his desk.

But it faces a tricky path through the more cautious Senate, where some are wary of taking dramatic measures against an app with 170 million US users.

TikTok has consistently denied that it is under the control of China’s Communist Party.

Its CEO Shou Zi Chew has urged users to speak out against the vote, and several TikTok creators interviewed by AFP voiced opposition to the proposed ban.

Long-running tensions

The app is at the centre of long-running tensions between China and the United States, which have butted heads in recent years over technology, trade and human rights issues.

Washington has cited national security concerns to limit the activities of some Chinese companies in the United States, as well as the export of certain technologies to China that it deems sensitive.

European regulators are also concerned about the app, with the European Commission on March 14 quizzing TikTok and other platforms such as Facebook, Google and X on what they were doing to counter the risk of AI to elections, including through deepfakes.

China has repeatedly lashed out at what it views as a concerted attempt to “suppress” China’s rise.

Foreign minister Wang Yi said this month that Washington’s “desire to heap blame under any pretext has reached an unbelievable level”.

“The methods used to suppress China are constantly being renewed, and the list of unilateral sanctions is constantly being extended,” Mr. Wang said at a press briefing during annual political meetings in Beijing.

As some of the harshest Republican critics of TikTok soften their stance on the China-backed social media app, one billionaire donor’s name is ricocheting around Washington.

The prospect that the app will be banned has thrust Jeff Yass, the trading mastermind behind market-maker Susquehanna International Group, into an uncomfortable spotlight. That’s because he owns a stake in TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, which is worth $15 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the largest single asset in his $40.8 billion fortune.

Yass has used that wealth to become the biggest donor in the 2024 election cycle, with $46.4 million spent so far, mostly focused on the issue of school choice. He’s also been mentioned as a possible candidate for Treasury secretary – along with hedge fund billionaire John Paulson and former US trade representative Robert Lighthizer – should Donald Trump win in November, according to people familiar with the matter.

But with such a large chunk of Yass’ fortune at risk, the registered libertarian’s connections are now being closely watched – in particular whether they’ll try to muster support to kill the bill passed Wednesday by the House of Representatives to ban the app in the US unless ByteDance sells it.

The clearest signal of a reversal came last week when Trump said he was opposed to the bill. That declaration came after he attended a donor event in Palm Beach, Florida, put together by the conservative organization Club for Growth, which counts Yass as one of its biggest backers. (Trump said he hadn’t discussed the issue with Yass in a subsequent interview with CNBC.)

Club for Growth has also dispatched former Trump aide Kellyanne Conway to lobby lawmakers to oppose the TikTok ban. Meanwhile, Vivek Ramaswamy went from calling the platform “digital fentanyl” to opening a TikTok account himself after a super PAC that supported his failed bid for the Republican nomination received money from Yass last year.

A spokesperson for Yass declined to comment.

The legislation, which passed the House by a vote of 352 to 65, next heads to the Senate, where the outlook is less certain. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has so far declined to endorse it, and members including Republican Rand Paul have come out against it. Some proponents of a ban include Republican politicians whom Yass has backed, like Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Senator Ted Cruz.

Tough Sell

If the bill becomes law, and withstands the expected wave of legal challenges, finding a buyer for TikTok might not be so easy.

The largest US technology companies, with some of the deepest pockets in corporate America, would likely face regulatory scrutiny over a purchase, though Microsoft Corp. was said to be exploring an acquisition of TikTok’s US operations in 2020.

Bobby Kotick, the former chief executive officer of Activision Blizzard, has expressed interest, the Wall Street Journal reported, but he would need to raise more money through partners. (ByteDance denied its co-founder, billionaire Zhang Yiming, was approached.)

And any divestiture would also require approval by the Chinese government, which said last year that it would firmly oppose a forced sale.

As well as TikTok, Beijing-based ByteDance operates a China-only version of the app called Douyin. ByteDance offered to buy back its shares at a valuation of about $268 billion in December. 

Yass is far from the only investor with billions riding on ByteDance. Carlyle Group, KKR & Co., SoftBank Group Corp., and General Atlantic have all invested, according to data provider PitchBook. 

But Susquehanna was one of the first to back the company. SIG China, a venture capital firm Yass established in 2005 to place bets on China’s technology industry, invested in 2012 and owns about 15% of the company. Art Dantchik, co-founder of Susquehanna, is on the ByteDance board.

Back then Yass wasn’t a significant donor in elections, giving about $78,000 in the 2012 federal election cycle, according to data compiled by OpenSecrets. That ballooned to $56.2 million in the 2022 midterms, when he was the fourth-largest donor.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)