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U.S. lawmakers are threatening to ban TikTok but also say they are giving its Chinese parent company a chance to keep it running.<\/p>\n
The premise of a\u00a0bipartisan bill<\/a>\u00a0headed for a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives is that TikTok fans in the U.S. can keep scrolling through their favorite social media app so long as Beijing-based ByteDance gives up on owning it.<\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t have to be this painful for ByteDance,\u201d U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, an Illinois Democrat and bill co-sponsor, recently posted on X<\/a>. \u201cThey could make it a lot easier on themselves by simply divesting @tiktok_us. It\u2019s their choice.\u201d<\/p>\n But it\u2019s not going to be as simple as lawmakers are making it sound, according to experts.<\/p>\n While some people have voiced an interest in buying TikTok\u2019s U.S. business \u2014 among them \u201cShark Tank\u201d star Kevin O\u2019Leary \u2014 there are a number of challenges including a 6-month deadline to get it done.<\/p>\n \u201cSomebody would have to actually be ready to shell out the large amount of money that this product and system is worth,\u201d said Stanford University researcher Graham Webster, who studies Chinese technology policy and U.S.-China relations. \u201cBut even if somebody has deep enough pockets and is ready to go into negotiating to purchase, this sort of matchmaking on acquisitions is not quick.\u201d<\/p>\n Big tech companies could afford it but would likely face intense scrutiny from antitrust regulators in both the U.S. and China. Then again, if the bill actually becomes law and survives First Amendment court challenges, it could make TikTok cheaper to buy.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the main effects of the legislation would be to decrease the sale price,\u201d said Matt Perault, director of the University of North Carolina\u2019s Center on Technology Policy, which gets funding from TikTok and other tech companies. \u201cAs you approach that 180-day clock, the pressure on the company to sell or risk being banned entirely would be high, which would mean probably the acquirers could get it at a lower price.\u201d<\/p>\n The bill calls for prohibiting TikTok in the U.S. but makes an exception if there\u2019s a \u201cqualified divestiture.\u201d<\/p>\n That could only happen if the U.S. president determines \u201cthrough an interagency process\u201d that TikTok is \u201cno longer being controlled by a foreign adversary,\u201d according to the bill. Not only that, but the new U.S.-based TikTok would have to completely cut ties with ByteDance. That includes no more \u201ccooperation with respect to the operation of a content recommendation algorithm or an agreement with respect to data sharing.\u201d<\/p>\n It reflects\u00a0longstanding concerns<\/a>\u00a0that Chinese authorities could force ByteDance to hand over data on the 170 million Americans who use TikTok. The worry stems from a set of Chinese national security laws that compel organizations to assist with intelligence gathering.<\/p>\n It\u2019s an unusual bill in the way that it targets a single company. Typically, a government group led by the Treasury secretary called the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, will review whether such a sale would pose any national security threats.<\/p>\n Yes. The Trump administration\u00a0brokered a deal<\/a>\u00a0in 2020 that would have had U.S. corporations Oracle<\/a> and Walmart<\/a> take a large stake in TikTok on national security grounds.<\/p>\n The deal would have also made Oracle responsible for hosting all TikTok\u2019s U.S. user data and securing computer systems to ensure national security requirements are satisfied. Microsoft<\/a> also made a failed bid for TikTok that its CEO Satya Nadella later described as the \u201cstrangest thing I\u2019ve ever worked on.\u201d<\/p>\n Instead of congressional action, the 2020 arrangement was in response to then-President Donald Trump\u2019s series of executive actions targeting TikTok.<\/p>\n But the sale never went through for a number of reasons. Trump\u2019s executive orders got\u00a0held up in court<\/a>\u00a0as the 2020 presidential election loomed. China also had imposed stricter export controls on its technology providers.<\/p>\n Incoming President Joe Biden in 2021\u00a0reversed course and dropped<\/a>\u00a0the legal proceedings. Now Biden says he\u2019s in favor a bill that would ban TikTok if ByteDance won\u2019t divest, and\u00a0Trump is not<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nWHO WOULD BUY TIKTOK?<\/h2>\n
HOW WOULD IT WORK?<\/h2>\n
HASN\u2019T THIS HAPPENED BEFORE?<\/h2>\n
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