With over two billion downloads worldwide, it feels like TikTok has taken over the world (Oberlo). TikTok is a video-sharing app that features dances, stories, drama, and much more. Many users describe the social media platform as addictive and time-consuming, spending hours a day scrolling through their “For You” pages. TikTok has functioned as an escape from reality during the Covid-19 quarantine, so to many it was concerning when the Trump administration threatened to ban TikTok in early July.
There have been messages and updates about it from the Trump administration frequently. According to Reuters.com, on July 31, Trump told reporters that he would ban TikTok in the United States within twenty-four hours. Furthermore, on August 6 2020, President Trump issued an executive order saying that TikTok is a national security threat (Ars Technia).
So why is the app still on our phones? The answer lies in a business deal. In late September, the U.S. company Oracle took a 12.5% stake in TikTok, and Walmart took a 7.5% stake. The third major owner of TikTok global is a Chinese company called ByteDance. Oracle’s Executive Vice President Ken Glueck said American companies will have a “majority” of control over the new global board, TikTok Global (CNBC). This argument is based on the fact that 40% of ByteDance is owned by Americans. Combining Oracle’s share, Walmart’s share, and share of these American investors, Americans own about 53% of TikTok Global. However, ByteDance disagrees, stating that they will still own about 80% of TikTok global (CNBC), so who owns TikTok global is up for some debate.
This transaction concept pleased Donald Trump, and has tentatively taken a TikTok ban off of the table. On Saturday September 19, Trump supported the deal by giving it his “blessing” (Ars Technia). Currently, the deal is being finalized and avid TikTok users are left in suspense waiting for the final verdict.
