By Amalia Theocharidou,
In the end of January, the Internet community was shaken due to the ban of Tiktok in America, after allegations of unsafe use of the netizens’ data. Back in 2020, President Trump had, therefore, issued that due to uncertainty about the national security of the United States, there would be a deadline, until which, ByteDance, the company owning Tiktok, should sell its USA related part to an American buyer, within 30 days. The accusations back then had to do with a Wall Street Journal report, claiming that ByteDance was reportedly collecting the MAC addresses of some of its users. MAC addresses “are unique, fixed identifiers assigned to mobile phones and other internet-connected devices. MAC addresses can be used to track the physical whereabouts of a person using a connected device, even if they have opted out of all manner of other ad-related trackers in their phone’s settings“, CNBC reports.
Furthermore, ByteDance was obligated to erase every copy of US Tiktok data and find an appropriate seller. Microsoft had already expressed interest in buying the app, offering even $30 billion. Due to the sensitivity of the issue, Trump allowed an extension of the deadline, but soon enough, after his presidential term was over, the order was wholly cancelled, as Joe Biden also did not continue the issue any further.
Worries started arising, though, back in 2023, when FBI claimed that the app was sharing the users’ data with the Chinese government and supported that it’d be better for the country if the app was deleted. These speculations led to the hearing of the Tiktok CEO, Shou Zi Chew, by the Congress, a process that was also broadcasted live on Tiktok. Suspicion and malice were directed to the entrepreneur, with the Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers stating: “To the American people watching today, hear this: TikTok is a weapon by the Chinese Communist Party to spy on you and manipulate what you see and exploit for future generations“. Even if the users of the app publicly supported Chew, through humorous videos and social media calls for information on the matter, USA remained skeptical and in March and April 2024, Joe Biden issued a bill to ban the app from the country and its market. The bill was accepted by both the House of Representatives and the Senate and caused the suing of ByteDance with the accusations of unconstitutionality.
And here comes the greater marketing and presidential campaign Trump could’ve ever used. Just before introducing the abnormal deportation policies, Trump makes a huge call to reconcile and gain the trust of the younger Americans, the ones that were so openly against him on the elections. On December, Trump asked for the ban to take place later on, when he’d be in charge, but due to the fact that ByteDance had exceeded the deadline without finding a buyer, the ban needed to be applied. And so it happened, on January 18th, when all the users of the app lost their access, creating a whole chaos worldwide.
But the app was soon enough available, after 14 hours, on January 19th. Apparently, President Trump signed an extension of the deadline, in order for the CEO to negotiate selling it to an American company, and while so, the Biden law will remain inactive. When questioned by the press over the sudden change of mindset, he replied with “Because I got to use it“, introducing also the possibility of sharing a 50/50 between the USA government and BytaDance. At that time, numerous videos telling people to thank Trump for the return of the app, or claiming how he is the best President, were posted all over social media. Even Tiktok itself, published a small notice saying how they were working with President Trump in order to find a good solution.
This “heroic” act of the American President doesn’t come out of purity or without a price. Trump is definitely trying to get the American youth side with him, given the definitely extreme policies he is to impliment. Now, it is a matter of time to just sit back and watch the escalation of the case, especially after the passing of the new deadline.
References
- TikTok’s 14-hour ban: How it happened and what it means. The Butler Collegian. Available here
- Delay to TikTok ban gets Trump sign-off. BBC. Available here
- Lawmakers grilled TikTok CEO Chew for 5 hours in a high-stakes hearing about the app. NPR. Available here
- Trump orders ByteDance to divest from its U.S. TikTok business within 90 days. CNBC. Available here
