The end of TikTok has begun. As the dust settles after a week of surprisingly quick legislative action by the US Congress, it's clear that next year's TikTok will look much different from TikTok which we are using today.
When President Joe Biden signed a $95 billion foreign aid package on Wednesday, it reignited a nightmare that has haunted TikTok for more than four years. If TikTok's Chinese owner, ByteDance, refuses to divest its stake in the company, the US will ban the app nationwide. The signing starts the clock, giving TikTok 270 days to find a new owner. (EQUAL of the Washington Post Cristiano Lima – Strong Note, TikTok's time will expire one day before Inauguration Day 2025.)
There are a few ways to go about things. An American company or private equity fund could buy TikTok and its powerful recommendation algorithm. Or the buyer may just have to accept the core of the platform doesn't have that algorithmic muscle; Information reported on Thursday, ByteDance began calculating what sales would look like without the algorithm. Or, perhaps a buyer can't be found and TikTok crashes.
Unless TikTok or a group of its users somehow wins a lawsuit challenging the law signed this week—a lawsuit the company has said it plans to file—all conclusions The possible outcomes all lead to a significantly different application.
If an American tech company magically acquired the app and algorithm from ByteDance, it would likely integrate it into its own products and services. But I doubt we will ever see a “Meta TikTok.” Meta and other tech giants have been affected intense Antitrust scrutiny In recent years. If any company with a large social platform wanted to gobble up one of its top competitors, that would raise alarms at the Department of Justice or the Federal Trade Commission.
Microsoft does suggest that it interested in purchasing TikTok, and this may be one of the app's only viable options for buyers. Microsoft's largest subsidiary is LinkedIn — and can we frankly call LinkedIn a TikTok competitor?
Separately, if, for example, a private equity firm like Blackstone buys TikTok without it very jealous algorithm, rebuilding the heart of the application can be difficult. A company that doesn't have a deep team of algorithm experts in place likely won't have the expertise to quickly refactor a feed-based social media platform from the ground up. If they tried, I suspect the results would be good.
And if there is no new owner? Well, I guess we're left with YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels. TikTok's popularity in the US has forced Google and Meta to invest in vertical video, but those platforms primarily cater to young people The “Skibidi Toilet” Generation. It won't be easy for them to fill the TikTok-shaped void on the US Internet.
However, the law passed this week may not last much longer. In a statement calling it unconstitutional, TikTok seemed confident that the law could be overturned. “We believe that the facts and the law are clearly on our side and we will ultimately prevail,” a TikTok spokesperson said Wednesday. The company used similar arguments last year to win an injunction blocking a ban from passing in Montana.
Regardless of how this lawsuit plays out, TikTok will be different. The question is how “different” it will be.
Time travel
In December, WIRED contributor Dexter Thomas sat down with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew during the app's first music festival in Arizona. In that interview and others like it, Chew stated his confidence that skepticism about TikTok's security would subside as the app gained the trust of lawmakers.
Turns out Chew was wrong. But even after Biden signed the bill requiring divestment this week, TikTok posted Chew's video towards its users and promises to continue investing to make the platform better and safer. However, I wonder if that mild optimism will turn into something more positive next year as the deadline for the new law draws closer.
