Trump’s order was meant to enable an American-led group of investors to buy the app from China’s ByteDance, though the deal also requires China’s approval.
However, a TikTok deal is “not really a big thing for Xi Jinping”, said Bonnie Glaser, managing director of the German Marshall Fund’s Indo-Pacific programme, during a media briefing on Tuesday. “(China is) happy to let (Trump) declare that they have finally kept a deal. Whether or not that deal will protect the data of Americans is a big question going forward.”
“A big question mark for the United States, of course, is whether this is consistent with US law since there was a law passed by Congress,” Glaser said.
About 43 per cent of US adults under the age of 30 say they regularly get news from TikTok, higher than any other social media app, including YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, according to a Pew Research Center report published in September.
A recent Pew Research Center survey found that about one-third of Americans said they supported a TikTok ban, down from 50 per cent in March 2023. Roughly one-third said they would oppose a ban, and a similar percentage said they weren’t sure.
Among those who said they supported banning the social media platform, about eight in 10 cited concerns over users’ data security being at risk as a major factor in their decision, according to the report.
The security debate centres on the TikTok recommendation algorithm, which has steered millions of users into an endless stream of video shorts. China has said the algorithm must remain under Chinese control by law. But a US regulation that Congress passed with bipartisan support said any divestment of TikTok would require the platform to cut ties with ByteDance.
American officials have warned that the algorithm – a complex system of rules and calculations that platforms use to deliver personalised content – is vulnerable to manipulation by Chinese authorities, but no evidence has been presented by US officials proving that China has attempted to do so.
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