That 2020 govt order got here to nothing in the long run—it was blocked within the courts, put apart after the presidency modified fingers, and finally withdrawn by the Biden administration. But the thought—that the US authorities ought to ban TikTok indirectly—by no means went away. It will repeatedly be urged in several varieties and shapes. And finally, on April 24, 2024, issues got here full circle.
Quite a bit has modified within the 4 years between these two information cycles. Again then, TikTok was a rising sensation that many individuals didn’t perceive; now, it’s one of many largest social media platforms, the originator of a generation-defining content material medium, and a music-industry juggernaut.
What has additionally modified is my outlook on the problem. For a very long time, I believed TikTok would discover a means out of the political tensions, however I’m more and more pessimistic about its future. And I’ve even much less hope for different Chinese language tech corporations attempting to go world. If the TikTok saga tells us something, it’s that their Chinese language roots might be scrutinized eternally, it doesn’t matter what they do.
I don’t consider TikTok has change into a bigger safety risk now than it was in 2020. There have all the time been points with the app, like potential operational affect by the Chinese language authorities, the black-box algorithms that produce unpredictable outcomes, and the truth that dad or mum firm ByteDance by no means managed to separate the US aspect and the China aspect cleanly, regardless of efforts (one referred to as Undertaking Texas) to retailer and course of American information domestically.
However none of these issues received worse during the last 4 years. And apparently, whereas discussions in 2020 nonetheless revolved round potential cures like establishing information facilities within the US to retailer American information or having a corporation like Oracle audit operations, these sorts of fixes usually are not within the legislation handed this yr. So long as it nonetheless has Chinese language house owners, the app will not be permissible within the US. The one factor it might do to outlive right here is switch possession to a US entity.
That’s the chilly, exhausting fact not just for TikTok however for different Chinese language corporations too. In as we speak’s political local weather, any affiliation with China and the Chinese language authorities is seen as unacceptable. It’s a far cry from the 2010s, when Chinese language corporations may dream about growing a killer app and discovering audiences and buyers across the globe—one thing many did pull off.
There’s one thing I wrote 4 years in the past that also rings true as we speak: TikTok is the bellwether for Chinese language corporations attempting to go world.
The vast majority of Chinese language tech giants, like Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu, function primarily inside China’s borders. TikTok was the primary to achieve mass recognition in plenty of different nations internationally and change into a part of day by day life for folks exterior China. To many Chinese language startups, it confirmed that the exhausting work of attempting to study international nations and customers can finally repay, and it’s well worth the time and funding to strive.
