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On November 12, the US Department of Commerce stated that it would not temporarily implement a ban on Internet operator TikTok from providing services.
If the ban applies, technically the TikTok app can be completely disabled in the United States. TikTok is a product of Chinese network technology company ByteDance.
In September this year, three creators of the short video platform TikTok filed a lawsuit in the Philadelphia court to challenge the ban. The court issued a temporary injunction against the presidential order in late October. The US Department of Commerce had to suspend the implementation of Trump’s presidential ban.
But for this Chinese tech company that has suffered twists and turns in the United States, it cannot be relieved. The company also filed a lawsuit against another court order issued by Trump to spin off TikTok on November 10, hoping to continue to win this battle for survival.
How to get here
In fact, Trump issued a total of two executive orders against TikTok.
The first administrative order on TikTok was issued on August 6, based on the International Emergency Economic Energy Law. The executive order is divided into two stages: as of September 27, the download and update of TikTok will be prohibited in the United States; As of November 12, US Internet operators will be prohibited from providing services for TikTok.
If the ban is fully implemented, it will mean that TikTok is completely banned in the United States.
On September 23, TikTok filed a lawsuit in Federal Court in Washington, DC, challenging the portion of the executive order that prohibits downloads and updates. At the last moment when the ban came into effect on the night of September 27, the court issued an injunction.
Subsequently, the Philadelphia lawsuit successfully challenged the portion of the executive order that prohibits Internet operators from providing services.
So far, the court has suspended the executive order issued by Trump invoking the “International Emergency Economic Energy Act.” However, the US Department of Justice has filed an appeal against the court order and the lawsuit will continue.
Image source,EPA
ByteDance acquired the Musical.ly platform in 2018, closed it down, and began the global expansion of TikTok.
The crisis has not been eliminated, where is the second ban?
However, TikTok also faces the threat of Trump’s second ban.
The second ban was issued on August 14, based on the recommendations of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). The ban requires Bytedance to ditch TikTok within 90 days, and the expiration date is also this Thursday (November 12).
In 2017, ByteDance acquired Musical.ly, a US-registered short video sharing app with a Chinese background, and merged with its own overseas version of TikTok (TikTok) to aggressively enter the North American market.
This move allowed TikTok to obtain a large amount of US user information owned by Musical.ly. In October of last year, Republican Senator Rubio and Democratic Senator Schumer requested a review of the acquisition. In November of last year, CFIUS decided to open a review of TikTok’s acquisition of Musical.ly. Until August 14 of this year, Trump issued an executive order to sell TikTok based on CFIUS recommendations.
Controversially, Musical.ly acquired by TikTok was originally a China-backed company. In 2014, Shanghai Xuewen Network Technology Co., Ltd. registered its subsidiary Musical.ly Inc. in the United States to operate short video services.
Image source,Reuters
The threat facing TikTok in the US market has not been completely eliminated.
Analysts once believed that the two companies are of Chinese origin and that the short video business does not involve national security, which may have led to the decision not to testify to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). . This put hidden dangers up for later review.
In response to the court order, TikTok also chose to go to court. On November 10, TikTok challenged Trump’s executive order to divest his business in the United States in the Washington, DC Court of Appeals.
“Due to the constant receipt of new requests, and it is not yet clear whether the solution we proposed can be accepted, we requested that the administrative order be postponed for 30 days, which was also expressly allowed in the administrative order of August 14.” . TikTok said in a statement: “Because it has not spread, we have no choice but to appeal to defend our rights.”
The US Treasury Department stated later Wednesday that it is still working hard to come up with a solution to the national security risks posed by Bytedance’s acquisition of Musical.ly, saying: “We have clearly established the necessary steps to resolve this issue with Bytedance. . “
TikTok immediately released a statement saying, “We remain committed to continuing to collaborate with CFIUS and we look forward to reaching a plan that can solve their security issues, even if we disagree with them.”
Although TikTok has suffered a lot of setbacks in the United States, its operations in China are quite optimistic.
Reuters quoted two people familiar with the matter as saying that TikTok’s parent company ByteDance is expected to generate at least 180 billion yuan in total ad revenue in China this year, consolidating its second position in the digital advertising market. Chinese. The well-known overseas TikTok currently accounts for only a small part of its advertising revenue.
