American users of TikTok – and the rest of us who love and save their content – can breathe a sigh of relief. TikTok lives to die another day in the USA.
An agreement between TikTok owners, ByteDance and the USA has reportedly been reached. It will see TikTok's American platform and assets transferred to USA owners, a condition of continued operation in the USA. The deal was reached just ahead of the original deadline to sell or shutdown – 17 September. Although, the deadline was later extended to 16 December.
This extension to the deadline gives ByteDance the time it needs to finalise the transfer of its American operations to a US owner. As part of the deal, the American owner will need to have an American-dominated board and also a member designated by the US Government. These requirements have come in response to concerns that American user information may be accessed by the Chinese Government.
TikTok currently have 170 million users in America, so this new deal is an important one for the vibrancy of the platform as a whole. While TikTok might seem like nothing more than a breeding ground for viral dances, impossibly niche jokes, and beauty trends, US users grappled with just how important it is to them after the app was banned for around 14 hours earlier this year.
After talks of potential restrictions on the app for months, the social media giant officially stopping operations in the US on 19 January 2025, after the Supreme Court failed to stop or delay the law mandating its sale by ByteDance. After less than 24 hours of the ban coming into effect, however, President Donald Trump reversed it, with US users flooding back to TikTok.
Now, it looks like the app could be here to stay for good. This most recent news comes after President Trump told Fox News that a group of “very wealthy people” are looking to buy the app, after the deadline for the app's sale was extended for a third time to September 2025.
So what does it all mean? Everything you need to know about a potential ban of TikTok in the US, below.
What would a US-only TikTok look like?
While details are scant, the latest is that a sale of TikTok (from Chinese-owned parent company Byte Dance) is imminent. Previously we were told it would involve the launch of a new platform, designed for use in the US. It's still unclear if this is the case.
It's is also not clear as to how this new app would interact with TikTok in its current form, including whether US users would be able to interact with TikTok accounts from other countries.
Why does America want to ban TikTok?
It's all got to do with the app's parent company, Chinese-owned ByteDance. Back in April, President Joe Biden signed a bill into law that requires ByteDance to sell the social media app’s US operations or face a ban. The forced sale is based on fears that the Chinese government could enlist ByteDance to hand over data from TikTok's 170 million US users.
It's not the first time the US government have attempted to rid TikTok from American phones. Previously, they've tried to block the app based on national security grounds, however this failed. Donald Trump also attempted to ban the app in 2020 when he was in office.
So, will the US ban TikTok?
When Donald Trump entered office on January 20, he promised to extend the deadline for ByteDance to sell the app. So far, Trump has stayed true to his word, although the first extension happened only after the TikTok ban had officially come into effect, with US users receiving a pop-up message when they tried to open the app for around 14 hours. It was also removed from the app store, to prevent new users from downloading it.
When would a new TikTok ban come into effect?
Initially, the legislation that passed in April 2024 gave ByteDance nine months to sell TikTok to a new buyer. This meant TikTok was either forced to sell or shut down in the US by 19 January 2025.
TikTok attempted to argue this ruling in federal court, however the U.S. Court of Appeals and the US Supreme Court have upheld the federal government’s law requiring the app to divest from Chinese parent company ByteDance.
Trump then signed an executive order delaying the TikTok ban until at least 19 June, 2025.
“My administration has been working very hard on a deal to save TikTok, and we have made tremendous progress,” Trump said about the extension. “The deal requires more work to ensure all necessary approvals are signed, which is why I am signing an executive order to keep TikTok up and running for an additional 75 days.”
Since then, Trump has extended the ban three times, delaying it until September 2025. It has now been extended again to 16 December to allow for the transfer of assets.
Could Australia follow suit?
There is potential for a US TikTok ban to inspire other countries to follow suit.
The Australian government is yet to take a firm stance, however in March 2024, the Coalition called for Australia to follow the US, and instate a ban over Chinese interference concerns.
Currently, TikTok is banned in India (as of June 2020), and is blocked in Iran, Nepal, Afghanistan and Somalia. In the UK and Europe, government and parliamentary workers are banned from using TikTok on their work devices.
Feature image: Pinterest
