The American president, Joe Bidencould enact legislation this Wednesday to force the Chinese ByteDance to sell TikTok to an American investor or leave the country, something that could take a year and be frustrated if the technology giant, with 170 million users in the country, decides go to court.
The measure to force the sale of TikTok is contained in a package of more than $95 billion in assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan that the Senate sent to the White House for enactment.
The legislation, which had bipartisan support in Congress, gives ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, a period of 270 days to sell, but indicates that the president can extend the period up to one year.
Both members of Congress and officials in the Government of Biden have expressed their concern that the Chinese Executive could obtain from ByteDance information about users in the United States and use their influence over public opinion by manipulating what users see in the application.
The dispute will probably go to court since ByteDance has indicated that the legislation violates the rights of the first amendment of the United States Constitution, according to which Congress shall make no laws restricting freedom of expression.
The appeal of the courts has already given good results for TikTok when, in December 2020, then-President Donald Trump attempted to ban the platform and a federal judge in Washington blocked the move.
In November 2023, a federal judge in Montana blocked a state law banning TikTok stating that “It is unconstitutional and probably violates the first amendment.”
“We are giving an option here“said Senator Maria Cantwell, Democrat of Washington and chair of the Commerce Committee, during the debate. ““The option to enhance this platform and have the opportunity to assure Americans that they are not being manipulated by our foreign adversaries.”
Until now TikTok and ByteDance have indicated that they have no intention of selling the company and, in a recent statement, stated that “The platform contributes US$24 billion annually to the United States economy.”
60% of the shares of ByteDance is held by global institutional investors such as Blackrock, General Atlantic and Susquehanna Group International, another 20% is held by the company’s founders, and 20% is owned by employees, including more than 7,000 Americans.
On your platform TikTok states that “is not owned or controlled by any government or state entity”.
Steven Mnuchin, who was Treasury Secretary in the Trump administration, has said he is interested in buying TikTok and was looking for other investors to make an offer.
Dan Ives, managing director of Wedbush Securities, has said that the application could be worth more than $100 billion if the application’s algorithm is included in the sale.
Source: Gestion
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