Social media platform TikTok, which has built its reputation by specializing in short video posts rather than images (like Instagram) or conversation threads (like X, formerly Twitter), is facing an uncertain future in this country.
President Biden signed a bipartisan bill in April that may force TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell to an American owner or face a ban. ByteDance is challenging the bill in court, but the current deadline is January 2025.
TikTok, with its U.S. offices in Culver City, has been one of the fastest growing social media platforms of recent times. Facebook remains firmly at number one, with 3,065 million monthly users as of April 2024, while Instagram gets around 2,000 million.
But TikTok, with 1,582 million, is well above X/Twitter (611 million). Considering it was only launched in 2016, it’s made impressive progress.
As reported by the News-Herald, TikTok president Shou Chew told users via a video last week that, “We will keep fighting for your rights in the courts. The facts and the Constitution are on our side and we expect to prevail.”
A lawsuit has since been filed on First Amendment grounds. While the aim of the bill was to restrict the ability of bad faith actors having undue influence on these shores, TikTok has introduced measures to combat that.
As reported by the Associated Press, new rules have been introduced “to limit the reach of state-affiliated media accounts that are attempting to exert influence abroad during a crucial election year.”
“The company, which started labeling state-affiliated media two years ago, announced in a statement Thursday that identified accounts attempting to ‘reach communities outside their home country on current global events and affairs’ will not appear on the main feed where users watch videos,” wrote the AP. “TikTok also said in the coming weeks, state-affiliated media accounts that advertise on the platform will no longer be allowed to do that outside of their home country.”
“I feel helpless,” fashion and beauty influencer Malvika Sheth was quoted in the News-Herald as saying. “As a creator, it feels like the ground is always moving underneath our feet. We’re constantly having to adapt our businesses to stay relevant on new apps. Whether TikTok is sold to a U.S. owner or is shut down, our businesses and strategies will inevitably be impacted.”
Even in the notoriously fickle social media world, this is a turbulent time for TikTok.
