If you don’t divest it, you will be banned. TikTok’s life and death moment: it will challenge the ban signed by Biden in court.

Daily reporter Wang Ziwei intern Su Yuyuan Editor Liu Xuemei US President Biden signed a series of US$95 billion foreign aid bills on the evening of April 24, Beijing time.
This includes the high-profile request for ByteDance to divest TikTok.
The TikTok bill signed by Biden requires ByteDance to divest TikTok within the next 9 months to a year, otherwise the application will be banned from the United States.
That night, Beijing time, TikTok quickly issued a statement on the X platform in response: \”This unconstitutional law is a TikTok ban, and we will challenge it in court.
We believe the facts and the law are clearly on our side and that ultimately we will prevail.
In fact, we have invested billions of dollars to secure U.S. data and protect our platforms from outside influence and manipulation.
This ban will destroy 7 million businesses and silence 170 million Americans.
As we continue to challenge this unconstitutional ban, we will continue to invest and innovate to ensure that TikTok remains a space where everyone can safely share their experiences and find joy and inspiration.
\”TikTok issued a statement on the X platform. Image source:
Immediately afterwards, Erich Andersen sent an internal memo stating that he resigned on his own initiative.
Industry insiders believe that TikTok’s situation is not optimistic.
Wang Jian, a professor at the School of International Economics and Trade at the University of International Business and Economics and director of the Department of International Business and Economic Cooperation, told the \”Daily Economic News\” reporter that the U.S. bill against TikTok this time is different from the \”encirclement and suppression\” of TikTok by Southeast Asian countries.
\”Southeast Asian countries are under pressure from local chambers of commerce, and they are considering it from a market perspective.
The reason in the United States has more to do with the influence of public opinion.
\”Wang Jian said.
Kuang Yuqing, the founder of Lens Consulting, told the reporter of \”Daily Economic News\” that this time the boots have finally landed.
He is a little pessimistic, because the previous ban was led by the government and there were lawsuits; but this time the ban is a bill passed by Congress.
These votes on the TikTok bill were all passed with overwhelming votes.
On March 13, the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee passed the “Protecting Americans from Applications Controlled by Foreign Adversaries Act” proposed by Representatives Mike Gallagher and Raja Krishnamurthy ( Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act), this bill was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives with an overwhelming majority (352 votes in favor, 65 votes against). Although the bill did not directly mention TikTok, Raja Krishna who proposed the bill Murthy focused on TikTok in his statement.
On April 20, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill against TikTok with an overwhelming vote of 360:58.
According to the bill, if TikTok fails to complete the divestiture within the specified time, its operations in the United States will be banned, and the divestment time will be up to 270 days, plus a 90-day buffer period after the president confirms the progress of the sale.
For TikTok, there are only two options left: either exit the market or sell its US business.
On April 23, local time, the Senate voted to pass a package of foreign aid bills worth US$95 billion. This bill also involves requiring ByteDance to divest TikTok.
\”This means that all political parties in the United States have almost reached a consensus on banning TikTok,\” Kuang Yuqing said. \”You can look at the issues packaged this time. The two parties have differences on minor issues, but no one dares to \’make mistakes\’ on these issues. Being confused\’, \’being confused\’ is basically political suicide.
\”After 2020, the United States\’ fear of TikTok began to increase.
The most pressure comes from Trump.
On August 7, 2020, Trump signed an executive order prohibiting any individuals and entities from conducting any transactions with ByteDance, the parent company of the Chinese application TikTok. The ban will be effective in 45 days (September 2020). 20th) to take effect.
In fact, TikTok has already done a series of work on personnel isolation and data migration.
On March 16, 2020, TikTok announced that it would stop using personnel in China to review overseas content and transfer these positions overseas.
In June 2022, TikTok successfully migrated the data information of its US users to Oracle\’s servers, thereby resolving US regulatory agencies\’ concerns about the application\’s data integrity.
Prior to this, user data was stored in TikTok’s data center in Virginia, USA, and backed up in Singapore.
On December 8, 2022, TikTok launched a new security plan under the supervision of national security agencies and announced the establishment of a trust and safety team in the United States to protect user data and privacy.
But such actions and statements still cannot be trusted.
Six days later (December 14 of that year), the U.S. Senate passed the \”Banning the Use of TikTok on Government Equipment\” bill.
The bill requires TikTok to be removed from the information devices of federal government agencies; on December 27, TikTok was banned from being used on the mobile devices of lawmakers and staff in the U.S. House of Representatives; on the 30th, a revised ban was issued, except for research purposes Restrict the use of TikTok on mobile devices by all federal government employees except for law enforcement and law enforcement purposes.
This time, after Biden signs this bill, there may be only time left for TikTok to turn around: ByteDance currently has 270 days left to divest US TikTok, otherwise TikTok will be banned in the United States.
If ByteDance is still in the divestment process before expiration, the next U.S. president will be able to authorize an additional 90-day extension.
Kuang Yuqing said that the divestment of TikTok will also be very difficult. \”There are also technical issues: US law orders it to sell, and Chinese law prohibits it from selling algorithm technology. What should I do? Algorithms are one of TikTok\’s core assets, and it is not easy. Separate it from the transaction, after all, this is not a physical asset, how to deal with it will be very difficult.\”
TikTok is banned, and the attitudes of American users are not consistent.
A young American woman posted a video on TikTok, imitating the honest speeches of congressmen and mocking why congressmen are afraid of TikTok. This video was widely circulated on social platforms at home and abroad.
A TikTok merchant interviewed by the \”Daily Economic News\” reporter also expressed dissatisfaction with this.
He said that he sells his own art works on TikTok, and more than 85% of his sales come from TikTok.
He believes that TikTok is the best platform to find art audiences and customers in a targeted manner.
If TikTok is banned, it will be difficult for him to find other alternative platforms.
Instagram is an alternative, but his fans on Instagram are only 1/10 of TikTok.
Image source: Interview screenshot TikTok is currently one of the most popular applications among American youth.
Data from Apptopia shows that since 2020, TikTok has been downloaded more in the United States every quarter than X, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, the country\’s major social media applications.
Not only that, TikTok’s user stickiness is also high.
Apptopia data shows that American users spend an average of more than 90 minutes on TikTok every day, surpassing YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat.
TikTok has always had full confidence in the US market.
In January this year, TikTok announced plans to expand its e-commerce business in the United States tenfold.
TikTok’s user base is growing rapidly, and its high user stickiness means that TikTok is a good business, and investors are highly optimistic about it.
In July 2020, the US media the Information reported that foreign capital, led by Sequoia and General Atlantic, was considering acquiring a majority stake in TikTok from ByteDance.
Rapid commercial progress may not be the main reason for its ban.
Wang Jian told the reporter of \”Daily Economic News\” that the ban of TikTok has little to do with commercial activities, but with the potential of public opinion it can bring.
\”The short video platform is not a pure e-commerce, it is mainly a social media that provides content.
TikTok has a high penetration rate in the United States and is very popular among users. It already has many opinion leaders, which means that the individual audience of this short video will have an impact on the public opinion of the United States.
\”Wang Jian said.