Georgia Wells
Appearances
The Journal.
Wait… Was That the TikTok Ban?
Trump was never that explicit publicly with what his rationale was, but people who worked with Trump on this ban said that their concerns came down to two. There was this concern that the Chinese government could lean on TikTok's parent company for U.S. user data.
The Journal.
Wait… Was That the TikTok Ban?
And so, for example, you could see the Chinese government having a list of people's interests or their contact list or who they interact with on TikTok. The other concern is propaganda. So U.S. officials have been concerned that the Chinese government could lean on ByteDance to put their thumb on the scale for the content that served to U.S. users.
The Journal.
Wait… Was That the TikTok Ban?
The president signed that executive order to delay the ban on TikTok for 75 days in hopes of giving the app's Chinese owner enough time to sell off its U.S. assets.
The Journal.
Wait… Was That the TikTok Ban?
So you could, you know, imagine content that kind of encourages the divisions of U.S. voters ahead of a pivotal election or something like that.
The Journal.
Wait… Was That the TikTok Ban?
It's a little bit of a tricky stance for a Chinese company or a company owned by a Chinese company to take, though, because when the Chinese government asks companies for something, the Chinese government tends to get what it wants.
The Journal.
Wait… Was That the TikTok Ban?
So he issued these executive orders about attempting to ban TikTok, and Trump also tried to orchestrate a U.S. deal to buy TikTok. His legal efforts just didn't stand up in court. And then any potential deals were thwarted by the Chinese government.
The Journal.
Wait… Was That the TikTok Ban?
So the algorithm that fuels TikTok is largely based or largely worked on and created in China. And so a certain amount of data continued to flow back to China in order to kind of provide some level of feedback for this algorithm. Then since then, it came out that These issues were one of the factors that kind of were weighing on U.S.
The Journal.
Wait… Was That the TikTok Ban?
officials who were considering this proposal at the time as will Project Texas kind of satisfy our concerns. And for many of those officials, the answer was no.
The Journal.
Wait… Was That the TikTok Ban?
It suddenly mobilizes a chunk of U.S. lawmakers who, while China national security concerns weren't necessarily top of mind, the U.S. relationship with Israel was top of mind for many of them. And the reason this came up was because on the TikTok app, there were more pro-Palestinian videos than pro-Israel videos on the app. And many of the pro-Palestinian videos went quite viral.
The Journal.
Wait… Was That the TikTok Ban?
There were analyses that third-party data scientists did that showed the views that these pro-Palestinian videos were getting were receiving far, far more views than the views that the pro-Israel videos were getting. There's no evidence that TikTok was putting their thumb on the scale to influence in any way the, like, ratio of pro-Palestinian versus pro-Israel content on the app.
The Journal.
Wait… Was That the TikTok Ban?
But this nonetheless kind of activated... a certain group of lawmakers in the U.S. who hadn't really paid much attention to TikTok before. So after this moment, Republican Mike Gallagher and others in Congress really pushed through this law around forcing a divestiture of TikTok or a ban. So a divestiture would mean that ByteDance would need to sell TikTok or TikTok could not continue to operate.
The Journal.
Wait… Was That the TikTok Ban?
This has been utter whiplash. That Trump, in his first term, the president who tried to ban or take away TikTok in this country... is now the person who's spearheading an attempt to bring it back. So much so that in the push alert to users, TikTok thanks President Trump for his work on this.
The Journal.
Wait… Was That the TikTok Ban?
And that timing was soon after he had met with Jeff Yaz of Susquehanna. Susquehanna is a major investor in ByteDance, TikTok's owner. So we don't know exactly what occurred in that meeting, but he left that meeting with this person who has a lot of money riding in ByteDance and then says, we don't want TikTok going away.
The Journal.
Wait… Was That the TikTok Ban?
Here comes the deadline, the deal's not done yet, and all the politicians are kind of like, uh... Right, when it takes time for someone to own this bipartisan law, no one's wanting to own it.
The Journal.
Wait… Was That the TikTok Ban?
So the law still remains on the books. And if you kind of try and get into the head of the general counsels at Oracle or at Apple or at Google, per the letter of the law, they could face fines of up to $5,000 a user a day for not being in compliance with this law.
The Journal.
Wait… Was That the TikTok Ban?
And so even though the Biden administration has said they're not going to enforce it and Trump is sending all these signals, the app still goes dark because that's just like, that's a level of legal liability that the companies don't want to face.
The Journal.
Wait… Was That the TikTok Ban?
TikTok is back, baby! Oh my goodness! This is so cool. I feel so grateful. I love you all so much. And I'm just excited to be posting again on TikTok.
The Journal.
Wait… Was That the TikTok Ban?
So we see TikTok, like, attempting to kind of hand Trump a political win in this moment in time. And it's unclear whether Trump's efforts right now will ultimately save TikTok in this country. But nonetheless, we see TikTok kind of casting him as this hero to their users.
The Journal.
Wait… Was That the TikTok Ban?
So the executive order Trump signed kind of gives TikTok an additional 75 days before the enforcement of a ban. But legal experts say it's sort of unclear whether an executive order can like actually override this law.
The Journal.
Wait… Was That the TikTok Ban?
So this is a company that has been facing the prospect of a ban for years. and seems to have potentially shifted the tide on this ban attempt, but it's not done. We are very much still in a wait-and-see. TikTok still has this law hanging over its head. It has a brief reprieve, but this is not done for TikTok.
The Journal.
Wait… Was That the TikTok Ban?
That's the big question. Legal experts right now who I've spoken with are scratching their heads. So we're going to have to see how this plays out.
The Journal.
Wait… Was That the TikTok Ban?
Trump has said he'd want a 50-50 kind of U.S.-China split for TikTok, which seems to be lowering the bar from what previously lawmakers had been asking for. It's kind of interesting because ByteDance is already 60% owned by global institutional investors like BlackRock and General Atlantic and Susquehanna. So the 50-50 split for TikTok does not seem that hard.
The Journal.
Wait… Was That the TikTok Ban?
What's going to happen next? TikTok, more than any company I've ever covered, TikTok is the company where like, if I could look into a crystal ball and see what's going to happen, I'm like very impatient and very curious because... I just I keep on getting whiplash like it's going to get banned. It's not going to get banned. Trump wants it banned. Now he doesn't want it banned.
The Journal.
Wait… Was That the TikTok Ban?
It looks like we've got the political momentum to achieve some sort of deal. This law is not going away. And so how are they going to satisfy this law and how is TikTok going to kind of work itself out of this one?
The Journal.
Wait… Was That the TikTok Ban?
I mean, TikTok has been just like a fascinating way to view the U.S.-Chinese relationship over the years. Like, there's never been a company that's been more kind of successful, at least on like a consumer tech level, that's been caught in the crosshairs between these two countries. And...
The Journal.
Wait… Was That the TikTok Ban?
Like, it seems like we're at this moment in time, like you're saying, where TikTok has become too beloved by too many American teenagers and older people too for it just to disappear.