TikTok’s owner ByteDance is reportedly developing a separate version of the app for the United States to comply with U.S. law and avoid a full ban — a move that could reshape the platform’s core experience.
Jim Johnston, a partner in the Advertising + Marketing Practice Group at Davis+Gilbert, was quoted in CNN Business discussing ByteDance’s potential U.S. based app and the possibility of the sale of TikTok.
The creation of a new app and transferring user profiles and content could create technical and logistical challenges, which could make it harder for American users to see content from users in other countries. “All of that disruption could prompt some users to leave the app,” Jim said.
The potential sale of TikTok’s U.S. operations has had its own complications since the announcement of the ban. The report that TikTok is working on a new, U.S. app “certainly lends some credence to the President’s very brief comment that we’re close to a deal, which… was probably viewed by a number of people with some skepticism given how many times they’ve had to extend the deadline.” However, “the big issue has always been on the TikTok, Chinese side of this.”
What does all of this mean ‘For You’? Read the full CNN article below.