TikTok, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, is facing a ban in the United States. What happens next will have major repercussions for the global technology competition between China and the United States and could set the tone for incoming U.S. President Donald Trump's relationship with Beijing.
The popular video platform is China’s first global app and has outperformed U.S.-owned rivals such as Instagram, Facebook, or X. The issue of Chinese ownership is what put TikTok in the crosshairs of the U.S. Congress, which passed a law in April 2024 over national security concerns, including the spread of misinformation and espionage. The law called for ByteDance to sell the app by January 19 or face a ban.
While critics of the ban say similar data and privacy concerns exist for U.S. social media platforms, the issue of Chinese ownership adds a new dimension.
Cybersecurity firms have suggested that the app is capable of collecting user data beyond what content they view on TikTok, and China enacted a law in 2017 that compels Chinese nationals living abroad to cooperate with its intelligence apparatus.
In 2023, a British journalist had her data and location tracked by TikTok employees in China and the United States. U.S. court filings from a former ByteDance employee also outlined how the Chinese Communist Party accessed company data to spy on pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong in 2018.
Hacking, Spying Concerns
All of this comes amid heightened tensions between Beijing and Washington, as well as rising concerns over Chinese espionage and hacking in the United States.
Trump has indicated he is against the ban, after initially supporting the move, and said on January 17 that his decision on TikTok "will be made in the not too distant future." He also revealed he had spoken to Chinese leader Xi Jinping and discussed TikTok, among other issues.
Trump's last presidential term between 2016-2020 was characterized by being tough on China and targeting Chinese companies at home and abroad, from 5G telecommunications infrastructure to surveillance camera firms, against the backdrop of a deepening technology race between Beijing and Washington.
TikTok is the international version of ByteDance’s Douyin, which serves markets in Hong Kong and China and adheres to Beijing’s strict censorship apparatus. While also a successful business, its popularity and influence has been a global boost for Beijing. ByteDance’s unwillingness to divest ownership also shows both the value placed on its proprietary algorithm and on TikTok remaining a Chinese company.
How Trump approaches a potential ban could be an early bellwether for how he will approach relations with China and the type of dynamic he will develop with Xi.
