"By the time President Trump returned to office earlier this year, TikTok's fate should have been sealed. Congress had passed, and President Biden had signed, a law requiring the app to be banned or sold by the day before Inauguration Day. But Trump announced he would effectively pause the law. Instead, he said he would "save" the app by brokering a belated sale."
"Now, Trump's attempt to make that sale has taken shape: Last week, the White House announced a plan for TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to license a copy of the app's algorithm to a consortium of investors, at least some of whom have been vocal supporters of Trump's political agenda. If the plan is finalized, TikTok's US business will fall into the hands of powerful Trump allies at a moment of unprecedented media consolidation."
"This excerpt from my book, Every Screen On the Planet: The War Over TikTok, traces one of the company's first and most prominent run-ins with Trump: an attempt by a group of young TikTokkers to prank the president and tank attendance at one of his campaign rallies. At the time, the stunt was largely dismissed as funny-but it also revealed how TikTok, and the people using it, could shape our politics in the years to come."
K-pop fans organized via TikTok requested tickets to Trump rallies in 2020 and purposely did not attend, drawing the president's attention. Congress passed and President Biden signed a law requiring the app to be banned or sold before Inauguration Day, but President Trump paused enforcement and sought a belated sale. The White House proposed that ByteDance license a copy of TikTok's algorithm to a consortium of investors, including vocal Trump supporters, which would transfer TikTok's U.S. business amid concentrated media ownership. That potential transfer threatens the platform's early culture and demonstrates how TikTok users can influence political events. Kevin Mayer, a former Disney executive, was recruited to lead TikTok.
Read at WIRED
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