Here’s How TikTok Could Change for You If You Live in the US

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This was a tumultuous year and a half for Tiktok in the United States in April 2024, President Biden signed a law forcing the parent company of the application, Bytedance, to sell his majority participation in an American company, or to face a ban on the United States, and therefore, in January, the application became dark.

It was especially performative, however. Then, the president elected Trump had already assured Tiktok that his inbound administration would not apply the prohibition, as was the outgoing president Biden. As such, once Trump was sworn in, he signed an executive decree kicking Tiktok’s ban on the road. Trump continued to delay the application of the prohibition which, although legally doubtful, allowed the application to continue working as usual.

However, it seems that this wild ride is coming to an end. Trump signed an executive decree that opens the way to American participation in Tiktok on Thursday. Nothing is fixed in stone, but American companies like Oracle, as well as individuals like Larry Ellison (co-founder of Oracle) and Rupert Murdoch could be among the most recent owners of the application. Curiously, a non -American company, the MGX Investment Fund, based in Abu Dhabi, would also be involved. This joint venture would control the majority of the new American Tiktok, while Bytedance would control less than 20%.

Trump says that Chinese President Xi Jinping has accepted the agreement, although no Chinese representative was present at the signing of the order. Again, nothing is certain at this stage, but we can take a look at the first details to get an idea of ​​how a new tiktok “approved” in America would work in the United States

How would Tiktok change in the United States?

First of all: the application itself. It is very possible that you should completely download a new application to continue using Tiktok. This has been the subject of speculation for a few months now, but as the Washington Post reports, Tiktok engineers are working on an American version of the application. The new application will probably appear identical to the Tiktok experience that you already know and, in fact, could be accessible via a link in the current application. The message shows that the more difficult it is for users to access the new Tiktok application, the more the chances of leaving the platform entirely for alternatives like Instagram and YouTube, so Tiktok engineers will undoubtedly work on ways to make the transition as transparent as possible.

Then there is the famous algorithm. This is what makes Tiktok so addictive; The application algorithm is so good, it learns what you like and shows you content to scroll for hours. Without the algorithm, Tiktok could very well lose its addictive nature and, with it, its users. The post reports that, at least for the moment, the algorithm remains on site and will be rented by Bytedance by the new American adventure Tiktok. In addition, you should always be able to see international content in the future, not just videos published by Americans. Tiktok should, in theory, be as entertaining (and addictive) as ever.

But it is not the end of the story. According to Trump’s decree, the algorithm will be “recycled and monitored” by “confidence security partners” in the United States who do not necessarily inspire confidence in a neutral algorithm for Americans, especially since Trump says “100% Maga” if he could.

Finally, there is the question of user data. It was a major concern of the American government, and part of the reasons why Trump and Biden administrations continued the application. It was not without reason either, because we learned that Bytedance in fact stored the data of American users and had used it to obtain the IP addresses of American journalists. According to the decree, all user data from the American version of Tiktok will have to be stored in a cloud environment operated by an American company.

We have to see how bytedance and the Chinese government approach potential decree and divestment in the future, because things could change. For the moment, however, it seems that the two do not change, and everything will change. You can always scroll your flow constantly as you do now, but you may need to use a new version but identical to the application to do it. You can see the same content that you do now, or you can start to see new content, with suspicion aligned with the values ​​of the current administration. And your data will always be controlled by a faceless third party, but now it will be by your own country rather than by a foreign nation.