The US lawmakers requested outgoing President Joe Biden to extend a January 19 deadline for ByteDance to sell the Americans assets of TikTok or face a prohibition.
The Supreme Court reviewed TikTok and ByteDance’s legal challenge to the legislation on Friday. Their legal representative, Noel Francisco, indicated that completing a sale within the next week would be unfeasible, reported Reuters.
Francisco warned that a ban would result in immediate darkness for the platform, which serves 170 million American users, effectively terminating its operations.
Biden could grant a 90-day extension if ByteDance demonstrates significant progress towards divestiture but it is unlikely that companyb could satisfy these requirements.
Senator Edward Markey announced plans to propose legislation extending ByteDance’s deadline by 270 days. “A ban would dismantle a one-of-a-kind informational and cultural ecosystem, silencing millions in the process,” Markey stated on Monday.
“A TikTok ban would impose serious consequences on millions of Americans who depend on the app for social connections and their economic livelihood. We cannot allow that to happen.”
President-elect Donald Trump has requested the court to postpone the law’s implementation, stating he needs time after his January 20 inauguration to seek a “political resolution.”
American content creators switching platforms
As the tension over Tik Tok ban looms, several American content creators have started opting for another Chinese social media app.
Xiaohongshu, known as Red Note in English, surged to the top of the Apple App Store downloads on Monday, as users flocked to its Instagram-meets-Pinterest style layout.
“Oh, you don’t want the Chinese to have our very sensitive personal data?” influencer Jen Hamilton asked sarcastically in a video sent to her 3.9 million followers on TikTok, advertising her move, AFP reported.
“It is impossible how little I care that the Chinese (have) my data,” she said in her video, sharing a joke about a user that “changed their username to their social security number” so alleged spies could “get promoted faster.”
“Come on over,” she said to her fellow “TikTok refugees.”
It all started last year when the US government passed a law forcing ByteDance to either sell TikTok or shut it down.
The US government has alleged TikTok allows Beijing to collect data and spy on users and is a conduit to spread propaganda. However, China and ByteDance strongly denied the claims.
