TikTok has managed to come to an agreement that would prevent a ban in the United States. A deal has been reached just one day shy of the deadline set by the previous United States President Donald Trump.
The agreement, as confirmed by the company and the US officials puts an end to the months of uncertainty surrounding TikTok’s presence in its biggest overseas marketplace.
It came as a result of the sustained pressure from the United States over the security issues concerning TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, a firm based in China.
Under the agreement TikTok will continue its operations in the US while the new framework is being implemented.
This agreement comes in response to the longstanding fear expressed by American lawmakers that the data accessed on TikTok can be accessed by the Communist regime. This fear has always been denied by TikTok.
Trump also set a deadline for TikTok to sign a deal good enough for Trump to lift an outright ban under powers he campaigned on during his term in office.
Although enforcement of these steps was halted as could be expected under later administrations the deadline continues to be referenced in negotiations regarding the status of the application.
This highlights the narrow escape TikTok made in its bid to gain traction in the American market.
Experts say an outright ban in the US will have far reaching consequences not just for the over 150 million users of the social media app in the country but also for the advertisers and businesses who will be affected in light of the ban.
For TikTok, the US represents a key growing market in addition to being a key revenue stream for Byte Dance.
A loss would have created more pressure on Byte Dance as global regulators are already taking a closer look at the bigger technology companies in the world.
The agreement would likely remain under congressional scrutiny as scepticism over the Chinese social media platform appears to be a bipartisan concern.
There are concerns that the agreement has to be a functional and transparent one as lawmakers said the company has not taken measures far enough.
This development was closely being monitored by the Australian government which also happens to be a key ally with the United States.
We need to understand that the Australian government has already gone on record prohibiting the usage of TikTok on their government devices.
The decision also underscores the growing role of geopolitics in technology policy.
Ongoing tension between the US and Chinese governments continues to put companies active in both jurisdictions in the position of being caught between the two.
Although the US has avoided the outright ban of TikTok the long term future of TikTok usage in the US is still questionable.
Although a temporary stay has bought the social media site lots of time the ongoing debate regarding the future of the US China deal has not come to an end.
