“Popular Social Media Platform’s Sneaky Maneuver”
By Kanishka Singh and Jasper Ward
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – In a strategic move, TikTok announced on Friday that it is granting U.S. Android users the ability to download and access the short video app through package kits on its website. This initiative aims to bypass restrictions placed on the platform within the country.
Following the implementation of a U.S. law on January 19, which mandated TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance to either sell the platform due to national security concerns or risk a ban, both Apple and Google have not reinstated TikTok on their app stores.
President Donald Trump, who assumed office the day after the law came into effect, issued an executive order to postpone the law’s enforcement by 75 days. Trump mentioned ongoing discussions regarding the potential purchase of TikTok and indicated that a decision about the app’s future is likely to be made this month, given its 170 million American users.
Further, Trump signed another executive order on Monday calling for the establishment of a sovereign wealth fund within the next year, suggesting that it could potentially acquire TikTok. Concerns have been raised by U.S. officials about the risk of Americans’ data being mishandled under ByteDance’s ownership.
Advocates for free speech have voiced opposition to TikTok’s ban under the law, which was heavily supported by Congress and approved by then-President Joe Biden. TikTok has refuted U.S. officials’ claims about its connections to China, asserting that its content recommendation engine and user data are stored in the United States on cloud servers managed by Oracle. Additionally, content moderation decisions impacting American users are also made within the United States.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh and Jasper Ward in Washington; Editing by Sam Holmes and William Mallard)
