文| Alexandra S. Levine, Emily Baker-White
The Biden administration says it wants to spin off TikTok, not ban it, but the challenges of separating it from China-based parent company ByteDance could make a ban inevitable.
图片来源：ILLUSTRATION BY FERNANDO CAPETO FOR FORBES
On Wednesday, U.S. President Joe Biden signed a bill that would force Chinese social media giant ByteDance to sell its crown jewel, TikTok. Failure to do so would have the app banned in the United States — an unprecedented move and the first time the United States has banned a social media app owned by a foreign company.
Biden and the White House stressed that banning TikTok is not the intent of this legislation, on the contrary, they simply want the app to continue operating in the United States under a new American owner. (Case in point: Biden's campaign recently joined TikTok and plans to continue using it to attract voters.) ）
But a consensus is beginning to emerge that it is nearly impossible to strip TikTok from ByteDance. Forbes' coverage of the platform, which has 170 million U.S. users, has also repeatedly shown how closely the two companies are entangled. Today, most of TikTok's features run on ByteDance's tools — such as ByteDance's own versions of Microsoft Office, G Suite, Salesforce, etc., which were developed by Chinese engineers years ago. This gives employees in both the U.S. and China broad access to sensitive information about TikTok U.S. users, TikTok creators, TikTok advertisers, and celebrities, government officials, and other public figures on the app. Some employees also described a wide overlap between the two companies.
"There is no doubt that ByteDance and TikTok are the same company," Joel Carter, a former TikTok employee who was wrongfully fired last August, said in an interview with Forbes. "From your first day on the job — from office documents, products, systems, processes, office signage, even your pay stubs — it's clear that you're a ByteDance employee. ”
And one of the arguments TikTok has been making is that the purpose of the new law isn't actually to achieve divestitures.
On Wednesday, after Biden passed the law, TikTok CEO Zhou Shouzi posted a widely circulated video on the platform in which he said, "There's no doubt that this is a ban — a ban on TikTok, a ban on you and your voice." Politicians may have different narratives, but don't be fooled by them. Many supporters of the bill have acknowledged that banning TikTok is their ultimate goal. ”
"But rest assured, we're not going anywhere," he added. "We are confident and will continue to fight for your rights in court. The facts and the constitution are on our side. ”
Biden's passage of the bill against TikTok represents the end of a chapter (although it is attached to a broader package of foreign aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan), but also the beginning of the next: a protracted legal battle surrounding the future of the popular app.
"This is the beginning, not the end, of this long process," Michael Beckerman, TikTok's top policy chief for the Americas, wrote in an internal memo obtained by Forbes on Saturday. (The sign next to his name reads, "Keep Calm, Aim High.") He called the bill "unconstitutional" and "unprecedented."
"At the stage when the bill is signed, we will file a legal challenge with the courts," the executive told employees. We will continue to fight because this legislation clearly violates the First Amendment, violates the rights of 170 million Americans on TikTok, and will have devastating consequences for the 7 million small businesses that use TikTok to reach new customers, sell products, and create new jobs. Let's work together to stay calm and focus on business. ”
TikTok executives reiterated those remarks at the global all-hands meeting on Wednesday. According to internal communications obtained by Forbes, Andy Bonillo, TikTok's head of U.S. data security, also sent a message saying, "I know the news about the passage of TikTok's 'ban' bill today is disappointing, but the work of the U.S. Department of Digital Services (USDS) remains front and center of the company's trust-building strategy," "Our work is unwavering, and our mission is vital." In a separate report by Suzy Loftus, TikTok's head of trust and safety in the United States, she told employees: "The next phase of the company's growth will require us to show perseverance...... I want you to know how proud I am of our team, our work, and that we're on the right side of history. ”
Ken Glueck, Oracle's executive vice president, told Forbes that the debate over whether TikTok could be divested could be long and could eventually bring the U.S. back to the beginning of the problem. (Oracle has been working with TikTok on Project Texas, a $1.5 billion project that promises to divest TikTok's U.S. and China operations to address the app's privacy, data protection and national security concerns.) ）
"First of all, it's a legal issue," Mr. Gluck said by phone on Wednesday. "Once you've got a clear idea of the legal issues — which might be clear in a fairly short period of time, or maybe a little bit longer — then you move on to the next step, which is, is the divestiture viable? The question is going to be, what happens if you don't divest the partner? I think that's probably going to make the whole thing go round and round. Asked if the future of Oracle's relationship with TikTok is at stake, or how the upcoming ban might change the nature of Oracle's partnership with TikTok, Gluck replied, "I don't know," and said Oracle doesn't presuppose a position on what its partners should do.
Glenn Gerstell, a former general counsel at the National Security Agency, said that while China and TikTok pose a potential national security threat, the law passed by the White House and Congress is "very bad public policy" that could be the focus of a Supreme Court trial, and that the divestiture it calls for is "economically unrealistic." (Rumor has it that six potential buyers are interested in TikTok, but none have gained substantial attention.) ）
Göstel told Forbes: "It's not feasible to take the U.S. part of TikTok and sell it to someone else. China will never allow TikTok's algorithm — the sophisticated app that has become the world's most popular app in just two years — to have a new, non-Chinese owner...... This will completely kill the value of the rest of it. It's completely economically unreasonable, and no one in the U.S. would buy TikTok without such an algorithm. ”
He added: "It's the things that make it valuable. ”
There is also a burning question about whether the TikTok ban will have the desired effect that U.S. leaders have hoped: Forbes reports that TikTok and ByteDance still have extensive access to the sensitive data of many of the 150 million Indian citizens who used the app, years after India banned TikTok in 2020.
TikTok has begun to use its large user base to fight the ban. On Wednesday, 1 million #savetiktok和#keeptiktok标签的帖子 using #tiktokban appeared on the app, with users lashing out at lawmakers and threatening to withdraw votes from Biden. In an internal memo sent to employees on Saturday, Beckman emphasized the importance of "demonstrating the solidarity and support of video creators for TikTok within the app and in calls with elected officials." Posts from some of the top creators he inserted in his memes also appeared at the top of the results for users searching for #tiktokban.
Other creators have pointed out that the Biden campaign's decision to stay on TikTok and enlist creators' viewers to help the president get re-elected seems to reveal hypocrisy. "Joe Biden is signing a bill to ban the TikTok app, but at the same time, his team wants to work with TikTok creators to get votes for the next election?" Video creator Lauren Ashley Beck said in a video with an expression of disbelief. "If you do that, you're already losing. ”
译自https：//www.forbes.com/sites/alexandralevine/2024/04/25/tiktok-ban-bill-bytedance-divest-china-biden/?sh=13396ec255d7