In this file photo taken on April 13, 2020, the social media application TikTok logo is displayed on the screen of an iPhone in Arlington, Virginia Former Disney executive Kevin Mayer will become the head of TikTok and chief operating officer of the popular video app's parent company, the group announced on May 18, 2020.WASHINGTON, United States — The bill signed by President Joe Biden gives TikTok 270 days to find a non-Chinese buyer or face a ban in the United states.
Still, the Trump administration tried to broker a deal in which data server firm Oracle and supermarket giant Walmart would buy a joint stake in TikTok, but those negotiations went nowhere. Big tech's usual suspects, such as Meta or YouTube’s Google, will likely be barred from snapping up TikTok over antitrust concerns. They already command too much of the social media market.
Starting around that time, TikTok would no longer be available on the US Apple or Android app stores and, crucially, software updates and bug fixes would no longer take place. Fears are also rife that an alarming precedent is being set and that other Chinese companies will face a similar fate in the future.The clear winners from an eventual ban of TikTok would be Meta and Google, which have launched their own copycats of TikTok: Meta’s Reels and YouTube Shorts.