United States, countdown to U.S. band on TikTok platform underway

teleSUR English

*Company that owns TikTok appeals to First Amendment of the constitution in view of the risks of prohibition *Experts says TikTok ban attempts is due to Facebook's falling popularity *TikTok price is estimated to be around $35 billion without the addictive algorithm *Possible closure of TikTok would affect some 170 million users

Transcript

00:00Also in the U.S., President Joe Biden signed a law in April that would block TikTok in

00:05the country under accusations of espionage, but the owners of the well-known app filed

00:10a legal dispute that is about to come to an end.

00:12Our correspondent Henrique Cabello with the details.

00:17The countdown to the U.S. ban on the TikTok platform is already underway.

00:22The reasons?

00:23An apparent danger to national security.

00:29Some Republican members have joined that Democrat effort to somehow, number one, shut

00:34down the platform or eliminate it entirely from the United States of America, or number

00:39two, force its owners to sell it and have it bought out, to be bought by purely American

00:43capital.

00:46However, the strategy of the company ByteDance, owner of TikTok with Chinese shares, would

00:54be to appeal to the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, that is, to the right of

00:59its citizens to free speech, something that users of this platform believe would be hindering

01:04them from being eliminated.

01:09In the sense of watching, of seeing the news, which is what is trending, well, one says

01:14they are restricting my freedom, my freedom to communicate, my freedom to inform myself.

01:24According to experts, behind the attempted elimination or sale of TikTok would be the

01:28fall in popularity of Facebook, since, according to a report by We Are Social, this application

01:34would have had a loss of users of 89 million accounts in the last year and Instagram of

01:39about 54 million, respectively.

01:45Obviously, TikTok's booty is very appetizing.

01:50We are talking about a company that has grown a lot in just a few years, becoming the preferred

01:54platform of the young Generation Z, and also of some millennials.

02:00In fact, it has replaced in that demographic sector the Instagram platform that belongs

02:05to Zuckerberg, the owner of Meta.

02:13The company ByteDance, owner of TikTok, has said that if it were to sell the application,

02:19it would be without the ultra-addictive algorithm, which makes young people not stop using the

02:23app under these conditions.

02:25It is estimated that the price of TikTok would be around $35 billion.

02:29However, Mark Zuckerberg would not be able to participate in the purchase of TikTok due

02:34to a conflict of interest.

02:38At the end of the day, what they want is control and power.

02:47And if they manage to eliminate TikTok, and if they manage to acquire TikTok, literally

02:52confiscated from its legitimate and original owners, they will be getting away with it.

02:58The possible closure of TikTok would affect some 170 million users, many of whom generate

03:06their livelihoods through the app.

03:08The Supreme Court is expected to issue a final decision on January 19.

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