TikTok has sucked up countless hours of teenagers’ lives. But it has kept plenty of politicians awake past their bedtime, too. Ever since the short-video app launched nearly a decade ago, Western governments have suspected it of being a tool of the Chinese Communist Party. In 2020, during his first presidential term, Donald Trump declared a national emergency as he tried unsuccessfully to outlaw TikTok, claiming that it was stealing users’ data and feeding them propaganda. Four years later, under Joe Biden, a big bipartisan majority of Congress passed a bill compelling the app to separate from its Chinese owner or else be banned. After the Supreme Court upheld that law last year, TikTok’s days in its largest market looked numbered.
Twelve months later, against the odds—and against the law—TikTok is still ticking over in America. One of Mr Trump’s first acts on returning to power last January was to order officials not to enforce the ban for 75 days, a period he has extended again and again. Now the app increasingly looks set to stay. TikTok’s boss told staff before Christmas that a deal had been struck to transfer ownership of its American operations to a group of mainly American investors, and that the transaction would close on January 22nd. As we published this, it was far from certain whether the latest deadline would be met. But a resolution appears close. Years of drama seem to be heading for a surprisingly low-key ending.
