Is the clock ticking for TikTok?

As someone from the boomer generation, I continue to be surprised and amused at the growing role social media plays in modern discourse. Younger generations can’t seem to go more than a few minutes without it. Two of the media giants in the field are TikTok and Twitter, neither of which I use directly, which may make me unqualified to discuss them, but I’m going to forge ahead anyway, but with respect to just one of the many issues both raise: their implications for U.S. national security.

TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company, but its status has been under review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) for several years because of its 2018 merger with Musical.ly, a transaction CFIUS could unwind if it concludes there is a threat to our national security. The Trump administration attempted to ban TikTok, which the courts prevented, or force its sale to a U.S. company. The Biden administration is not pursuing a ban, but rumors of a possible sale continue to pop up, followed by denials. It seems that nobody who actually knows anything is talking.

CFIUS considers whether an investment would constitute a threat to U.S. national security. Superficially, it is hard to see how teenage dance videos and other entertainment content would be a security threat, but as is usually the case with media acquisitions or mergers, the issue involves data the company obtains, where it is stored and who can access it.