Everything You Need to Know About Veto
Tic Tac for TikTok. Or, at least, to the control of TikTok in the United States by its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, As of yesterday, the company had 270 days to sell control of the video application to another company on US soil. Second option: Complete blockade of the country.
idea of the government headed by Joe Biden It is that the plan has been completed and somehow the connection between China and the application has been broken at the roots. But it won’t be easy, as TikTok doesn’t plan to simply comply with the administration’s wishes.
Will it really be 270 days?
Indeed, the law signed yesterday by Biden gives ByteDance 270 days to divest from TikTok in the United States. The margin can be extended by up to 90 days if the social network requests an extension and the White House accepts. But, perhaps, the results will have to wait a little longer; Since the application has announced that it intends to go to court to overturn the North American country’s veto.
“This unconstitutional law bans TikTok, and we will challenge it in court.” We believe the facts and the law are clearly on our side and ultimately, we will prevail,” said Show Zi Chew, CEO of the social network.
This move has already worked well for TikTok. Last year, when the state of Montana decided to ban the app in its jurisdiction, the company managed to block the measure in court. Several content creators even filed a lawsuit to block this measure.
“With the demand coming, it can be anticipated that the arrival of the ban will be extended and the 270-day period will be suspended,” Sergio Carrasco, a legal expert on digital matters, tells ABC.
Could it be banned in Spain?
Several Spanish cybersecurity experts consulted by this newspaper in recent months, some of whom are concerned with the country’s cyber defense, have expressed concerns about the social network’s ties to the Chinese Communist government. We must not forget that Beijing’s potential use of TikTok to polarize and misinform users has been one of the main reasons for the United States to threaten a veto.
Whatever the case, Spain, in particular, has not taken any steps aimed at banning TikTok. Unlike other neighboring countries, and in the EU itself, even officials can download the application on their official phones without any problems. And national content creators appreciate it.
And in the EU?
Obviously, if the application were to be vetoed at European level it would also be vetoed in Spain. Last February, the European Union launched an investigation into TikTok over fears that the tool could be dangerous or addictive to minors. This is all under the recent Digital Services Law, which could lead to applications receiving serious fines from Brussels and even being blocked in the entire Community area.
In any case, it seems unlikely that Europe will impose (or threaten to) impose a veto order; At least for the moment.
Will TikTok be sold?
Obviously, TikTok is not in the business of complying with the wishes of the United States and disinvesting in the country. The application is linked to the Texas Project, which plans to keep all the data of users based in the North American country out of the reach of its parent company and China. But does it work? This is not clear at all.
As former employees of the social network recently told ‘Fortune’, the project is more “cosmetic” than anything else, and the data of Americans can still be consulted by Chinese employees of the application.
Of course, it’s clear that TikTok’s management is not in the business of selling out or facing a veto. At least, while I have the chance. There are already businessmen in the United States who are moving to bid for control of the ‘app’, which has more than 170 million users in the country.
Who can buy?
Potential buyers of the ‘app’, or who have, at least, shown interest in an acquisition, include Steven Mnuchin, former Secretary of the Treasury under the Trump administration, or businessman Kevin O’Leary (who will study creating an app). An offer of around $30,000 million, certainly much less than the actual price of the ‘app’).
At the moment, companies like Oracle or Walmart, which already tried to take control of TikTok when Trump tried to ban it, have not commented on the possibility of taking any new steps to complete the acquisition. .
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