New York
CNN
—
It’s looking increasingly likely that any sale of TikTok will mean US users have to download a new app. And that could mean an almost entirely different experience.
After repeatedly delaying enforcement of a law that requires TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, to sell it or face a ban in the United States, President Donald Trump now says he has a buyer for the app. Meanwhile, TikTok is reportedly building a new version of the app just for the United States that could launch as soon as September 5, according to The Information.
News of a possible new app isn’t entirely surprising. First, there’s the matter of TikTok’s “secret sauce” — that is, the algorithm that powers the mega popular “For You” page. The Chinese government has repeatedly said it would block any transfer of the app’s algorithm to a new owner, meaning any new, separate American TikTok would need its own algorithm, possibly built from the ground up.
TikTok did not respond to a request for comment, and CNN could not immediately confirm the accuracy of the report.
But it’s yet another reminder that any deal could have major implications for TikTok’s 170 million American users — potentially changing key aspects of the platform, like what they see and who they can interact with.
Here’s what we know so far.
The Information reported, citing two unnamed people familiar with the matter, that the existing TikTok app will be removed from US app stores on the same day the new US app launches, although Americans may be able to continue using the current app until March of next year. (People familiar with the planning told The Information that timelines could still change.)
Transferring the profiles and content of current users to the new app could also pose practical challenges, the report states. And such a move could also make it harder for American TikTok users to see content from users in other countries — and vice versa.
All of that disruption could prompt some users to leave the app, Johnston said.
Still, the report suggests that TikTok’s position on building out a separate US app has shifted since January, when a lawyer representing the company told the Supreme Court that it would take “many years” to create a similar version of the app for American users. He also said at the time that it would be “a fundamentally different platform with different content.” That point may still hold true even if TikTok is no longer using it as an excuse not to build a US version of the app.
ByteDance has been on the clock to find a new owner for TikTok’s US operations since then-President Joe Biden signed the sale-or-ban law last year over national security concerns. That law went into effect in January, after it was upheld by the Supreme Court.
But even though the law only allowed for one delay of the ban, Trump has pushed off its enforcement three times, saying he wants to “save TikTok” by facilitating a deal to hand control of the popular platform to American owners. ByteDance currently has until September 17 to sell the app or face a US ban.
Trump said last week that there are a group of “very wealthy” people ready to buy TikTok’s US operations who are expected to be named in the coming days, although it remains unclear if Beijing has given its necessary sign-off for a deal. The Chinese government sidestepped a question about the status of deal talks on Monday.
The report that TikTok is working on a new, US app “certainly lends some credence to the President’s very brief comment that we’re close to a deal, which… was probably viewed by a number of people with some skepticism given how many times they’ve had to extend the deadline,” said Jim Johnston, partner at the New York law firm Davis+Gilbert.
“The big issue has always been on the TikTok, Chinese side of this,” Johnston said. “There’s any number of US entities lining up to acquire the business, but all indications were that, on the Chinese side of it, there was no appetite or interest in selling the business.”
Under the law, a post-sale US TikTok couldn’t continue working with ByteDance to operate the algorithm or share user data.
That means ByteDance could retain a minority financial stake in the new entity — something the White House has considered — but the new app will have to have a separate algorithm to comply with the law.
The law also requires that, under any sale, US TikTok user data remains separate from that of the rest of the platform’s users. A new app could help accomplish that.
Still, some legal experts believe the Trump administration hasn’t exactly complied with the law up to this point, by delaying its enforcement multiple times, although the legislation offered just one, 90-day extension if a deal was in progress. And the president is the one responsible for determining whether a “qualified divestiture” has taken place, under the law.
“If you can do enough actions to make it seem like it’s close enough, maybe that’s going to work,” said Gautam Hans, a professor at Cornell Law School.
TikTok may have realized that even if the Trump administration wants to protect it, future administrations could come after the app or its technology partners, including app store operators and cloud computing providers, for violating the law — so it can’t put off a deal indefinitely, Hans said.
Last week, Google shareholder Anthony Tan — who sued the internet giant over its decision to restore TikTok on the app store — released letters Attorney General Pam Bondi sent to Google and the app’s other technology partners telling them they would not be held liable for breaking the law by continuing to support TikTok, which he obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request.
Those letters relied on legal reasoning that Georgetown law professor and CNN contributor Steve Vladek called “bollocks” in his newsletter this week, arguing that the companies still face future liability despite Bondi’s assurances.
“Eventually there’s going to be some political shift, and maybe there will be some accountability,” Hans said. “So if I’m the company, maybe I’m happy with what’s going on today, but I have to think about the future.”
