Jasmine Tsunoda 2024 Tech
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The Future of the Social Media Giant: TikTok

Wednesday, March 13, 2024, the US House of Representatives approved a bill that would require TikTok's parent company, China-based ByteDance, to either sell TikTok or have the app banned on devices in the US. It was a huge, huge landslide of a vote, 352 to 65, and because it's owned by a Chinese tech company, US politicians have expressed concerns that data from US users is being shared with the Chinese company, and they say that TikTok poses a threat to national security.

The bill is called the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. Its proponents say that it’s not a ban—it just requires divestiture by the app’s parent company, ByteDance, and the sale of TikTok within six months to a company that isn’t subject to the control of the Chinese Communist Party, Russia, Iran, or North Korea.

Who would benefit from a TikTok ban? Analysts say Facebook and Instagram owner Meta would.

“A ban on TikTok will hand an effective monopoly to Meta’s Reels – the company’s short-form video product,” Forrester vice president and research director Mike Proulx said.

Forrester’s Youth Survey last year saw an 11-point year-over-year increase in Instagram Reels use. Nearly a third of teens in the U.S. now use Reels at least weekly.

TikTok boasts a significant amount of usage relative to other apps. In the fourth quarter of 2023, U.S. mobile users spent an average of 97 minutes daily on TikTok, per research firm Apptopia, which was more than YouTube, Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat.

A TikTok ban would leave only Reels and YouTube Shorts. “That means Meta is the likely beneficiary of TikTok’s ad revenue in a TikTok-less world, as well,” Proulx said.

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