Is TikTok Going Away?

Abby Christensen, Staff Writer

On September 20th, 2020 the popular app TikTok was scheduled to be banned from US downloads, but a federal judge, the Trump Administration, and TikTok have come to an agreement to let it stay for now.

 TikTok has been in legal battle with the United States government for months now because they are owned by a Chinese company, and the Trump Administration is concerned they may be sharing American citizens’ information with the Chinese government. 

 Two American companies, Walmart and Oracle, are potentially going to invest in Tik Tok, which is one of the main reasons the ban has been temporarily postponed. President Donald Trump says that unless American Companies are in control of the app, it will be banned. Right now, the two companies combined will need to own at least a 20 percent share in the app to stay. 

As of the week of October 6, Trump put out a new statement about the app saying the app has until November 12 to find a buyer for the app from the United States. Tik Tok has until October 14th to formally request a file that could push the ban even further back. As for the Chinese Company that owns Tik Tok, Byte Dance, despite pushback from China, they have applied for a license from the Chinese government in order to export their data. Only time will tell what the fate of the app in the United States is.