As reported by The New York Instances:

“The Biden administration and TikTok have drafted a preliminary settlement to resolve nationwide safety issues posed by the Chinese language-owned video app […] The 2 sides have hammered out the foundations of a deal through which TikTok would make adjustments to its knowledge safety and governance with out requiring its proprietor, the Chinese language web big ByteDance, to promote it, stated three of the folks, who spoke on the situation of anonymity as a result of the negotiations are confidential.”

Underneath the settlement, TikTok would retailer its US person knowledge solely in the US, which it’s already working in the direction of in a cope with Oracle, whereas Oracle officers would even be given oversight of TikTok’s algorithms and moderation techniques. TikTok would additionally create a brand new board of safety consultants, reporting to the US authorities, enabling extra direct monitoring of its knowledge security processes.

The deal is just not finalized as but, and would seemingly want sign-off from President Joe Biden earlier than going into impact. In response to the Instances, Treasury and Justice Division officers are nonetheless working via the small print, with many nonetheless skeptical that it’ll really make it via to the following stage.

However it appears that evidently TikTok must discover a solution to get the deal accomplished, or it dangers dropping its total US enterprise, which might additionally seemingly see different western nations comply with swimsuit in banning the app, if the US felt that it remained a major sufficient safety risk.

At this stage, it appears unlikely that we might see a platform utilized by a billion folks shut down fully – however then once more, as international tensions proceed to simmer, and China continues to exert its authority over areas like Taiwan and Hong Kong, there are issues that TikTok may very well be caught within the center, and be used as both a surveillance machine, or a propaganda instrument in an any escalation on this entrance.

And even, one thing else. One conspiracy concept circulating on-line is that TikTok is definitely being utilized by the CCP to stoke discord and dissent among the many western youth, by selling harmful, dangerous tendencies and content material, successfully linking these behaviors to the dopamine hit of social media Likes and feedback.

No matter it might or is probably not, issues across the app, and its possession, proceed to linger.

And actually, inevitably, TikTok’s future will probably be intertwined with the selections of the CCP. If tensions escalate, TikTok will grow to be extra of a spotlight – which is why this new deal is vital to the longevity of the app, and reassuring western governments that the platform is separate from political interference.

If that’s even doable whereas the platform stays in Chinese language possession. However that’s why the necessities listed below are so steep, and whereas it might appear excessive to permit safety consultants to observe TikTok’s operations, given the aforementioned issues, it does make some sense.

Once more, it appears unlikely that TikTok may very well be lower off fully, however India did it because of ongoing border battles with Chinese language forces.

If worldwide tensions escalate, that would occur once more, however on a wider scale.