U.S. President, Donald Trump, has issued an executive order giving ByteDance, the Chinese parent of TikTok, 90 days to divest its U.S. operations. It is evident this move is polling very well for Trump, if not he would not be annoying many young Americans who are fans of this app. Largely, potential decisions to reject Trump in the polls could be seeded in the minds of these young people when they remember the man who “uninstalled” their apps. Mr. Trump sees the polling data as he plots this political playbook, and he could be lucky.
I do not think TikTok needs to be banned or asked to “leave” America when it could be required to store data in the U.S. and run full U.S. operations for its U.S. version. But like in all political seasons, politicians play hail mary, hoping for miracle touchdowns in the game of national elections! Tiktoking to re-election (!) would be another chapter for the emerging Data World War.
The order comes a week after the president issued a directive barring Americans and U.S. companies from conducting transactions with ByteDance by late September — and amid efforts by suitors such as Microsoft to make a deal to purchase TikTok. Friday’s action adds pressure on ByteDance to find a buyer, while giving the U.S. government a chance to object if it does not approve of the choice.
---
Register for Tekedia Mini-MBA (Feb 10 - May 3, 2025), and join Prof Ndubuisi Ekekwe and our global faculty; click here.
Tekedia Mini-MBA edition 16 (Feb 10 – May 3, 2025) opens registrations; register today for early bird discounts.
Tekedia AI in Business Masterclass opens registrations here.
Join Tekedia Capital Syndicate and invest in Africa’s finest startups here.
I am eagerly waiting to see this Hail Mary fall flat. The Tech world ought to wake up and rally behind TikTok’s promised law suit – TikTok today, FaceBook, Amazon tomorrow. This White House’s policies of petty vengeance know no limits.
Trump has diminished America across many metrics. Imagine what would happen if this man is reelected!
The US is not meant to play like China or even try to mimic its playbook, because it’s the US, same way China never cares about what anyone thinks; it does it in its own way.
So this whole data war thing is pretty simple: do whatever works for you. If it backfires, you can call for a reset, no one ever rejects the idea of making more money, or claiming a win over your rivals; it remains a going concern, perpetually.
What can be considered a real catastrophe is when you remain numb and confused, in the face of attacks from all sides; you should be able to put up a fight whenever you feel you are losing, it’s a great way of notifying your detractors that you are not there for the taking.
In a world where politics, economic advantage and national security can is easily be rolled into one, you do not need to notify your rivals that you are out to cut them to size, else you could be applying for loans and grants from them soon.
Nothing out of ordinary is happening among the big guys, but everything is happening in the lives of the small guys who are not even part of the fight, but would keep feeling the pains and remain dazed on blows the big guys exchanged among themselves; it’s a conflation of paradoxes and ironies!
*can easily