How TikTok might keep 'stayin' alive'🕺despite the Supreme Court's unanimous ruling, Plus China stops Foxconn workers, equipment from going to India -- China Boss 1.17.25

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THIS JUST IN: The US Supreme Court has unanimously upheld the federal ban that prohibits app stores from offering the TikTok app beginning Sunday Jan 19, unless sold. The court’s decision was handed down within an hour of this post. NPR describes it as a “stunning blow” to the Chinese-owned social media platform used by nearly half of Americans.

What happened

University of Minnesota law professor and Senior Editor at Lawfare Alan Rozenshtein told Minnesota Public Radio that TikTok's arguments last week before the Supreme Court didn't go "particularly well."

"I think it's very likely that one way or the other, the Supreme Court upholds the law and allows it to go into effect on the 19th," he said.

Rozenshtein, who has been closely following TikTok's existential legal battle, said the effect of the "ban" is that TikTok's "apps will be pulled from the app stores."

However, if the company moves out of the US, users "might, in theory, actually still be able to access [it]."

But on Wednesday, two sources familiar with the company's operations told The Information that TikTok intends to deactivate its app for US users on Sunday in an apparent publicity stunt to amplify the ban's effects on its users.

According to the plan, anyone trying to access the TikTok app will see a pop-up notification directing them to a website with details regarding the ban.

Why it matters

Washington to the rescue

It is still uncertain what will happen with TikTok, but politicians are backing down from a total ban every hour.

On Tuesday, Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Representative Ro Khanna (CA-17) announced plans to introduce the Extend the TikTok Deadline Act, which aims to extend ByteDance's deadline to sell by 270 days.

Although Markey expressed concerns about TikTok's impact on young Americans' privacy and mental health, he cautioned that a ban would disrupt a unique cultural community and silence many voices.

On Thursday, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said, "More time is needed to find an American buyer and not disrupt the lives and livelihoods of millions of Americans."

But a sale was never a "buyer problem."

There were - and still are - plenty of offers - take a look at this queue Forbes posted - with plenty of time to negotiate a deal. The law passed last April.

No, the problem was always on the seller's end.

ByteDance's unwillingness to sell was due to its lack of permission from its ultimate owner, the Chinese government.

Note to democratic capitalists: "ownership" has a different meaning in the Middle Kingdom.

Note to everyone else: Beijing's refusal to allow an ostensibly private commercial company to sell to the highest bidder also shows how much control it really has over TikTok.

But TikTok's ultimate savior is more likely to be President-elect Donald Trump, who is considering an executive order to suspend the law for 60-90 days while his team searches for solutions.

According to the Washington Post, Trump is keen to be seen as saving TikTok, a platform on which he believes he is popular and which may have also helped him get elected. Sources also say the incoming administration aims to showcase efforts to "save TikTok" at Trump's inauguration on Monday, January 20, the day after the law takes effect.

Last month, TikTok's chief, Shou Zi Chew, visited Trump at Mar-a-Lago to discuss the app's future. Following the meeting, Trump shared his affection for the app, claiming his content garnered nearly 4 billion views.

In politics, appearances - both in-person and digital - count.

That's also probably why TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew has been invited to sit among the likes of Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk in a position of honor on the dais at Trump's inauguration, "where former presidents, family members, and other important guests traditionally are seated," the New York Times' staff reported.

Nevertheless, legal experts question whether an executive order can effectively override a law passed with bipartisan support and upheld by the Supreme Court.

Rozenshtein, the law professor, told WaPo that executive orders "are not magical documents."

"They're just press releases with nicer stationery. TikTok will still be banned, and it will still be illegal for Apple and Google to do business with them. But it will make the president's intention not to enforce the law that much more official," he said.

'Red Migration'

But even weirder than American legislators and an incoming president putting themselves out to save a Chinese-owned social media app, determined a national security threat by bipartisan consensus, was the migration of thousands of sobbing American TikTok Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) and their followers to another Chinese-owned app called "Little Red Book" or RedNote, only known, until now, in China.

According to CNN, however, within hours, the self-styled "TikTok refugees" from America were already frustrated with the platform's censorship policies, which are much more stringent than TikTok's.

News staff said the new users were being "educated" by local users on the constantly growing extensive list of politically sensitive terms and the punishment for noncompliance, which "could lead to fines, suspensions, or even shutdowns. "

One American user who identified as non-binary had a post asking if the platform welcomed gay users removed within hours.

China watcher Matías Otero Johansson did an excellent summary of what he called 'The Great RED Migration' on LinkedIn.

The app, founded in 2013, started as a female-focused online space. It has features similar to Instagram and focuses on shopping, beauty, and fitness.

Although its name is a nod to Mao's book, the app isn't driven by politics but by economic consumption. (That thud you heard was Mao turning over in his grave.)

In response to the surge of non-Chinese-speaking users, RedNote is urgently hiring English-speaking content moderators to help manage posts and develop English-Chinese translation tools.

Due to its new international attention, the platform has recently reached the top of the Apple US App Store.

That might sound awesome, except we're talking about China, where extreme nationalism online - often fanned by the government - has been blamed for assaults on foreigners.

A report from the Chinese media outlet PConline on Tuesday also noted the risk for RedNote, whose staff members have been advised to "not discuss, not promote, and not share" information about their new user base in the United States.

"The recent influx of users has become a looming threat for RedNote. In reality, for RedNote, which has unexpectedly gained this traffic, the associated risks considerably surpass the potential benefits."

"This wave of [American] traffic has become the sword of Damocles hanging over [RedNote's] head," it said.

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