Washington
\nI have changed my mind many times this week about how the Supreme Court might rule.
\nRuling against a law established with national security at its heart would have been a monumental shot across the bows by the US\u2019 top court – not only politically but also in placing the US\u2019 entire security services under scrutiny. The implication would have been that they had got it wrong.
\nWe may live in unprecedented times, but that outcome still felt like the most unlikely.
\nNot sure I would have put money on it though – and that\u2019s because TikTok also has a powerful new ally. President-elect Donald Trump\u2019s incoming administration is not as anti-TikTok as it was the last time he was in power, and the man himself says he has a \u201cwarm spot in his heart\u201d for the platform.
\nTikTok has tried hard. It set up Project Clover, designed to keep US user data completely separate from the east, it has always denied ever sharing user data with the Chinese state, and its CEO Shou zi Chew lives in Singapore not China. But in the end, none of it was enough for the judges.
\nSo – will TikTok US now slowly begin to wither on the vine, with no new US updates or users, will TikTok itself retaliate by switching it off altogether as threatened – or will it be sold to YouTuber Mr Beast?
\nUnless the firm decides to pull the plug itself on Sunday it won\u2019t just disappear – and Biden says he is leaving the decision on the ban to his successor, who takes office on Monday.
\nUnprecedented times indeed.
\nFor now the US national security folks have a new headache: TikTok users are embracing a new app called RedNote instead. Which is unequivocally Chinese-owned, with all the same baggage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Washington I have changed my mind many times this week about how the Supreme Court might rule. Ruling against a law established with national security at its heart would have been a monumental shot across the bows by the US\u2019 top court – not only politically but also in placing the US\u2019 entire security services […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":456149,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-456135","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n