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Triumph warmed up to TikTok over the course of the election year, promising to protect the beloved app. One of TikTok’s biggest investors, billionaire Jeff Yass, was also one of Trump’s biggest donors. He also used it to his advantage: Over the summer, Trump joined TikTok and amassed millions of followers and collaborations with popular streamers that played a huge role in his campaign’s appeal to young voters. His numerous podcast appearances with the likes of Joe Rogan, the Nelk Boys, and Andrew Schultz were also cropped and shared in bite-sized snippets throughout the app.
More than 170 million Americans use TikTok, according to the most recent figures shared by the company. Only 32 percent of Americans support banning TikTok. according to a recent Pew survey. When a similar study was conducted in May 2023, 50 percent of Americans supported it.
Trump’s inauguration is scheduled for Jan. 20, a day after the deadline to give TikTok more time to find a buyer. I would bet that Biden would decide to extend it, making the future of TikTok an issue for Trump, but the current president has given no indication about what he might do. The White House did not respond to a request for comment from WIRED.
While Trump may have won TikTok this cycle, Democrats don’t see the app as a lost cause. In fact, Democratic strategists I’ve spoken to have argued that app presence is more necessary than ever.
“I am against the ban. Not only will it hurt us with younger voters, but it will eliminate a channel where Democrats can compete to spread their message,” says Ryan Davis, co-founder and chief operating officer of People First, a political influence and relationship marketing firm that partnered with Biden and Harris Campaigns. “Trump may have won TikTok in 2024, but it’s a channel where Democrats should be highly demographically competitive.”
I really have no idea if TikTok will make it to the top this week. When oral arguments were presented in September, the the judges didn’t seem very sold about the idea that the law was, well, illegal. Most likely, we will still be stuck in this limbo of not knowing if we will be able to scroll and see important and innovative content. like this.
The chat room
What do you think? Are there still reasons to believe that TikTok poses a threat to US national security? Even if that were true, is this bill the best way to protect American users from foreign surveillance enforcement? Personally, I have always thought that the law was a failure. If the Chinese government really wanted my data, they could easily buy it from some shady online broker.
Send your thoughts to mail@wired.com.
Wired readings
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What else are we reading?
🔗 Six hours under martial law in Seoul: Verge editor Sarah Jeong found herself in the middle of the story this week when she visited Seoul. In the early hours of Tuesday morning, he witnessed anti-martial law protests…incredibly repressive. (The edge)
🔗 How the Supreme Court’s Transgender Care Case Could Impact All of Health Care: The Supreme Court heard arguments in United States v. Skrmetti on Wednesday that could determine the future of trans health care in the United States. It could also have knock-on effects on other health care issues, such as abortion rights. (Statistics)
🔗 Professor Apologizes for Using Fake AI-Generated Quotes in Defense of Minnesota’s Unconstitutional Deepfake Law: Minnesota is about to adopt a new law banning deepfakes, and one of the state’s key witnesses was caught using the same tools to defend the rules. The hypocrisy is pretty funny, but the chatbot also completely made up some of the research cited. (technological dirt)
The download
in this week WIRED Policy Lab PodcastLeah spoke to WIRED’s investigations and security editor Andrew Couts and business editor Louise Matsakis about how to protect yourself from government surveillance. There’s a lot of useful advice in there, go and listen.
It was a great week for great interviews on WIRED! Check out coverage of our event in San Francisco this week. And don’t miss Steven Levy’s excellent interview with Apple CEO Tim Cook on our YouTube channel here.
Further, one thing our polarized nation can agree.
That’s all for today. Thanks again for subscribing. You can contact me by email, instagram, unknownand Signal at makenakelly.32.