00:00I used TikTok and it created pandemonium.
00:26Users started flocking to rival social networks.
00:29In recent months, we have seen a process whereby TikTok was given a deadline to divest or face
00:35a ban and in January 19, TikTok actually took itself offline in the United States, so it
00:42completely went down voluntarily because it had not been sold off.
00:47Users in the US, 170 million of them, could not use TikTok and it created pandemonium.
00:52Users started flocking to rival social networks, Chinese-owned social networks such as Red
00:57But in under a day, the US government then brought TikTok back.
01:01They gave TikTok an extension of 75 days until April the 5th.
01:06You are here because the American people need the truth about the threat TikTok poses to
01:29our national and personal security.
01:32We do not promote or remove content at the request of the Chinese government.
01:38The question is are you 100% certain that they cannot use your company to promote such
01:44messages?
01:45It is our commitment to this committee and all our users that we will keep this free
01:48from any manipulation by any government.
01:50If you can't.
01:54On this vote, the yeas are 352, the nays are 65.
02:01TikTok is a threat to our national security because it is owned by ByteDance, which does
02:06the bidding of the Chinese Communist Party.
02:08We know this because ByteDance leadership says so and because Chinese law requires it.
02:14This bill therefore forces TikTok to break up with the Chinese Communist Party.
02:21Is TikTok listening to me through my phone?
02:23And these are some of the concerns that brought about the initiative that's happening right
02:28now with the deadline of April 5th, 2025.
02:31According to multiple reports, the potential new owner of the U.S. part of TikTok will
02:36be Oracle.
02:37Now, Oracle is a very well-established, pretty old technology company.
02:42It's a data infrastructure company.
02:44So Oracle is mainly known as holding data on vast servers.
02:49And the deal is, according to sources, going to be about Oracle looking after the data
02:54security of U.S. TikTok users.
02:57And that was really the chief concern of the Trump administration, which is bringing about
03:02this forced divestiture, this forced sale.
03:19There are concerns about not just the data privacy, but about what people see using TikTok.
03:24And according to reports, TikTok will still own the algorithm and that's mixing up what
03:29people see.
03:30So the content and the influence of content on U.S. users and global users potentially
03:36will still be owned by TikTok.
03:37And that raises different concerns.
03:52A potentially different scenario could be brought about either through a full switchover
03:58of TikTok's U.S. infrastructure, for example, the algorithm moving across as well as the
04:02data.
04:03Now, if that happens, then TikTok users could be faced with a completely different look
04:06and feel on TikTok.
04:08Different content, different content recommendations, different user recommendations.
04:12And if users are shown a different version of TikTok, there could be as much uproar as
04:16there is if TikTok comes down altogether.
04:28Can someone please tell me how it's 2020?
04:32The other potential outcome here is that TikTok and the U.S. do not reach a deal and TikTok
04:39has to come offline again.
04:42And what we saw last time was users flooding to other social networks.
04:45Many others exist.
04:47Many alternatives do exist currently.
04:48Instagram, YouTube, just to name a couple.
04:51But in protest back in January 2025, when this happened last, we actually saw TikTok
04:58users in the U.S. flooding to other Chinese-owned social networks in protest.
05:02Red Note, which has 300 million global users, was one of the main beneficiaries of this.
05:27We can see about U.S. people using TikTok and what have they got on their phones, their
05:47user behaviors, not only just their TikTok usage.
05:52We must realize also that TikTok is currently banned in many places.
05:57There are current U.S.
05:58government departments, such as the Department of Homeland Security, which bans TikTok from
06:03official devices, but also many countries have banned TikTok.
06:07India banned TikTok in 2020 and as a result, locally grown social media platforms that
06:14have rivaled TikTok, but that emulate that user experience.
06:18The bigger picture here, it's about the users, not about the government and not about the
06:42data. And that's where I think this deal will fall short.
06:46And that's what I think is going to be the more important factor moving into the future, is
06:51looking after user safety and not just thinking of user privacy.
07:05Will you extend, if the TikTok deal is not made on the timeline you gave, will you extend
07:10that?
07:10Probably.
07:11I think, look, we have a lot of interest in TikTok.
07:16And China is going to play a role.
07:18So hopefully China will approve of the deal.
07:21But they're going to play a role.
07:24But we have a lot.
07:24We have a lot of interest in TikTok.
07:27How long will you extend it and how close are you to a deal?
07:29Well, we'll see. But if I need, I don't right now, we have at least another month, so we
07:33don't need an extension.
07:34But if I needed an extension, I'd probably get it extended.
07:39Next week or the week after a massive new program for building very large, the largest
07:44ships in the world.
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