An executive summary of a lawsuit against TikTok and a violation of the Montana anti-proton production pacing law
The law may not be around much longer. In a statement calling it unconstitutional, TikTok seemed confident that the law could be overturned. A TikTok person said on Wednesday that the facts and the law are on the side of the company. Last year the company won an injunction blocking a ban in Montana.
The WED Politics Lab podcast: What goes on at TikTok, and how it affects the public opinion — after Makena Kelly and Vittoria Elliott
She is called @LeahFeiger. Kelly Makena is named after her. There is a person named tariah elliot. Write to us at politicslab@wired.com Our show is produced by produced by Jake Harper. Jake Lummus is our studio engineer and Amar Lal mixed this episode. Jordan Bell is the Executive Producer of Audio Development and Chris Bannon is Global Head of Audio at Condé Nast.
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Joe Biden: It’s going to make America safer, it’s going to make the world safer, and it continues America’s leadership in the world, and everyone knows it.
She is known as Leah Feiger. The package contained billions of dollars in aid for Ukraine and Israel and humanitarian support in Gaza, but it also included a provision related to the immensely popular Chinese-owned social media platform, TikTok. The platform will be banned from the US if it isn’t put under American ownership by the end of the year.
On the show, we’re going to talk about what happens to TikTok and how the law affects politicians who use the app. Joining me this week from the WIRED Politics desk in New York are Makena Kelly and Vittoria Elliott. Makena, Tori, how are you doing after this very newsy week?
In December, WIRED contributor Dexter Thomas chatted with the CEO of TikTok during their first-ever music festival. In that interview, he states his belief that skepticism will diminish as the app earns the trust of lawmakers.
There are a number of ways this could happen. An American company or private equity fund could buy TikTok and its powerful recommendation algorithm. Or, a buyer might have to accept just the bones of the platform without that algorithmic muscle; The Information reported on Thursday that ByteDance has already started gaming out what a sale without the algorithm would look like. Or, perhaps no buyer can be found and TikTok goes poof.
If a private equity firm were to buy TikTok, it would be hard to rebuild the app’s heart. A company without a deep bench of algorithmic wizards on hand likely wouldn’t have the expertise to quickly reengineer a feed-based social media platform from scratch. I don’t think the results would be pretty if they tried.
Unless TikTok or a horde of its users were to somehow win a lawsuit challenging the law signed this week—a lawsuit the company has already said it plans to file—all the potential outcomes lead to an app that is dramatically different.