Posted on 07/30/2025 2:18:16 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Thursday that TikTok will go dark for Americans unless China agrees to give the U.S. more control over the popular short-form video app.
"We've made the decision. You can't have Chinese control and have something on 100 million American phones," Lutnick told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" on Thursday.
TikTok's future in the U.S. has been uncertain since 2024, when Congress passed a bill that would ban the platform unless its Chinese owner, ByteDance, divested from it.
Lawmakers had grown concerned that the Chinese government could access sensitive data from American users or manipulate content on the platform.
TikTok's future in the U.S. has been uncertain since 2024, when Congress passed a bill that would ban the platform unless its Chinese owner, ByteDance, divested from it.
Lawmakers had grown concerned that the Chinese government could access sensitive data from American users or manipulate content on the platform.
Deal talks have dragged.
Last month, President Donald Trump extended the deadline for a third time since taking office in January. Now, ByteDance has until Sept. 17. to divest TikTok's U.S. business.
"Basically, Americans will have control. Americans will own the technology. Americans will control the algorithm. That's something Donald Trump is willing to do," Lutnick said.
He added that if China doesn't approve the deal, "then TikTok is going to go dark."
CNBC has reached out to TikTok for comment.
It's not clear where deal talks stand. Trump told Fox News in an interview late last month that he has a group of "very wealthy people" ready to buy the platform.
Earlier this month, the private equity firm Blackstone pulled out of a consortium bid for TikTok's U.S. operations, according to a report from Reuters.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
Without TikTok and X, Kamala Harris would be our President right now.
“The “Great American Firewall” is here.”
Exactly.
TikTok was a hotbed of support for Trump. And it was also a VERY big part of black males getting behind Trump and him getting the biggest black vote since the early 1950s.
He obviously has never used it. Mine is filled with BBQ smoking tips, recipes, home projects, travel ideas, short 5 or 6 minute clips of Christian sermons. Awesome music clips from back in the day. Dogs, comedy, history, US military heroes, conservative commentary, interesting things, things about the Founding Fathers. I see wholesome relationship and life advice.
It’s endless good content.
And best of all, you don’t even see ANY comments unless you click and look for them.
You can tell when someone THINKS they know what it is, but only have seen the DC and Hannity concept of what TikTok is.
Essentially, it learns user preferences by tracking your behavior and then recommends videos that align with your interests.
Other companies couldn't crack TikTok's algorithm.
Trump took advantage of TikTok to go "viral". Harris failed (she was a bad candidate so it didn't matter).
Don't fall for the headlines. Research it yourself. Turns out, Google, Apple and Amazon all collect far more data than TikTok does. Y'all hear "China" and "data" and automatically think the worst. You SHOULD be looking at what companies right here in America are doing to us. Bed wetting over the issue that is being pushed to heavily demonize China is not doing any good whatsoever. Also, look at what your own government is collecting. That is WAY more of a concern than any marketing data collection by tech companies. Also, I promise your information is available all over the internet. I base this statement on almost 20 years as a PI.
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