For the Biden administration, TikTok has become a giant test of how to regulate a formidable and wildly popular cultural phenomenon while navigating the contours of US-China relations and grappling with the new reality of an internet that American firms no longer dominate.
Federal officials have spent months negotiating a national security agreement that could reshape how the company operates in the US But all of it could get blown up in an instant if Republicans retake Congress next month — or if Chinese government officials in Beijing balk at a deal.
Related: Skadden Won’t Represent TikTok In Meta Antitrust Lawsuit
The US has failed to pass major social media regulations governing domestically run platforms that are committed, at least nominally, to American attitudes about freedom of speech. Now, the industry’s biggest hit in years comes from an authoritarian country with a radically different ideology on civil liberties and media control — and Washington is once again stalled on how to proceed.
