Photo by Sergei Tokmakov

Federal Law

As marketing professionals, you are likely well aware of the on again, off again relationship between the U.S. and TikTok. As we enter into another critical crossroads, let’s take a look at where we have been and where we are going.

In 2024, it caught Congress’s eye that a Chinese company, ByteDance Ltd, owned TikTok. Congress passed a law called “Protecting Americans’ Data from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act” (PADFA). This law took effect on January 19, 2025. PADFA bars U.S. companies from providing services to “distribute, maintain, or update” a “foreign adversary-controlled application” in the U.S. PADFA allows enforcement lawsuits and large financial penalties.

Congressional issues with TikTok included China’s access to U.S. users’ data and the risk of China sharing political misinformation in the U.S. via TikTok. In the U.S., TikTok Inc., an American company, runs the app. Its parent company, ByteDance Inc., is based in China, where ByteDance manages TikTok’s algorithm. Congressional anxiety with TikTok included the fact that, under Chinese law, Chinese companies must help the Chinese government in its national intelligence work and share private data they own.

First Amendment Lawsuit

ByteDance, TikTok Inc. and TikTok users sued the U.S. government, claiming that the statute violated their right to free speech under the First Amendment. On January 17, 2025, two days before PADFA was to go into effect, the Supreme Court decided the statute was constitutional because it supported an important government interest – banning China from accessing U.S. TikTok users’ data – unrelated to limiting free speech. 

President Trump’s Pause on PADFA

Shortly after the court’s ruling, newly-elected President Trump ordered a pause on PADFA’s enforcement for 75 days. This order also gave liability protection to companies working with TikTok. To date, no one has challenged the executive order in court, unlike many other executive orders President Trump has issued. The enforcement pause period ends on April 5, 2025.

President Trump’s pause gave more time for U.S. companies to try to buy TikTok assets and make the app compliant with PADFA. Big tech and smaller competitors have expressed interest. Oracle and Microsoft are in the hunt as well as AI startup Perplexity. An investor group headed by Frank McCourt has made a TikTok bid. On April 2, 2025, the Associated Press reported that Amazon has also made an offer. President Trump recently stated an interest in linking tariff negotiations with China to a deal with ByteDance over TikTok. Stay tuned – President Trump may extend the pause when the April 5 deadline is here if there is no deal. 

As you can see, the U.S.-TikTok relationship has had several ups and downs and is gearing up for another potential change in the coming days.  If you are using TikTok in your social media marketing strategy, here are a few tips to consider: 

• Make sure that you are downloading or making a copy of the content you are posting to TikTok, just in case the ban goes through.
  
• Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket. Ensure that your strategy includes different platforms that reach your ideal audience.
• Keep up to date on this topic as it moves through the system so that you can properly educate and inform your leadership team about changes that are or may need to be made as a result.
   

Author: Sarah Morris

Sarah Morris is a freelance writer with degrees in law and political science. In her free time, she enjoys reading and hiking.