The TikTok logo is seen displayed on a smartphone.
Even as the Trump ban gets revoked, the app faces regulatory review under the new administration.
Last August, when then-President
Donald Trump issued a wide-ranging executive order that sought to ban TikTok from the U.S., creators across the country went into full-on panic mode. TikTokers who were just starting to eke out an impressive following on the platform posted videos pleading their followers to head to their Instagram and YouTube accounts in case the short-form video app disappeared overnight, while agencies and managers who work with TikTokers fielded a frenzy of messages from worried creators asking what they should do.
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Nomadland at the 93rd Oscars, Disney began tiptoeing around potential land mines with regard to China, the director’s home country and the studio’s most important international market. “Please note in your ongoing coverage of
Nomadland that Chloé Zhao is a Chinese filmmaker,” an executive for Disney-owned Searchlight emailed members of the Hollywood press on March 4. “You may accurately refer to her as Chinese or a Chinese National.”
A number of news outlets, including
The New York Times, had mistakenly referred to Zhao as Asian American, but the bluntness and blanket nature of the proviso was conspicuous. As it would turn out, Disney had abundant reason to be concerned over how the provenance and perceived allegiances of its rising star director, who was also helming the studio’s forthcoming $200 million Marvel tentpole
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Now, the viral video-sharing app seems to have rebounded.
This month, TikTok announced an expanded partnership with Universal Music Group, accessing all of its music catalog, a blow to its archrival, L.A.-based Triller.
The company, which has a large presence in Culver City, continues to generate buzzworthy pop culture trends; for example, what began as videos suggesting songs for a musical about the popular Pixar movie “Ratatouille” became a real virtual musical last month starring actor Tituss Burgess.
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And threats by the federal government to yank TikTok from U.S. app stores due to security concerns over its ties to China appear to have abated at least for now.