TikTok is applauds ‘resilience’ and ‘patience’ of staff ahead of possible ban

A memo sent by TikTok to its staff just a few days before the Supreme Court is set to make a final decision on banning the app states that the Chinese company is “planning for various scenarios”. It acknowledges the “resilience and dedication” as well as the “patience and commitment” of its staff in the light of the ban.

The memo emphasises that TikTok’s offices in the US will remain open and US employees will continue to receive their pay and benefits. “The bill is not written in a way that impacts the entities through which you are employed, only the US user experience,” it continues.

The memo, which was obtained by The Verge, reassures staff that the company “know[s] it’s unsettling to not know exactly what happens next,” and that in the face of media speculation, staff can “rest assured we will communicate any facts to our employees firsthand through this channel as details solidify.”

January 19 marks the deadline set for the divest-or-ban law that is threatening TikTok in America. Lawmakers determined that unless TikTok was sold by its Chinese parent company ByteDance, the risk that American user data would be used by the Chinese government for nefarious purposes was too high, amounting to a national security threat.

Several investors have expressed an interest in purchasing the company. These include investment firm owner Kevin O’Leary, whose initial bid was between $20-$30 billion – a fraction of TikTok’s supposed value according to its last funding round, but a deal that would not include the algorithms that feed content to users.

Bobby Kotick, former CEO of Activision Blizzard, has also shown interest in the company, reportedly approaching other tech entrepreneurs to form partnerships, including a possible arrangement with OpenAI which would allow the generative AI company access to TikTok’s platform as training data.

Rumors have also begun circulating that Elon Musk was being considered as a possible buyer for the app. However, representatives for the company have strongly denied this is a path they are considering.

While there are multiple interested parties who would be keen to purchase the wildly popular short-form video app, thereby preventing a ban, TikTok has warned it may “go dark” after the deadline. President-elect Donald Trump has reportedly asked the Supreme Court to delay the decision, which is set to occur on Jan 19, one day before his inauguration.

Trump previously expressed support for a TikTok ban but has recently been more supportive of the platform, recently posting evidence of the amount of engagement he saw on the platform during his 2024 presidential campaign.

Featured image credit: Ideogram

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