CBS News
TikTok’s fate in the U.S. hangs in the balance. What would the sale of the popular app mean?
TikTok could soon be inaccessible to its more than a hundred million users in the U.S., after the U.S. House of Representatives Wednesday voted to pass a law forcing the app to be sold by its Chinese parent company or face a stateside ban.
Much like other social media apps, including those owned by U.S. companies, concerns abound over the vast amount of personal user data collected by TikTok’s Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance, something which many believe poses a national security threat.
Under the proposed legislation, ByteDance would have six months to divest TikTok or face a nationwide ban.
Would a sale solve the issue?
Not entirely. But it would mark a step in the right direction, according to cybersecurity experts.
“It would only solve the first problem, which is the accessibility of Americans’ data to Chinese authorities,” Ivan Tsarynny, a cybersecurity expert who testified before the House Committee to recommend that TikTok either be sold or banned in the U.S., told CBS MoneyWatch.
Still, a new owner of TikTok could illegally transfer users’ data to the Chinese government, according to Tsarynny.
“We’d have to make sure every person who has access to TikTok’s data on Americans is accessing it for the right reasons, and is not part of a covert operation,” he said.
Engineers, data scientists and other workers at a hypothetical American parent company with direct access to users’ data would have to be rigorously vetted “to ensure they are using the data for legitimate reasons and not stealing it and siphoning it back to China,” he said.
It’s well known that even U.S.-owned social media companies, which are only loosely regulated, pose security risks.
“Any company that collects this amount of sensitive, personal information from this many Americans is going to pose data privacy and security risks. So there are still many other avenues for bad actors and foreign governments to access this info,” said Caitlin Chin-Rothmann, a researcher of the impact of technology on geopolitics and society at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“A sale would solve the question of ownership, but wouldn’t necessarily make personal information any safer,” she added.
In the event that ByteDance sells TikTok, U.S. users could seamlessly continue to use the app. “It could be very non-intrusive, and users may not even notice that ownership of the company has changed,” Tsarynny said. “And in the mid to long-term, a sale has a very strong possibility of eliminating China as a threat.”
Is a sale likely?
A deal to sell TikTok could be impossible, according to experts.
“Any company that buys TikTok is going to have to be very well-resourced, very wealthy, and will need a strategic interest in purchasing TikTok without raising antitrust concerns around mergers and acquisitions, Chin-Rothmann said. “There’s a good chance a deal wouldn’t go through.”
President Biden has said he will sign the bill if it passes the Senate, but it remains to be seen whether a nationwide ban of the hugely popular app — if it came to that — would be possible. Previous efforts to do so have been blocked by legal challenges and concerns over free speech.
CBS News
Kamala Harris will speak with “60 Minutes” tomorrow. Here’s what to know for the interview.
Voters will get the chance to hear from Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday as she presents her case for why she should be president in a “60 Minutes” election special.
For decades, “60 Minutes” has featured both Republican and Democratic nominees for presidents, but this year, former President Donald Trump backed out after previously indicating he would be on the show. Correspondent Scott Pelley, who’d been set to interview Trump, will instead travel to Arizona’s Maricopa County, home to more than 60% of Arizona’s voters and a critical battleground in a key swing state.
One thing is certain about the election; with the U.S. deeply involved in both the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, whoever wins on Nov. 5 will become a wartime president.
What Harris will discuss
Israel’s war started one year ago after Hamas launched a surprise terror attack and correspondent Bill Whitaker will discuss the ongoing war with Harris.
Harris will also discuss the economy, immigration, her record as vice president and the differences between herself and Trump.
Democratic vice presidential candidate Gov. Tim Walz will also appear.
Whitaker joined the Democratic ticket on the campaign trail this week to gain insight into their platform’s priorities and values, and what the candidates believe voters should know.
Why Trump pulled out of the “60 Minutes” interview
Leading up to the candidate hour, Trump, through campaign spokespeople, was the first candidate to accept the “60 Minutes” request to be interviewed for the special, according to CBS News. It had been agreed that both candidates would receive equal time during the broadcast.
Trump last sat down with 60 Minutes in 2020. He walked out during the interview with Lesley Stahl. Trump referenced the incident on Tuesday night at a Milwaukee press conference when asked about his decision not to participate in the Oct. 7 “60 Minutes” election special.
“Well, right now, I went to – they came to me and would like me to do an interview, but first I want to get an apology, because the last time I did an interview with them, if you remember, they challenged me on the computer,” Trump said. “They said the ‘laptop from hell’ was from Russia, and I said it wasn’t from Russia. It was from Hunter, and I never got an apology, so I’m sort of waiting. I’d love to do ’60 Minutes.’ I do everything.”
The Republican nominee for president emphasized that he felt he was owed an apology from “60 Minutes.”
“Let’s see if they do it. I wouldn’t mind doing 60,” Trump continued. “I’ve done ’60 Minutes’ a lot.”
In a statement on Tuesday, Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung said that Trump’s team had not agreed to an interview.
“Fake News,” Cheung said in a post on X. “60 Minutes begged for an interview, even after they were caught lying about Hunter Biden’s laptop back in 2020. There were initial discussions, but nothing was ever scheduled or locked in. They also insisted on doing live fact checking, which is unprecedented.”
Previous Trump, Harris appearances on 60 Minutes
Trump previously sat down with “60 Minutes'” Mike Wallace in 1985, Pelley in 2015 and Lesley Stahl twice in 2016, first in July of that year and then again in November of 2016. He also spoke with Stahl again in 2018 and 2020.
Harris previously sat down with Whitaker last year. She also was interviewed by Norah O’Donnell, “CBS Evening News” anchor and “60 Minutes” contributing correspondent, in 2020.
How to watch the “60 Minutes” election special
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