This may be the first time in the history of human business that a company with 170 million users and a value of hundreds of billions of dollars has no freedom of choice or would rather die.

On January 15, it was reported that TikTok was preparing to shut down its service immediately in the United States on Sunday unless the Supreme Court intervened to block the "sell or ban" ban.

The report said that under this plan, when users try to open TikTok, they will see a pop-up message prompting them to visit a website to learn the details of the ban. At the same time, TikTok will also provide data download options, allowing users to save personal information.

If this move is implemented, this decision will mark that TikTok has gone from constant struggle to the point of no retreat, and finally persists in not retreating. "Life is A great man is a hero even when he dies."

But it seems that there is no improvement. The latest news is that according to CCTV News, people familiar with the matter revealed that Biden is considering how to allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States. "Officials are "exploring options" on how to implement the law so that TikTok will not be banned this Sunday. 》

Photo source: CCTV News

Since 2019, the United States proposed Since the security review, the pressure on TikTok has almost never stopped.

As the "sell or ban" deadline approaches, TikTok would rather take decisive measures and directly close the app, allowing all users to face the impact of the ban. This choice will undoubtedly make the world's largest short video platform face unprecedented challenges.

There are only 3 days left in the countdown. Regardless of whether a turnaround can occur before the last moment, TikTok's persistence has demonstrated its strong ability to withstand pressure and its firmness in its own value. defend.

The story of TikTok is no longer just a simple narrative about how a technology company responds to business pressures. It has long become a story about how, in the context of globalization, The epitome of the complex game between enterprises and users.

Just like when it first emerged a few years ago, TikTok has transcended its positioning as a short video platform and become an important pawn in global competition.

Now, standing at the juncture of life and death, TikTok Obviously, it is not purely oriented towards commercial interests, but has chosen a more historical "rigor" - a posture of not fearing power and not easily compromising. This attitude may have a profound impact on the future pattern of interaction between the technology industry and overseas.

In the past two days, foreigners have been pouring into Xiaohongshu crazily. Chinese and foreign netizens are laughing and cursing on this App and mingling with each other. , but behind this seemingly prosperous "scenery" of the Internet, a critical moment rarely seen in business history is gradually approaching.

A company with 170 million users in the United States and a market value of 100 billion US dollars is at an unprecedented critical juncture of life and death. This situation may not be the best in business. It is difficult to find any precedent in history.

In April last year, the U.S. Congress passed legislation banning or forcing parent company ByteDance to sell TikTok. The bill, later signed into law by President Joe Biden, marks the most severe fate for TikTok - TikTok will be banned in the United States on January 19 this year unless it severs ties with parent company ByteDance.

But we know that this trouble began in November 2019, when the United States conducted a security investigation on the acquisition of Musical.ly by TikTok parent company ByteDance. The review focuses on the processing and storage of user data.

In the following months, the U.S. Senate held multiple hearings to promote legislation to ban TikTok. By August 2020, then-President Trump signed an executive order requiring TikTok to divest its U.S. operations within 90 days and adopt a series of restrictive measures. While the bans did not take effect immediately, they were followed by tighter scrutiny of TikTok by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

In June 2021, although Biden revoked the ban during the Trump era, the relevant pressure and restrictions have actually been strengthened.

TikTok Various efforts have been made in the past to try to solve the problem. Including the establishment of a "Transparency and Accountability Center"; the establishment of a content advisory board; the establishment of a dedicated US Data Security Company (USDS) to manage the data of US users; the implementation of a data isolation project called "Clover" and "Texas" data security Engineering, with annual operating costs for both plans reaching approximately $1 billion; hiring executives with U.S. backgrounds; and reaching an agreement with Oracle to become TikTok’s “trusted technology provider” in the U.S., according to Agreement, Oracle has the right to impose restrictions on TikTok US source code undergoes security checks.

Past efforts and subsequent efforts by TikTok to block the proposal—including persuading users to complain to congressional representatives and the Advertising was launched every day to promote TikTok's efforts in data security, but as the U.S. Congress passed this bill, it all ended in failure.

But TikTok has not stopped fighting. In May last year, TikTok and its parent company ByteDance filed a lawsuit in the U.S. federal court, asking the court to rule that the "Protecting Americans from Applications Controlled by Foreign Adversaries Act" aimed at banning TikTok is unconstitutional and asking for it to be overturned.

Image source: Vision

In September, TikTok and its creators’ lawsuit against the United States was formally heard in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit for the District of Columbia. TikTok and ByteDance contend that the "qualified divestment" required by the bill is commercially, technically, and legally impossible to achieve, and cannot be completed within the stipulated 270 days; even if the "conditional divestiture" required by the bill is in operation It is not feasible and fundamentally violates the U.S. Constitution’s commitment to free speech and individual liberty.

In December, the U.S. federal appeals court rejected TikTok’s appeal and upheld an injunction requiring ByteDance to divest TikTok’s U.S. business.

TikTok has tried its best to fight all the way, but now it has no retreat. Perhaps only by "fighting hard" to the end can there be a slight turn in the future.

Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump is reportedly consideringIssue an executive order suspending enforcement of the ban for 60 to 90 days. Trump's term will begin the day after the ban takes effect, but reports did not indicate how Trump plans to legally implement the measure.

In addition, last week, U.S. Senator Edward Markey of Massachusetts spoke on the Senate floor and live streamed it on TikTok. In his speech, he mentioned his plan to introduce legislation to extend the deadline for TikTok’s “sell or ban” ban for another 270 days. He said that the ban will severely damage the social and cultural ecology of the United States, and millions of Americans will lose their channels of expression, and The impact is severe on Americans who rely on the app for social connections and livelihoods.

But the deadline is imminent and there are only 3 days left in the countdown. Will changes happen?

Whether it should be shut down directly, continue to operate, or be suspended and wait for a trial after Trump takes office, TikTok's ending in the United States will be answered in three days.

But at today's time, especially after seeing the "drama" scene that happened on Little Red Book, we can already start to think: TikTok's survival After the dust settles, where will the Chinese and American Internet worlds go?

First of all, what is certain is that after TikTok was banned, Douyin opened up international registration, and then American TT users poured in to seek refuge. It is highly likely that it is nonsense.

Image source: Vision

Since January 15, a large number of user videos with IP territories showing as the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, Thailand and other places have appeared on Douyin. The mobile phone number registration page also displays international telephone area codes of many countries around the world. Optional.

However, this does not mean that Douyin has opened overseas IP registration. Byte has not directly responded to whether Douyin has opened overseas user registration, and Douyin Group Li Liang responded on Weibo, "There are overseas IP It does not mean that they are overseas registered users. In addition, we have found that many people are fishing in troubled waters and transferring videos to imitate foreign users, especially some illegal gangs who want to take the opportunity to increase their followers and account numbers. It is difficult to identify these accounts these days. We are actively engaged in management and have disposed of more than 10,000 counterfeit products so far.Pretend to be a foreign user’s account. ”

In other words, some of the large number of videos recorded by foreigners currently appearing on Douyin may be overseas transportation or illegal production teams using "fake foreigners" to attract traffic .

Even leaving aside the external supervision issues that may be involved when foreign users register for APPs, whether foreign creators and users can integrate into platforms such as Douyin and Xiaohongshu These Internet communities are also a huge challenge.

Obviously Xiaohongshu is not ready for internationalization. An example is that today’s Xiaohongshu APP does not have the translation function necessary for international apps such as X, ins, and TikTok. After the influx of a large number of overseas users, cross-border communication in the comment area still relies on users speaking English or translators. Of course, this is not a complicated technical issue. With today’s level of AI infrastructure development, high-quality multilingual translation is easy to achieve. If necessary, it will not be difficult for Xiaohongshu’s product team to make functional updates in a short time.

The deeper challenge lies in how to operate international users on these community-based platforms.

Most of the overseas users who came to Xiaohongshu to "take refuge" today were motivated by their disgust at the ban on TikTok, but they enjoyed communicating with the users. Most of them are due to the "freshness" of contacting real users for the first time. The characteristic of the Xiaohongshu community is "sharing real life." Of course, it may be a little more refined than in the real world, but for more than 95% of Chinese and American users who have never been to each other, this kind of communication is full of freshness. .

Whether it's sharing each other's food, beautiful scenery, pets, helping with English homework, or playing some "You send me F22 cabin pictures, I'll ask you for them." This kind of real communication is undoubtedly new to both Chinese and American users.

But for the long-term user operation of a community, freshness is not enough to "keep it fresh". Just like after visa-free stay was opened to some people, many foreigners Just like traveling, Xiaohongshu has now become a cyber check-in destination for some Americans.

After the novelty wears off, it is important to allow overseas users to "live" here and consume content every day; to allow overseas creators to continue to contribute and Gain business benefits. Xiaohongshu still needs to operate users by IP areas as all overseas products have done, and furtherTo further build an overseas operation and commercialization system, this is no different from what Byte did back then, and it also has to compete with similar products such as Byte’s lemon8 and ins.

However, even if it cannot be a substitute for similar overseas products, it can exert value in some specific scenarios and open a window for overseas people to understand the reality. Xiaohongshu It is still possible to use this opportunity to discover new possibilities.

In fact, just as international students in the past used Xiaohongshu as a guide to studying abroad, you can still see Xiaohongshu’s user exchanges at home and abroad. In addition to being lively and fresh, it brought a lot of practical exchanges to both parties. For example, users provide local attractions and food guides for foreigners who want to travel, and authentic Europeans and Americans explain English grammar to students. This kind of "real usefulness" to users has always been the cornerstone of Xiaohongshu's community. In addition, this This opportunity may also be the beginning of Xiaohongshu’s international breakthrough.

In any case, the far-reaching impact of TikTok this time has long gone beyond the scope of simple products. After January 19, all the answers will gradually be revealed, and the many challenges and opportunities arising from this will surely become important issues for our long-term thinking in the future.