Tiktok has until the beginning of April to find an American buyer. Until then, the app cannot be updated in the USA.
It's an eternity in our world. It's important to remember that this is not an obscure crossword app – we're talking about one of the world's most influential apps, says Marcus Nohlberg, associate professor of information technology at the University of Skövde.
Popular apps are often updated, sometimes several times a week. This is done to improve and introduce new features, and to remove bugs.
But what's actually most important is general security updates. In large enough apps, there are always security vulnerabilities waiting to be exploited, says Marcus Nohlberg, associate professor at the University of Skövde.
Seeking weaknesses
Malicious actors are constantly looking for weaknesses to exploit in large apps, seeking user data, credit card information, or a way into the device the app is installed on. Developers, on the other hand, patch security holes through updates when they become aware of them.
The more users you have, the more people try to exploit the apps. Therefore, it becomes more important to ensure that they are updated, says Nohlberg.
The app can continue to be updated outside of the USA. But Nohlberg says it's complicated to split the codebase. The two different versions may not work together after a while.
A security vulnerability can thus be discovered, where the bug fix risks excluding the American public, according to Nohlberg.
Considering how much money and prestige are at stake, they will probably rather choose to have an insecure product that the USA has access to, he says and continues:
So the nasty thing is that we become less secure here because the Americans can't update their apps.
Can get worse
Tiktok is in a kind of limbo in the USA. President Donald Trump has extended the deadline for owner Bytedance to sell the platform, to avoid being forced out of the USA. During the deadline, the app is removed from digital stores, which is why it can't be updated either.
There is also a risk that Tiktok will start to malfunction without updates. Anecdotal examples of bugs and instability are beginning to emerge on online forums and among users.
It's very possible that the user experience will become increasingly strange, says Nohlberg.
Tiktok has declined to comment.
Tiktok is threatened with shutdown in the USA if its Chinese parent company Bytedance does not find an American buyer. The motive is that the app is considered a national security threat, as the Chinese state could theoretically use it to spy on or influence American users.
Former President Joe Biden signed the law, which has also been tested by the Supreme Court. It came into effect on January 19, the day before President Donald Trump took office. As a result, the app was unusable in the USA for a few hours.
But on his first day as president, Donald Trump gave the popular app a 75-day deadline to find a solution, and the app is now available to Americans who already have it installed. Trump has said that he thinks the USA should own half of Tiktok.
