After TikTok's "two regardless" service was suspended tonight, some merchants moved to Temu or Amazon

On January 19th, Beijing time, ByteDance's short video platform TikTok was officially delisted from Apple and Google app stores. In addition, ByteDance's overseas editing software CapCut, graphic platform Lemon8, educational product Gauth, image editing and creation tool Hypic, enterprise office suite product Lark, as well as ByteDance's popular card game Marvel Snap under the Nuverseissuance, will follow TikTok's pace and announce the suspension of services.

An overseas employee of ByteDance told the first financial reporter that at present, the products in ByteDance mainly follow the rhythm of TikTok, and the overall announcement of the suspension of the service is based on the active ban made based on the results of the previous ban to avoid legal compliance problems. The next step needs to be judged according to the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump, "take it one step at a time." ”

The ban on TikTok, originally initiated by the Biden administration, is now being passed on to the incoming U.S. presidential team. The White House press secretary previously stated that the implementation of the ban would be handed over to the next administration. The Trump transition team has not yet responded immediately to the shutdown of TikTok. TikTok and other products in the U.S. voluntarily shut down, passively entering a state of 'no man's land'.

Tomorrow (the 20th) is the date when Donald Trump, the US President-elect, will be officially inaugurated. Previously, Trump had said it was "highly likely" that he would give TikTok a 90-day ban extension after taking office.

But the postponement does not mean the cancellation of the law, because at the legal level, the "Protect Americans from the Influence of Foreign Adversary Control Applications" (PAFACA) signed by Biden is based on the bill passed by both houses of Congress, passed the congressional legislative process, and finally received the support of the Supreme Court, resulting in TikTok's current suspension in the United States. Although Trump's executive order against TikTok in 2020 was based on the IEEPA (International Emergency Economic Powers Act) and the NEA (National Emergency Act), it faced multiple legal challenges in the implementation process and was not fully implemented. Huang Minda, a partner at Qinglu's New York office, told reporters that the PAFACA Act is an effective law, and TikTok chooses to comply with it.

The impact of the suspension of delist for all products in Byte America is gradually spreading. Wang Zhihua, co-founder of Chinese media MCN, who is engaged in e-commerce business on the TikTok platform, told the first financial reporter that after talking, TikTok operators revealed the meaning of maintaining stability: on January 19, TikTok will definitely be closed, but after that, the platform has three plans, one is that TikTok will resume online after Trump takes office on January 20; second, it will resume online at the end of January; Third, it will resume online at the end of February. The overall attitude is optimistic, but it depends on the specific way of resuming the launch, whether it is part of the business online or the business is divested and then launched.

Wang Zhihua said that although the general direction is optimistic, considering the inventory pressure and cost impact, some merchants have begun to transfer some of their goods to Pinduoduo's cross-border e-commerce platform Temu, Amazon, or other countries' TikTok platforms. Most merchants choose the first two options based on reasons such as storage and transportation costs.

A TikTok merchant received a platform email stating that platform user support, merchant support, and merchant operations teams will continue to provide services. Ongoing orders, shipping, returns and refunds, settlements, and account management will remain unchanged. For merchants using FBT (Fulfilled By TikTok, the platform's logistics service), TikTok will continue to fulfill all existing orders and provide after-sales service. FBT warehousing fees will be waived starting from January 19th. As of the time of writing, TikTok has not officially confirmed the content of the email.

Wang's optimism is based in part on TikTok's previous case in the Indonesian market. On September 28, 2023, the Indonesian government announced a ban on social media companies promoting goods on their platforms to protect local small businesses and user data; On October 4, 2023, TikTok announced that it would cease its online retail business in Indonesia; In December 2023, TikTok reached an e-commerce strategic cooperation with PT GoTo Gojek Tokopedia Tbk (hereinafter referred to as "GoTo"), Indonesia's largest Internet technology company, according to which TikTok acquired a 75.01% stake in Tokopedia for $840 million; On February 2, 2024, the integration was completed, and TikTok also restarted its e-commerce business in Indonesia.

Previously, the U.S. Supreme Court debated whether the 'sell or ban' law regarding TikTok violated the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In the end, the Supreme Court ruled 9:0 that the 'sell or ban' law is in accordance with the U.S. Constitution. Huang Minda, summarizing the characteristics of this debate, stated that the judgment was quick, brief, and avoided many controversial issues. The future situation of TikTok and other ByteDance overseas products in the U.S. market largely depends on the actions of President Trump after taking office. Previously, TikTok CEO Zhang Yiming publicly expressed gratitude to President-elect Trump for his commitment to cooperate with TikTok and find a solution that allows TikTok to be available in the United States. It is exciting to have a president who truly understands the platform's support.

Huang Minda said that judging from the current legal framework, Trump can do very little if he wants to avoid TikTok being banned. If Trump wants to overturn the ban bill, he needs to push Congress to revise the law, which is very difficult; Second, Trump could also suspend the bill at his discretion by appointing the attorney general, but the companies that provide services for TikTok themselves may suspend their services.

As of press time, Oracle, TikTok's main cloud service provider, has told employees to shut down the servers hosting TikTok data at 21:00 EST on January 18. Apple and Google delisted TikTok from its app store on the evening of January 18, and users can no longer download the TikTok app.

(Article source: Yicai)

Source: Oriental Fortune Network

Author: First Financial