One of the social-media platforms that has been very successful is TikTok – it shares videos, people can make money from their viewership and because it is successful it draws a large number of advertising dollars. TikTok was invented in China and is owned by a company called ByteDance and the issue of what happens to its data has always been a concern. US authorities have claimed ByteDance is very close to the ruling Communist party and thus the government makes the app and its information collection a national security threat.

In an article by Alan Rappeport and Jose Bautista of the New York Times News Service TikTok has emerged as one of the biggest points of contention between the world’s largest economies. For the US, Treasury Secretary Scott Besssent and Jamieson Greer, the US trade representative have been the point people on the negotiations, the Chinese delegation is led by He Lifeng, Vice Premier for economic policy.

The solution that has evolved is for TikTok US and its servers continue to operate but owned by a US company. A number of firms have been rumored to be interested.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, TikTok is popular among young people and the issue will be its staying power for the next generation. If you are older, it is important to stay in contact with younger people to see what they use. Many times they will use something you do not simply because the older people do not use it. That suggests every generation will have their platform and it continually moves around the internet. If you invest in a company that becomes less popular with a generation it is still possible to make profits, but you can treat it as a utility not a growth company.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.