TikTok's Project Texas

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TikTok has a plan in process just to make sure they don't get banned and it's called Project Texas. TikTok is very much trying to distance itself from ByteDance because it doesn't want to be forced to totally spin off fromByteDance. The Wi-Fi says ByteDance, the conference room TVs say ByteDance; there are even portraits of Chairman Mao on the walls. This is all designed to avoid the government trying to force a ban or actual spinoff where a separate entity is created away from ByteD Dance.

Politicians across the United States are calling for an outright ban on the popular social media platform. Alex Heath, deputy editor at The Verge, explains how TikTok hopes to pre-empt one from ever passing.

This episode was produced by Hady Mawajdeh, edited by Matt Collette, fact-checked by Laura Bullard with help from Haleema Shah, engineered by Patrick Boyd, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram.

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