After President Donald Trump threw TikTok a temporary lifeline on January 20, the popular app is facing a fast-approaching deadline of April 5 that could end its operations in the US.
Shortly after he was sworn in, Mr Trump agreed to exercise an option in the bipartisan legislation that tried to force TikTok's China-based owner, ByteDance, to sell the platform to a US entity, giving the company 75 more days to come up with a solution that would keep the platform running.
The US President had initially supported a ban but reversed course after using the video-sharing platform to make inroads with younger voters during the November election.
“There is a lot of people interested in TikTok, and I think we have a chance of doing something good,” Mr Trump told reporters on Air Force One this week. “We'll be speaking to China about that also because they are a party to it too, obviously. But it would be great to keep TikTok alive and sell it to somebody that's going to do a great job with it.”
Despite ample speculation and investors in the US expressing interest in acquiring TikTok, there is still no indication from ByteDance that it is willing to sell the platform.
After suffering several court losses, most importantly at the US Supreme Court, TikTok briefly shut down in the US on January 19, telling users that it hoped to find a solution with Mr Trump.
After Mr Trump's lifeline, TikTok took its services back to the US. It also secured important win this month when Apple and Google returned the app to their stores.
“Our US users can download the latest version of our app and continue to create, discover and share what they love on TikTok,” the company said.
With TikTok back on app stores, users do not have to worry about it malfunctioning due to a lack of updates pushed to devices around the world.
What prompted the app to reappear in two of the biggest mobile app stores? According to a report from Bloomberg, a letter from US Attorney General Pam Bondi to Apple and Google, assuring the tech giants that they would not be held accountable for the app while deliberations continue.
Yet TikTok, and its more than 170 million active users in the US, is not necessarily out of the woods given ByteDance's seeming reluctance to sell the platform.
At the heart of all the litigated drama surrounding TikTok is the debate around user data security. During his first term, Mr Trump in 2020 expressed concern that TikTok would compromise US user data, and therefore US national security. He supported bipartisan legislation to ban TikTok or force its sale to a US company.
TikTok has repeatedly denied accusations about the integrity of user data.
Prof Mark MacCarthy, a senior fellow at the Institute for Technology Law and Policy at Georgetown Law in Washington, said TikTok's hope of surviving in the US may now depend less on a legal or legislative answer, and more on a geopolitical solution.
“If progress can be made on defusing the tariff challenge and tensions over Taiwan and increasing China’s exports to the US and so on, then some arrangement can be found to allow TikTok to continue to flourish in the US,” he said.
What happens to TikTok, Prof MacCarthy said, would also be a bellwether for other China-owned entities such as DeepSeek, Temu and Shein.
“The next few months are crucial, and it is much broader than TikTok,” he said. “People are deriding Trump’s approach as transactional, but he is simply taking a very broad view of the relationship and is willing to make concessions in one area in order to advance US interests in other areas.”
With its legal options exhausted, TikTok is waging a PR war, taking its fight to the streets with an advertising campaign showing how the platform helps small business owners and content creators throughout the US.
It also is trying to address concerns about the security of user data. "TikTok takes national security concerns seriously and continues to take proactive steps to ensure US user data is protected”, the company said this month. “The facts are clear: TikTok has gone further than any other platform in protecting US user data.”
Many US politicians are sceptical of such claims, including Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas.
“That TikTok ad is a perfect example of a Chinese Communist influence operation infiltrating and corrupting American business, culture and society,” Mr Cotton posted on X, referring to TikTok's recent 30-second TV advertisement.
Mr Cotton did not mince words before Mr Trump gave TikTok a 75-day extension.
“ByteDance and its Chinese Communist masters had nine months to sell TikTok before the Sunday deadline,” he posted on X on January 17.
Jim Louderback, a digital media expert and author of Inside the Creator Economy newsletter, said despite recent wins giving TikTok oxygen, its US future is far from assured.
“This is the law of the land passed by the Congress of the US, and the Supreme Court unequivocally didn’t turn that down,” Mr Louderback said. “The President’s powers in our government, he doesn’t have the ability to unilaterally overturn a law passed by Congress.”
He said that among the rumoured potential buyers for TikTok, should it divest, are Microsoft, billionaire Frank McCourt and YouTuber MrBeast.
“Whomever buys it – it has to be more than 50 per cent of control – all the data has to be local in the US, without ByteDance having the ability to access that data, and that’s going to be really hard to figure out, and that’s the burden that whomever buys it is going to have deal figure out.”
Mr Louderback also re-emphasised the greatest sticking point to any deal – ByteDance's reluctance to give up its controlling share of the popular social platform that has become the envy of the technology and entertainment world.
He also said TikTok's recent PR campaign and increased stance on data privacy might be aimed at the US Congress reversing the bill, which has caused it so much consternation for more than a year.
“It certainly seems like all this might be connected,” Mr Louderback added.
ByteDance did not respond to The National's requests to take part in this story, or to comment on a possible sale of the TikTok platform.
Salim A Essaid contributed to this report.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
Classification of skills
A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.
A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.
The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000.
'Manmarziyaan' (Colour Yellow Productions, Phantom Films)
Director: Anurag Kashyap
Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu, Vicky Kaushal
Rating: 3.5/5
'The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey'
Rating: 3/5
Directors: Ramin Bahrani, Debbie Allen, Hanelle Culpepper, Guillermo Navarro
Writers: Walter Mosley
Stars: Samuel L Jackson, Dominique Fishback, Walton Goggins
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
Abaya trends
The utilitarian robe held dear by Arab women is undergoing a change that reveals it as an elegant and graceful garment available in a range of colours and fabrics, while retaining its traditional appeal.
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
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- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
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