Admittedly, I don't know the details, so I'll concede readily if someone has something to say I'm flat out wrong, but TikTok is on fire with lawyers posting their legal analysis of the situation, and the overwhelming concensus that a couple years ago, a series of laws were passed that would make it illegal for a US company to purchase a Chinese algorithm.
The company, the branding, yes.
Specifically the algorithm, no.
Paranoid people who don't know how to open a PDF passed laws that make that nearly, if not entirely, impossible.
Or so a bunch of lawyers that have side TikTok gigs say.
They are anticipating that being a core argument when TikTok US sues the federal government.