For a moment, it seemed like the end of a generation-defining social-media app and an anticlimactic conclusion to a years-long saga. “Essentially, with TikTok, I have the right to sell it or close it,” he said, after signing the order. And so it goes: the line between government and private interests has blurred beyond distinction during Trump’s second term, the President’s economic policy resembling a system of patronage rather than a rules-based market economy. Having handpicked TikTok’s new majority ownership, the White House now wants the app’s devoted audience, too. The app makes it easy to stitch together video clips and overlay them with audio and text, its content optimized for a vertical smartphone screen, the infinite scroll.