Tiktok ban legislation signed by POTUS
President Joe Biden signed legislation on Wednesday, Apr. 24, that could potentially ban TikTok, a popular social media platform among tech enthusiasts and the younger generations. According to CNN, TikTok has three options: sell the company in the next year, face a band in the US, or challenge the legislation in court. A Chinese-founded parent company, ByteDance, runs TikTok; “The law stipulates that ByteDance must sell its stake in TikTok in twelve months under the threat of being shut down,” explains NPR.
What would a TikTok ban in the United States look like? The Times explained that the exact mechanism for banning an app from privately owned phones is unclear. App stores such as Apple or Google will most likely be fined if they attempt to sell the app to customers. The Times also states that app store companies can delete apps on customers' phones, though this is incredibly rare. NPR states that the law banning TikTok would “make it illegal for web-hosting services to support TikTok” and force Google and Apple to remove TikTok from app stores, “rendering the app unusable in time.” This could potentially disrupt the daily lives of millions of TikTok users and impact the global social media landscape.
What are the potential incentives to ban TikTok in the U.S.? The Times states that the United States is concerned about the Chinese government “potentially accessing sensitive user data through the short-form video app TikTok.” As they explain, these concerns have prompted the U.S. government to pass legislation banning the platforms unless sold to a government-approved buyer. This underscores the national security implications of the TikTok situation.
Another significant concern is the potential for China to exploit TikTok’s content recommendations to spread misinformation, a growing issue in the digital age. The Times has detailed how this situation has “escalated in the United States during the Israel-Hamas war and the presidential election. Critics say that TikTok has fueled the spread of antisemitism.” Yet, The Times has also highlighted the sell-or-be-banned approach, which has raised concerns that the United States may be undermining its role in promoting an open and free internet that is not controlled by individual countries.
United States democratic Senator Maria Cantwell responded in an NPR article on Apr. 24, "Congress is acting to prevent foreign adversaries from conducting espionage, surveillance, maligned operations, harming vulnerable Americans, our servicemen and women, and our U.S. government personnel."
United States Senator Pete Ricketts told the media, “TikTok has more reach than our news sources, and we can’t allow that.” Ricketts expressed concern over youth exclusively getting their news, specifically about the Palestinian-Israel conflict, on TikTok. On the other hand, the opposition expressed their fears over Ricketts' alleged dog-whistling by using terms such as "Chinese Communist Party" and "racist agenda'' to back his views on the ban of TikTok. This highlights the complex and nuanced nature of the debate surrounding the potential ban.
While nothing is set in stone yet, concerns have been raised over the potential infringement of Americans' First Amendment rights—the right to free speech—if TikTok were to be banned nationally.
Thumbnail photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons