A law is being passed in the USA to ban TikTok unless its Chinese parent company decides to sell the platform. Though it is unclear right now when this ban will be enforced; however, the action itself has sent shockwaves in the tech world over the freedom to operate trans-nationally amid a politically tense situation. On January 19, the company issued a statement highlighting its sheer commitment to resolving the issue under the Trump presidency:
“In an agreement with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring services. We thank President Trump for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties for providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans and allowing over 7 million small businesses to thrive. It is a strong stand for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship. We will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States.”
In this blog, UnityDiv will discuss in detail the latest happenings on the TikTok ban in the USA from all possible angles. So, let’s start the exploration of the issue.
What is TikTok?
With over 4.5 billion downloads, TikTok, a short video-sharing social media app, was launched in 2016 by a Chinese startup company, ByteDance, for mobile devices and webcams. Since its invention, the app has been able to attract both popularity and controversy. It became widely known and acceptable to the public for its financial lucrativeness for the creators, high engagement potential, and addictive features.
The short span, sound effects, and parody allowed it to become a unique platform offering a unique interaction and content-sharing style, even allowing users to sell, buy, and market the products. However, its existence has not been without any controversy, particularly in countries like the United States, which claim it to be a Chinese instrument used to perpetuate propaganda and appropriate data.
TikTok and Controversy
TikTok has often found itself in trouble waters in many states because of the following reasons:
- Quirky and controversial content style.
- Date breaching
- Propagandization
Countries’ Concern Over TikTok
It is not only the United States that shows its concern over TikTok usage in its countries. Many countries like India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan showed the same concern. For example, the Indian government in mid-2020 securitized the platform as a threat to the country’s national sovereignty amid a border tussle with neighboring China.
Similarly, the company was banned in Bangladesh and Indonesia over explicitly showcasing inappropriate and blasphemous content. However, the ban was removed upon the platform’s assurance that it would monitor and sanitize the objectionable content. The public in Pakistan is also quite hot and bothered over the quirky content on TikTok, resulting in blocked access to the app all over Pakistan in 2021 under the provisions of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (2016).
Ban in TikTok USA
The recent talks about the ban on TikTok in the USA are not new to the town. In 2019, the company was given a penalty of a hefty $5.7 million by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for the illegal collection of data by manipulating children. In 2020, the US Potus again questioned the platform for alleged violation of the privacy of US citizens.
As a result of repeated concerns over the platform, legislation was passed by the US legislature to ban TikTok in 2022. President Biden signed it into law in 2024 to ban it for the USA user base from 2025. The ban is set to apply billions of dollars of penalties to tech companies that will allow access to the app.
However, the new President Trump has vowed to save it by using an executive order to delay the law’s implementation. He asserted: “We have to save it.” He also wrote:
“I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture. By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands, and allow it to stay up. Without US approval, there is no TikTok. With our approval, it is worth hundreds of billions of dollars- maybe trillions.”
Supreme Court Stance on TikTok Ban in USA
Supreme Court upheld the law by rejecting the company’s argument that the crackdown on the platform violated free speech. The jury, in response, wrote unanimously:
“TikTok scale and susceptibility to foreign adversary control, together with the vast swaths of the sensitive data the platform collects, justify differential treatment to address the government’s national security concerns.”
The Supreme Court’s response underscores the trade and technological war between rival powers in a bid for hegemony and preponderance over the world at the expense of others, underscoring the adoption of zero-sum game over cooperation. In other words, to understand the nature of the latest TikTok ban updates, it is important to understand the geo-political dynamics between both countries (China and the United States of America).
Reasons for TikTok Ban in the USA
Here are a few explicit reasons for the TikTok shuts down in the United States:
- The platform addictiveness is a big concern. It reduces the users’ attention span and gives them a quick overflux of dopamine, preventing their ability to take informed and decisive action.
- The USA blamed the platform for spreading misinformation even though the platform has a clear policy regarding that and asserts that it does not allow any political ads and propaganda.
- The USA has raised concern over the platform’s safety for children because of the availability of inappropriate and obscene content despite features like restrictions to use private messaging that claim to give a different user experience to children below the age of 13.
- TikTok is held responsible for data breaches and data selling to data brokers without consent.
Final Thoughts
What the fate of TikTok in the USA will be is a question that is currently the talk of the town. The platform, whose current value stands somewhere around $100 billion, needs a political breakthrough for its survival in the Western world, which stands at sixes and seven when it comes to trusting China-based tech apps for local consumer usage.
Stay connected with UnityDiv because we will keep you covered about the TikTok Ban updates. Moreover, if you want our website development and digital marketing services, contact us now to get the best quote.
