[UPDATED] TikTok Looming Ban in the U.S: Everything You Need To Know

UPDATE: The U.S. House of Representatives has passed the bill that could potentially ban TikTok or force its divestment from ByteDance. It passed with 352 votes supporting it and 65 members voting against it.

“We are hopeful that the Senate will consider the facts, listen to their constituents, and realize the impact on the economy, 7 million small businesses, and the 170 million Americans who use our service,” said Michael Hughes, TikTok spokesperson.

Even after surviving legislation that could have banned TikTok in the US in 2020, the short-form vertical video platform is still under intense oversight among U.S. officials especially now that its voters will be heading to the polls to participate in the 2024 presidential elections taking place in Spring.

TikTok survived the scrutiny by partnering up with Texas-based Oracle Corp to use its US-based serves to store all American user data and also have them be a government proctor.

But TikTok has again been caught by surprise and so are its over 170 million users in the U.S.

National security concerns led to the creation of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, a bipartisan bill that aims to ban ByteDance-owned TikTok in the United States or force them to sell the app within 165 days.

TikTok knew the legislation was in the works but was not aware it would gain this much support and so quickly and thus the scrambled responses from the company last week who urged users to ring their representatives to “help them stop the shutdown” which backfired.

“This is my message to TikTok: break up with the Chinese Communist Party or lose access to your American users. America’s foremost adversary has no business controlling a dominant media platform in the United States. TikTok’s time in the United States is over unless it ends its relationship with CCP-controlled ByteDance,” said Chairman Mike Gallagher (R-WI).

“So long as it is owned by ByteDance and thus required to collaborate with the CCP, TikTok poses critical threats to our national security. Our bipartisan legislation would protect American social media users by driving the divestment of foreign adversary-controlled apps to ensure that Americans are protected from the digital surveillance and influence operations of regimes that could weaponize their personal data against them,” added Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL).

Men would rather ban TikTok than go to therapy—er, pass comprehensive data privacy laws
— Scott Nover (@ScottNover) March 11, 2024

This bill gives President Biden, who’s already on the app as part of his reelection campaign, authority to ban the app and other apps by ByteDance from being accessible on mobile app stores or websites in the United States.

The app is already banned on government phones in some cities and states.

In 2020, President Trump had signed an executive order to try and ban the app which was later blocked by a federal judge.

Trump, who just won the GOP nomination for this year’s election, is now TikTok’s unlikely friend and is against banning the app saying “Frankly, there are a lot of people on TikTok that love it. There are a lot of young kids on TikTok who will go crazy without it.”

“If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business. I don’t want Facebook, who cheated in the last Election, doing better. They are a true Enemy of the People!” he posted in a Truth Social post.

“I don’t get the rush to do it in the middle of an election year when we are making tremendous progress with Gen-Z,” said Trump ally and GOP strategist Alex Bruesewitz.

The bill has already its first round and will be debated later today where all House members will vote and if it passes a two-thirds majority, head to the Senate and then if passed under the vote, is presented to Biden who will either veto the bill or sign it.

It’s worth noting that it this bill faces an uncertain path in the Senate.

TikTok bans have not fared well in the courts, and any bill that serves as an effective TikTok ban faces likely judicial adversity.

Three separate federal district courts have found TikTok bans to be unconstitutional, on grounds including as a First Amendment violation. (1/3)
— Bobby Allyn (@BobbyAllyn) March 12, 2024

If it gets banned, TikTok’s rivals could take over including Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts who’ve been playing catch up. But now, TikTok is working on another new app.

It looks like TikTok is planning to launch a TikTok Photos app that will be interoperable with the current app. Code inside the app points that the app could paunch very soon and that TikTok will “sync your public photos to the new app, whether you close the pop-up or not”

The app will have a stylized “P” instead of the music note logo.