Impending TikTok Ban: What does this mean for you?

I’m sure you’ve all seen the headlines at this point. On TikTok, another social media website, your parents, etc. TIKTOK IS GETTING BANNED. 

But… is it? No.

Then what is it? Great question.

The US House of Representatives recently passed a bill by a vote of 352-65 to “ban” TikTok. The bill received more opposition from the Democrats’ side, their arguments being based on censorship among other more political things. This clears the way for the Senate to vote on the bill at some point, and if that passes, it will head to the White House for Joe Biden’s approval. 

So, why is this happening?

TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is a Chinese company. China has more restrictions on technology freedoms, and Chinese companies normally must provide user data to the government. With the “Spy Balloon” saga a few years ago, there are reasonable concerns over what information China is getting about their US users through apps owned by Chinese companies - approximately 170 million Americans in this case, per TikTok data. 

The order from the US government is that the parent company of TikTok must sell all of their shares of TikTok to avoid a ban in the US. Originally, this was viewed as unlikely, but now it is seen as a possibility with former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin trying to piece together a group of investors to buy TikTok.

All of this surely raises the obvious question other than what data China may be getting on people in the US. Still, it also raises questions about freedom in technology if the US may be aiming to fully ban TikTok, and therefore restricting the freedom to use apps as people wish. 

Though the US has not officially banned TikTok yet,  39 states have enacted TikTok bans on government devices exclusively. 

So, what does this mean for you? Well, as of right now, nothing. There’s no word on when the Senate vote will be. And if that passes, we have to assume that Joe Biden’s younger advisors have to be urging him to consider the risks of this; although, Biden, himself, has said he would sign a ban. For one, TikTok is a great campaign tool for Joe Biden and Democrats as they happen to be a younger, more technologically advanced audience and that surely had some impact in 2020.

Otherwise, a sale of TikTok is expected to take well over 6 months, and a ban is likely to occur in the meantime even if the process is occurring. If a ban were to occur, the assumption would be that traffic from TikTok would transfer over to sites like Instagram and Twitter. Currently, most viral content from TikTok already makes its way onto other social media alternatives. Other major companies are already transforming sites to be compatible with short-form content, so the expected assumption would be that those alternatives receive the traffic.

Nobody knows what will happen as of right now, but we’ll get more information within the next few weeks.

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