TikTok is a video sharing social media platform
Anatolii Babii / Alamy
A US law banning the popular video-sharing app TikTok is set to go into effect in early 2025, but the US Supreme Court has struck it down. agree to hear TikTok’s legal case. Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump has indicated that he may take action against the law, raising new questions about whether it will remain in effect.
What would banning TikTok actually do?
From January 19, 2025, “Americans Protecting Foreign Adversaries Controlled Applications Act” would block US companies such as Google and Apple from allowing users to access or update TikTok through their app stores, unless TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance sells the app to a US company. Additionally, ISPs should block the platform from US Internet browsers. It was passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate with bipartisan support before being signed into law by President Joe Biden in April 2024.
If the ban is implemented, it would be nearly impossible for new users in the US to download the TikTok app, he says Kate Ruane at the Center for Democracy & Technology, a non-profit organization based in Washington, DC. For the 170 million TikTok users in the US, the app may be stuck on their phones. Without access to updates, however, its functionality would degrade over time.
People in the US can still access TikTok virtual private network (VPN) a service that disguises the user’s location. But the experience of using the app could still deteriorate, Ruan says: Since TikTok content would not be located on servers around the US, it would load more slowly.
These restrictions stem from privacy and security concerns. Members of the US Legislature They say TikTok is a “threat to national security” because the Chinese government could force ByteDance to hand over TikTok user data or pressure the app to change its algorithm by presenting content that could manipulate public opinion. However, no firm evidence has been provided to support these claims. TikTok said has invested heavily in keeping US data safe from external influence and manipulation.
“It’s very troubling that a country like the United States, which has consistently been a leader in championing a free, open and interoperable Internet, now takes a step to ban access to an entire platform within its borders, which is an extraordinary measure,” says Ruan.
Will Supreme Court Block TikTok Ban?
Although previously a judge on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals allowed In order to uphold the US law, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear TikTok’s appeal. on TikTok the position is that the ban is censorship that violates the free speech rights granted to Americans under the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
“I would like to see how this law affects those rights and how the government should consider the rights of social media users when trying to regulate these speech platforms,” says Ruan. “Courts haven’t done that when looking at this particular law, even though there are users who are suing, saying the law violates their First Amendment rights, as opposed to TikTok.”
The likely short-term effect is that the U.S. Supreme Court will temporarily suspend implementation of the law while the justices consider the case, Ruan says. That could delay the law’s effects by months, the time it takes for the Supreme Court to make a decision in 2025. TikTok has specifically requested such a stay in its court filing.
If the Supreme Court finds that the ban violates First Amendment rights, and the US government has less restrictive options available to it, it could issue an order that makes it impossible for the government to justify such an outright ban, Ruan says. The Supreme Court could also ask the lower DC Circuit Court of Appeals to reexamine the case. Such decisions may force the government to find more specific options for regulating TikTok.
How could Trump prevent the TikTok ban?
During his first term, President-elect Trump endorsed plans to ban TikTok, but has since reversed his stance. During the 2024 presidential campaign, he promised “meet TikTok“Truth Social in a post on his social media platform, while encouraging US voters to support him. On December 16, Trump get to know TikTok’s CEO later said at a press conference that his administration would “take a look” at the ban. Even if the Supreme Court ultimately agrees to lift the ban, Trump could change the law’s effect.
For example, the president can go back to U.S. lawmakers and ask them to change the national law by repealing or amending it, Ruan says. Trump also described a scenario in which his administration’s US attorney general could be directed not to enforce the law, although he warned that this would be outside the rules by which the US government has normally operated.
Although Trump’s attorney general announced that the US government would not enforce the ban, US companies such as Google and Apple may be reluctant to allow people to access the app through their platforms. “If I’m dealing with legal risk at one of these companies, I don’t know if I’d say” if we’re going to trust (that decision), it’s okay to allow access to this banned app. ”, says Ruan.
What would the US TikTok ban mean for the rest of the world?
Going forward, the US ban could have a major impact on the rest of the world. For starters, people in other countries wouldn’t have access to new content from US-based TikTok creators and influencers. But more crucially, the US government’s actions could prompt other countries to adopt similar restrictions.
The US is not the first nation to act against TikTok – the Indian government has blocked the app since 2020 – but Ruan expressed concern that a US ban would allow “authoritarian regimes” to ban any app, including some developed in the US. similar national security justifications.
“I think it will absolutely be used as justification to ban TikTok elsewhere, but also to ban access to other apps that have served as important conversational platforms in countries where the internet would otherwise not be open,” says Ruan.
Would banning TikTok protect privacy?
The purported purpose of the ban is to protect the privacy of US TikTok users – to prevent their data from falling into the hands of another nation – and to address concerns that the Chinese government could manipulate the content presented to US app users. But Ruan says there are many alternative actions US lawmakers can take before blocking TikTok outright.
For example, the government could demand that TikTok be more transparent about how it collects and shares user data and what measures it takes to protect their privacy. To ease concerns about manipulation, lawmakers could require the platform to share how its algorithms filter and curate the content users see, Ruan says.
The US government could also consider adopting a consumer privacy to provide better legal protections for how social media platforms share individuals’ data with other companies or governments. “Those choices about consumer privacy and transparency are more extreme than banning an entire platform,” says Ruan.
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