TikTok is a video sharing social media platform
Anatoly Babii / Alamy
The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear TikTok’s legal challenge to a US law banning the popular video-sharing app TikTok, which is expected to go into effect in early 2025. Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump has signaled he may take action against the law, raising new questions about whether it will survive.
What does a TikTok ban actually do?
Starting January 19, 2025, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Control Applications Act will prevent users from accessing TikTok through the app store unless TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, sells the app to the United States. U.S. companies such as Google and Apple will be prohibited from changing or updating the system. company. It would also require internet service providers to block the platform on US internet browsers. The bill was approved by the House and Senate with bipartisan support and signed into law by President Joe Biden in April 2024.
Kate Ruane of the Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, said the ban would make it virtually impossible for new users in the U.S. to download the TikTok app. For the 170 million existing TikTok users in the United States, the app may remain on their phones. However, not having access to updates will reduce functionality over time.
People in the United States may still access TikTok using virtual private network (VPN) services that disguise the user’s location. But the experience of using the app could still deteriorate, Ruan said. TikTok content will no longer be stored on nearby U.S. servers, so it will load more slowly.
These restrictions stem from privacy and security concerns. U.S. lawmakers fear that the Chinese government could force ByteDance to hand over TikTok users’ data, pressure the app to change its algorithms and present content that could manipulate public opinion. , said TikTok is a “national security threat.” However, no hard evidence has been provided to support these claims. TikTok said it has made significant investments to protect U.S. data from outside influence and manipulation.
“It is deeply concerning that a country like the United States, which has always led the world stage in championing a free, open, and interoperable internet, is taking steps to ban access to entire platforms within its borders. ‘This is unusual and should be done,’ says Luan.
Will the Supreme Court block TikTok’s ban?
Judges on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals previously upheld U.S. law, but the Supreme Court agreed to hear TikTok’s appeal. TikTok’s position is that the ban amounts to censorship that violates Americans’ right to free speech under the First Amendment.
“We hope courts will seriously address how this law violates these rights and how governments should account for the rights of social media users when seeking to regulate these speech platforms. I think so,” Luan said. “Despite the fact that some users have filed lawsuits claiming that this law violates their First Amendment rights, which are different from TikTok, the court did so in the process of considering this particular law.” have not done so.”
Ruane said the most likely short-term effect is that the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily halts enforcement of the law while the justices consider the case. This could delay the law’s implementation by months, no matter how long it takes for the Supreme Court to rule in 2025. TikTok specifically seeks such a suspension in its court filing.
Ruan said the ban violates First Amendment rights and that the government would be justified in such an outright ban if the Supreme Court found that the U.S. government had less restrictive options at its disposal. It is possible that an injunction could be issued that would make it virtually impossible to do so. The Supreme Court could also ask the lower D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider its analysis of the case. Such a decision could force governments to find more tightly tailored options for regulating TikTok.
How can Trump stop banning TikTok?
President-elect Trump supported plans to ban TikTok during his first term, but has since changed his mind. During the 2024 presidential campaign, he promised to “save TikTok” and urged American voters to support him in posts on his social media platform Truthsocial. On December 16, President Trump met with TikTok’s CEO and said at a subsequent press conference that his administration would “look into” the ban. Even if the Supreme Court ultimately agrees to keep the ban in place, President Trump could change the law’s impact.
For example, the president could go back to U.S. lawmakers and ask them to change domestic law by repealing or amending it, Ruan said. She also described a possible scenario in which President Trump could instruct his administration’s attorney general not to enforce the law, but warned that it would be outside the norm for how the U.S. government normally operates.
Even if President Trump’s attorney general announces that the US government will not enforce the ban, US companies such as Google and Apple remain reluctant to allow people to access apps through their platforms. There is a possibility. “If I’m in charge of legal risk at one of these companies, I can say, ‘We’re going to trust that (decision), so it’s OK to allow access to this app that’s banned.’ I don’t know if I can say that,’” Luann says.
What does the US ban on TikTok mean for the rest of the world?
If passed, the U.S. ban could have major ripple effects around the world. First, people in other countries will not be able to access new content from US-based TikTok creators and influencers. But more importantly, the U.S. government’s actions could prompt other countries to consider similar restrictions.
The US is not the first country to take action against TikTok, with the Indian government blocking the app since 2020, but Luan said the US ban would lead to “authoritarian regimes” They expressed concern that this could prompt the banning of all apps, including those that are Similar national security justification.
“This will no doubt be used as a justification to ban TikTok elsewhere, and to ban access to other applications that have served as important speech platforms in countries where the internet is less open. will also be used,” Luan said.
Will banning TikTok protect privacy?
The ostensible purpose of the ban is to protect the privacy of U.S. TikTok users and prevent their data from falling into the hands of other countries, as well as to prevent the Chinese government from potentially manipulating the content presented to U.S. app users. It is to address the concerns that there are. But Ruan says there are many alternative steps U.S. lawmakers could take before blocking TikTok completely.
For example, governments could require TikTok to be more transparent about how it collects and shares individual user data and what steps it takes to protect privacy. There is sex. Lawmakers could require platforms to share how their algorithms filter and control the content users see to alleviate concerns about tampering, Ruan said.
The U.S. government may also consider enacting consumer privacy laws that would provide better legal protections for how social media platforms share personal data with other companies and the government. “These consumer privacy and transparency choices are not as extreme as banning the entire platform,” Ruan said.
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(Tag Translation)Internet
