Since its introduction to the US in 2018, TikTok has been combating for its proper to exist. First, the corporate struggled to persuade the general public that it wasn’t only for pre-teens making cringey memes; then it needed to make the case that it wasn’t accountable for the platform’s rampant misinformation (or cultural appropriation … or pro-anorexia content material … or doubtlessly lethal tendencies … or normal creepiness, and so forth). However principally, and particularly over the previous three years, TikTok has been combating in opposition to elevated scrutiny from US lawmakers about its ties to the Chinese language authorities through its China-based father or mother firm, ByteDance.
On March 1, the US Home International Affairs Committee voted to provide President Biden the facility to ban TikTok. However banning TikTok isn’t so simple as flipping a swap and deleting the app from each American’s telephone. It’s a advanced knot of technical and political selections that might have penalties for US-China relations, for the cottage trade of influencers that has blossomed over the previous 5 years, and for tradition at massive. The entire thing may be overblown.
The factor is, no person actually is aware of if a TikTok ban, nevertheless broad or all-encompassing, will even occur in any respect or how it could work if it did. It’s been three years for the reason that US authorities has critically begun contemplating the likelihood, however the future stays simply as murky as ever. Right here’s what we all know to date.
1. Do politicians even use TikTok? Do they know the way it works or what they’re making an attempt to ban?
Among the many challenges lawmakers face in making an attempt to ban TikTok outright is a public relations downside. People already assume their authorities leaders are too previous, ill-equipped to take care of fashionable tech, and customarily out of contact. A type of custom has even emerged each time Congress tries to do oversight of Massive Tech: A committee will convene a listening to, tech CEOs will present up, after which lawmakers make fools of themselves by asking questions that reveal how little they know in regards to the platforms they’re making an attempt to rein in.
Congress has by no means heard from TikTok’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, in a public committee listening to earlier than, however representatives will get their probability this month. In contrast to with most of the American social media firms they’ve scrutinized earlier than, few members of Congress have in depth expertise with TikTok. Few use it for marketing campaign functions, and even fewer use it for official functions. Although no less than a number of dozen members have some type of account, most don’t have huge followings. There are some notable exceptions: Sen. Bernie Sanders, and Reps. Katie Porter of California, Jeff Jackson of North Carolina, and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota use it steadily for official and marketing campaign causes and have huge followings, whereas Sens. Jon Ossoff of Georgia and Ed Markey of Massachusetts are inactive on it after utilizing it extensively throughout their campaigns in 2020 and 2021. —Christian Paz
2. Who’s behind these efforts? Who’s making an attempt to ban TikTok or making an attempt to impose restrictions?
Whereas TikTok doesn’t have vocal defenders in Congress, it does have an extended checklist of vocal antagonists from throughout the nation, who span celebration and ideological traces in each the Senate and the Home.
The main Republicans hoping to ban TikTok are Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Josh Hawley of Missouri, and Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, who’s the brand new chairman of the Home choose committee on competitors with China. All three have launched some type of laws trying to ban the app or pressure its father or mother firm ByteDance to promote the platform to an American firm. Many extra Republicans in each chambers who’re critics of China, like Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Ted Cruz of Texas, endorse some type of harder restriction on the app.
Impartial Sen. Angus King of Maine has additionally joined Rubio in introducing laws that might ban the app.
Democrats are much less united of their opposition to the platform. Sens. Mark Warner of Virginia and Michael Bennet of Colorado are two vocal skeptics. Bennet has known as for Apple and Google to take away the app from their app shops, whereas Warner desires stronger guardrails for tech firms that might ban a “class of purposes” as an alternative of a single app (that’s the identical place Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts is taking). Within the Home, Gallagher’s Democratic counterpart, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois, has additionally known as for a ban or harder restrictions, although he doesn’t assume a ban will occur this yr. —Christian Paz
3. What’s the relationship between TikTok and the Chinese language authorities? Have they got customers’ information?
For those who ask TikTok, the corporate will inform you there isn’t a relationship and that it has not and wouldn’t give US person knowledge to the Chinese language authorities.
However TikTok is owned by ByteDance, an organization based mostly in Beijing that’s topic to Chinese language legal guidelines. These legal guidelines compel companies to help the federal government each time it asks, which many imagine would pressure ByteDance to provide the Chinese language authorities any person knowledge it has entry to each time it asks for it. Or it might be ordered to push sure sorts of content material, like propaganda or disinformation, on American customers.
We don’t know if this has really occurred at this level. We solely know that it may, assuming ByteDance even has entry to TikTok’s US person knowledge and algorithms. TikTok has been working onerous to persuade everybody that it has protections in place that wall off US person knowledge from ByteDance and, by extension, the Chinese language authorities. —Sara Morrison
4. What occurs to folks whose revenue comes from TikTok? If there’s a ban, is it even potential for creators to seek out related success on Reels or Shorts or different platforms?
Most individuals who’ve counted on TikTok as their important income have lengthy been ready for a potential ban. Fifteen years into the influencer trade, it’s previous hat that, finally, social media platforms will betray their most loyal customers in a method or one other. Plus, after President Trump tried a ban in the summertime of 2020, many established TikTokers diversified their on-line presence by focusing extra of their efforts on different platforms like Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts.
That doesn’t imply that dropping TikTok received’t harm influencers. No different social platform is sort of nearly as good as TikTok at turning a very unknown particular person or model into a worldwide celebrity, because of its emphasis on discovery versus preserving folks updated on the customers they already comply with. Which implies that with out TikTok, it’ll be far tougher for aspiring influencers to see the type of in a single day success loved by OG TikTokers.
The excellent news is that there’s possible extra money to be made on different platforms, particularly Instagram Reels. Creators can generally make tens of 1000’s of {dollars} monthly from Instagram’s creator fund, which rewards customers with cash based mostly on the variety of views their movies get. Instagram can also be seen as a safer, extra predictable platform for influencers of their dealings with manufacturers, which may use an influencer’s earlier metrics to set a good charge for the work. (It’s a unique story on TikTok, the place even a put up by somebody with tens of millions of followers may get buried by the algorithm, and it’s much less evident that previous success will proceed sooner or later.) —Rebecca Jennings
5. What does the TikTok ban appear to be to me, the person? Am I going to get arrested for utilizing TikTok?
Nearly definitely not. The most probably manner a ban would occur could be via an government order that cites nationwide safety grounds to forbid enterprise transactions with TikTok. These transactions would possible be outlined as companies that facilitate the app’s operations and distribution. Which suggests you might need a a lot more durable time discovering and utilizing TikTok, however you received’t go to jail should you do. —Sara Morrison
6. How is it enforced? What does the TikTok ban appear to be to the App Retailer and different companies?
The most probably path — and the one which lawmakers have zeroed in on — is utilizing the Worldwide Emergency Financial Powers Act, which provides the president broader powers than he in any other case has. President Trump used this when he tried to ban TikTok in 2020, and lawmakers have since launched TikTok-banning payments that primarily name for the present president to strive once more, however this time with further measures in place that may keep away from the courtroom battles that stalled Trump’s try.
Trump’s ban try does give us some steering on what such a ban would appear to be, nevertheless. The Trump administration spelled out some examples of banned transactions, together with app shops not being allowed to hold it and web internet hosting companies not being allowed to host it. When you have an iPhone, it’s exceedingly troublesome to get a local app in your telephone that isn’t allowed in Apple’s App Retailer — or to get updates for that app should you downloaded it earlier than this hypothetical ban got here down. It’s additionally conceivable that firms could be prohibited from promoting on the app and content material creators wouldn’t have the ability to use TikTok’s monetization instruments.
There are appreciable civil and legal penalties for violating the IEEPA. Don’t count on Apple or Google or Mr. Beast to take action. —Sara Morrison
7. On what grounds would TikTok be reinstated? Are there any modifications large enough that might make it “secure” within the eyes of the US authorities?
TikTok is already making an attempt to make these modifications to persuade a multi-agency authorities panel that it may well function within the US with out being a nationwide safety threat. If that panel, known as the Committee on International Investments in the US (CFIUS), can’t attain an settlement with TikTok, then it’s uncertain there’s something extra TikTok can do.
Nicely, there’s one factor: If ByteDance offered TikTok off to an American firm — one thing that was thought of again within the Trump administration — most of its points would go away. However even when ByteDance wished to promote TikTok, it will not be allowed to. The Chinese language authorities must approve such a sale, and it’s made it fairly clear that it received’t. —Sara Morrison
8. Is there any type of precedent for banning apps?
China and different international locations do ban US apps. The TikTok app doesn’t even exist in China. It has a home model, known as Douyin, as an alternative. TikTok additionally isn’t in India, which banned it in 2020. So there’s precedent for different international locations banning apps, together with TikTok. However these are completely different international locations with completely different legal guidelines. That type of censorship doesn’t actually fly right here. President Trump’s try and ban TikTok in 2020 wasn’t going properly within the courts, however we by no means acquired an final determination as a result of Trump misplaced the election and the Biden administration rescinded the order.
The closest factor we’ve got to the TikTok debacle might be Grindr. A Chinese language firm purchased the homosexual relationship app in 2018, solely to be compelled by CFIUS to promote it off the following yr. It did, thus avoiding a ban. So we don’t know the way a TikTok ban would play out if it got here right down to it. —Sara Morrison
9. How overblown is that this?
In the intervening time, there’s no indication that the Chinese language authorities has requested for personal knowledge of Americans from ByteDance, or that the father or mother firm has offered that info to Chinese language authorities officers. However American person knowledge has reportedly been accessed by China-based staff of ByteDance, in response to a BuzzFeed Information investigation final yr. The corporate has additionally arrange protocols below which staff overseas may remotely entry American knowledge. The corporate stresses that that is no completely different from how different “international firms” function and that it’s transferring to funnel all US knowledge via American servers. However the opportunity of the Chinese language authorities gaining access to this knowledge sooner or later is fueling the nationwide safety issues within the US.
This doesn’t communicate to the opposite causes driving authorities scrutiny of the app: knowledge privateness and psychological well being. Some elected officers want to see stricter guidelines and laws in place limiting the type of info that youthful People have to surrender when utilizing TikTok and different platforms, (like Markey, the senator from Massachusetts), whereas others would love a more in-depth have a look at limits on when kids can use the app as a part of broader laws on Massive Tech. Democratic members of Congress have additionally cited issues with how a lot time kids are spending on-line, doubtlessly detrimental results of social media, together with TikTok, on kids, and the higher psychological well being challenges youthful People are going through at present. TikTok is already making efforts to fend off this criticism: Firstly of March, they introduced new display deadlines for customers below the age of 17. However even these measures are extra like strategies. —Christian Paz
