The US Senate has recently passed a bill that could lead to the expulsion of TikTok from the country, unless its Chinese owner, ByteDance, sells it. This decision comes amidst concerns about the platform’s security of user data and its ties to the Beijing government.
TikTok’s parent company must be dissolved according to the legislation. President Joe Biden has pledged to sanction the law, adding his support to the efforts of lawmakers from both major parties in the US who are pushing for this bill. They fear that the Chinese government could access data on the 170 million TikTok users in the US if it is not banned.
If implemented, access to TikTok for Americans could be revoked with a potential effective date of 2025. However, TikTok has filed a lawsuit to block the forced sale, which could lead to a long legal process. The legislation gives ByteDance nine months to sell TikTok to a US buyer, with a possible grace period of three months.
The algorithm used by TikTok is at the heart of its appeal and is what makes it so popular among users. Despite this popularity, countries like India, Iran, Nepal, Afghanistan and Somalia have already banned TikTok due to concerns over data collection practices. These criticisms continue as people worry about how much data is being gathered by TikTok and what it will be used for in China.
Despite attempts by TikTok to engage with its users and push back against the legislation, there are still plans in motion by US officials to potentially ban the platform altogether. The repercussions of this decision are uncertain but could inspire similar measures in other countries around the world. Overall, we will have to wait and see what happens as legal battles unfold between now and 2025.
