Part of the US TikTok Ban Is Going Into Effect as Early as This Sunday
If you spend three to four hours scrolling through TikTok every day, you have probably been following news of the possible TikTok ban pretty closely. Still, all the info can be pretty confusing to comprehend and may be leaving you nervous that your favorite outlet for cool dances, hilarious videos, and cute relationships is going to disappear. Don't worry, I'm breaking down everything you need to know about what's going on with the US government and TikTok so you can stop reading rumors on Twitter and get the actual information.
This all started when the US government expressed concerns for the app.
Back in July, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox News that they are considering restricting access to the app, following suit of India, which had already done so. "We are taking this very seriously and we are certainly looking at it," Pompeo said.
Because of the app's ties to China, and the country's laws regarding data collection, many politicians feel the the app is a threat to national security, alleging that TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, "supports and cooperates with intelligence work controlled by the Chinese Communist Party," according to CNN.
TikTok has stated previously that they operate apart from ByteDance and that their data isn't "subject to Chinese law." Back in May, the app told CNN that any security concerns were "unfounded."
President Trump may just want to ban the app to "hit back" at China.
Not long after Pompeo's statement, Trump confirmed the suspicions. "It’s something we’re looking at, yes," Trump told commentator Greta Van Susteren about the possibility of banning the app.
According to Bloomberg, Trump told Greta that banning the app is "one of many" ways he is considering to "hit back" at China for the coronavirus. "Look, what happened with China with this virus, what they’ve done to this country and to the entire world is disgraceful," he said.
Trump recently signed an executive order regarding TikTok.
In August, the President signed an executive order that would make "any transactions between TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, and U.S. citizens will be outlawed for national security reasons," according to NPR.
"TikTok automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users, including Internet and other network activity information such as location data and browsing and search histories," the order states. "This data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information — potentially allowing China to track the locations of Federal employees and contractors, build dossiers of personal information for blackmail, and conduct corporate espionage."
The executive order also cites censorship and the spread of misinformation, including "conspiracy theories" about the Coronavirus, as reasons for the ban.
According to NPR, the order will most likly block TikTok from receiving advertising from American companies and the app could be removed from Apple and Google's app stores." Along with that, it "may no longer be sent software updates, rendering TikTok unmanageable, and eventually nonfunctional, with time."
Parts of this executive order are all ready coming into play.
While Trump gave TikTok 45 days to make changes before such prohibitions went into place, access to TikTok will be restricted as soon as Sunday. Luckily, if you already have the app on your phone, this shouldn't affect you. It does mean that after Sunday you probably won't be able to download it from the app store and any updates to the app will be unavailable to install.
While this isn't too bad (I mean, many thought the app would just all together disappear from their phone), more limits could be coming in the future. That being said, according to CNN, court filings suggest that the any restrictions "would be limited in scope and not aimed at harming consumers or TikTok's US employees."
According to the New York Times, though, unless "the company can assuage the administration’s concerns that the popular social media app poses a threat to U.S. national security" by November 12th, they will lose the ability to process transactions with American companies or host its internet traffic.
TikTok is working to appeal to the US government.
TikTok may be able to beat this deadline as it continues to attempt to prove to the government that it is not a national security threat. According to the NYTimes, the Treasury Department has provided TikTok's parent company, ByteDance with revisions they can make to "address how TikTok’s data and source code would be handled and secured." A source told the Times, there have been agreements on both sides about these revisions, they're just working out the details.
An American company is getting involved.
President Donald Trump insisted that to avoid getting banned in the US, TikTok needed to make some sort of business deal to sell its US operations to a US company by September 20th. Enter Oracle, the computer technology company that has been chosen to become TikTok's technology partner in the US, beating out Microsoft in the process. It's unclear exactly what this agreement will look like in practice. As of now, Oracle has not stated their plans for TikTok. According to the Times, Oracle would have an ownership stake in the app, but wouldn't own it outright.
Other apps are trying to take its place.
As the fate of TikTok remains uncertain, other apps are swooping in to try to take advantage of the app's immense popularity. Instagram recently released their new feature, Reels, which mimics the short-form video format of TikTok.
There's also Triller, the music app that's re-defining itself as a TikTok alternative. TikTok star Josh Richards was recently hired as Chief Strategy Officer for the app, while his fellow Sway House members, Griffin Johnson, Noah Beck, and Anthony Reeves are shareholders.
Triller recently got a big win when TikTok queen, Charli D'Amelio joined the app, though she is also still on TikTok.
TikTok creators aren't too concerned.
While you might think TikTok creators would be freaking out about the possibility of the app that made them famous getting banned, many of them actually keeping it pretty cool. Ahlyssa Marie, cofounder of the content house Clubhouse Next, is interested in the possibilities that the end of TikTok could produce.
"I’m honestly excited for what's to come after TikTok," she said in a statement to Seventeen. "Yes, the app has given me opportunities of a lifetime that led me to creating [Clubhouse Next], but after a while you tend to ask what’s next?"
She continued, saying, "The loss of Tiktok in the U.S will only allow creators to focus more on other platforms and leave room for another upcoming app."
Fellow TikTok star Isaak Presley admitted that the thought of the app getting banned "breaks [his] heart," he's confident that content creators will be able to find ways to share their work. "I started with only acting and have ventured into music and more recently, social media," he explained. "We're doing the same thing and making sure to become regular content creators on all networks."
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