TikTok could disappear from the US in 6 months: why they want to ban it and what’s happening

The United States wants to try to convince ByteDancea Chinese-owned company, a sell TikTok within 6 months if you want the social app to continue to be available in the US. A bill asks for it – Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Actc – put forward by a bipartisan group of American deputies, citing reasons related to national security. The bill gives ByteDance a 6-month window to sell TikTok. If this does not happen, the Chinese social network risks facing the removing the app from all over the United States. The bill recalls previous initiatives, during the presidencies of Joe Biden And Donald Trump, to counter the spread of the famous app in the United States. TikTok did not take the US decision well, criticizing it harshly and sending its users a notification which, in addition to informing them of the matter, invites them to react to the Congress proposal.

The concerns that pushed Congress to take action against the Chinese application mainly concern the way in which it collects and manages the data of US users and the political implications of the latter with China. In a statement Mike Gallagherchairman of the House of Representatives Committee of Inquiry into China, declared:

This is my message to TikTok: break with the Chinese Communist Party or you will lose access to your American users. America’s main adversary cannot control a dominant media platform in the United States.

The deputy is also on the same wavelength Raja Krishnamoorthiwhich says the bill addresses national security concerns attributable to TikTok and protects American social media users from what it calls “digital surveillance.”

Since the proposed law would force TikTok to no longer be part of ByteDance – the company that bought the social network in 2017 – the reaction from the social network was quite strong. TikTok has in fact sent a notification to its users, containing the following message:

Stop closing TikTok. Congress is planning a total ban on TikTok. Speak out now, before your government deprives 170 million Americans of their constitutional right to free expression. This will hurt millions of businesses, destroy the livelihoods of countless creators across the country, and deny artists an audience. Let Congress know what TikTok means to you and tell them to vote NO.

Some international law experts also turned their noses up at the bill presented by Congress. Among these there is Jameel Jafferrenowned human rights and civil liberties lawyer and inaugural director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, according to which the bill would raise First Amendment issues. The lawyer declared:

Congress can protect privacy and data security without banning Americans from accessing one of the world’s most popular communications platforms. It should start by passing a comprehensive privacy law that limits the type of information TikTok and other platforms can collect. Banning Americans from foreign media should be a last resort.

Regardless of what the future developments of the matter will be, one thing is certain: TikTok will probably continue to face similar disputes with the US government, given that it is not the first time it has ended up in its crosshairs.