Stop dancing, lip syncing, how-to’s, restorations, compassion and online stores; TikTok just took another big step closer to the guillotine’s razor blade of an American ban. The hugely popular app could disappear from American phones as early as next month, and while this is an outcome few want, it’s the outcome we’re likely to get.
On Friday, a The US federal court has dismissed TikTok’s counterclaim that the ban issued by the US government was unconstitutional because it infringed on the platform’s First Amendment freedom of expression. The U.S. Court of Appeals didn’t buy that argument and denied TikTok’s petition. TikTok’s owner ByteDance is expected to appeal to the final stop: the U.S. Supreme Court.
No one, including myself, expects them to win. The last best hope for TikTok is that outgoing President Joe Biden decides to grant an extension at the last minute. It is an option actually outlined in the ban and also unlikely, as Biden fully supports this action.
Now I know most of you know what TikTok is, and if the numbers are right and about more than half of the country uses it, you understand how the social media platform works and why you’re probably hooked on it. What you may not know is the source of the U.S. government’s near-universal discomfort with TikTok: company owner ByteDance, a Chinese company. All Chinese companies operate under the ever-watchful eye of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and must have everything they do scrutinized if asked; this includes algorithms, programming and data.
Okay, you get where this is going.
An existential threat
When US lawmakers raised these concerns and directly questioned TikTok, including CEO Shou Chew, the company responded with a detailed plan, Project Texas, to create a separate US branch that included all US-based executives and employees and the movement of all US data. that was from China to Oracle servers in California. For all intents and purposes, TikTok in the US operated as a separate company from ByteDance’s Chinese operations (the TikTok app doesn’t even have the same name in China).
This was never enough for lawmakers or President Joe Biden, who signed the law the ban was part of that.
However, these efforts do not have broad support outside Washington. TikTok users in DC are almost apoplectic about the potential ban, posting news stories and sometimes pleas to keep it alive in the US. Formerly TikTok major platform influencers engaged to post on his behalf. None of it matters.
The problem here is the existential threat posed by China and its potential access to data on millions of Americans. Yes, the data is shielded from it, but there isn’t much clarity on whether Chinese officials can see or influence the algorithm that determines what you see next in your TikTok feed.
For TikTok fans, none of that matters. I remember seeing a TikTok where a young user told China she had her data. She didn’t care and was only interested in keeping TikTok.
That is a widely shared attitude among users. They’re not sure what valuable secrets China will get if they see their TikTok data. If the US government says it’s their personal information, such as name, home address, date of birth, email address and phone number, the reality is that data is already available and probably on the dark web. We have already experienced the largest data breaches, and often not by foreign adversaries.
At the same time, TikTokers understand that perhaps government officials shouldn’t be on the platform because they’re dealing with sensitive information about things like our infrastructure, water supply, and power grid.
Nothing better to do?
It’s a little scary that the US government can somehow figure out how to ban an almost universally loved platform, but can’t seem to agree on how to tackle our other bigger problems.
There is always a chance that ByteDance will give in and sell because there is no other option. Still, I struggle to see China handing over a crown jewel like TikTok to its biggest global rival (I argue it will be China, not ByrteDance, who decides whether a sale takes place).
The x-factor here could be a change at the top. President-elect Trump, who initially used an implementation decision in 2020 to address “the threat from one mobile app in particular, TikTok,” joined Tiktok during the campaign, but has offered little clarity about his ban stance. At one point he claimed that banning Tiktok would strengthen Metaan American company that Trump does not like very much.
Trump’s decision will depend not only on his personal feelings, but also on the people around him. As one commentator noted, Elon Musk sits next to Trump, a key advisor and owner of X (formerly Twitter).
TikTok is doomed, right?