How close is the US to banning TikTok? What next for the app, its users?

Time is ticking away for Tiktok, the popular app, in the United States. This comes after the US House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to ban TikTok if its China-based owner ByteDance doesn’t sell its stakes in the popular social media platform within six months of the bill’s enactment.

What does this mean for the video platform? Is it going to become inaccessible to users in the US? What does this mean for the platform’s 170 million US users?

Here’s what you need to know.

Is Tiktok already banned in the US?

The short answer is no, not yet. On Wednesday, the US House of Representatives approved a bill 352 to 65 that calls China tech giant ByteDance to divest TikTok or the popular social video app will effectively be banned in the US.

The legislation, dubbed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, was introduced on 5 March by Representatives Mike Gallagher, and Raja Krishnamoorthi, of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. Two days later, House members on the Energy and Commerce Committee voted unanimously to approve the bill, which refers to TikTok as a threat to national security because it is controlled by a foreign adversary.

As per the legislation, ByteDance, which is TikTok’s owner, has 165 days to divest from the app. This means it would have to sell the social media platform to a company not based in China. If it fails to do so, app stores including the Apple App Store and Google Play would be legally required to bar from hosting TikTok to US users.

However, experts note that it would be a challenge for TikTok to find a new owner in such a short period of time.

Now, the legislation moves to the Senate where it will be put to the test. Some have noted that it is unlikely to pass through, as several bills aimed at banning TikTok in the past have also stalled.

When asked about it, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has provided no clues as to what would happen to the bill. However, President Joe Biden has said that if the bill reached his desk, he would sign it. In fact, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday that the Biden administration is looking to the Senate to act swiftly. “We hope the Senate takes action and takes this up very quickly,” she told reporters on Air Force One.

But, why the concern about TikTok?

After emerging in 2017, TikTok has gained huge traction with the US public. It quickly surpassed Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube in downloads in 2018 and reported a 45 per cent increase in monthly active users between July 2020 and July 2022.

But the platform’s meteoric success has concerned lawmakers, especially over the ownership of the app. Lawmakers have expressed concerns that Chinese authorities could force ByteDance to hand over data on the 170 million Americans who use TikTok.

Tiktok, however, has repeatedly tried to assuage these fears, saying it wouldn’t share US user data with the Chinese government. It has also argued that US user data is not held in China but in Singapore and in the US.

However, this hasn’t been enough for US lawmakers and in March last year, its CEO, Shou Zi Chew , was grilled for over five hours by the US Congress about its data storage and other practices. In fact, at one point of his questioning, Chew was asked about his nationality repeatedly, accusing him of being loyal to China. He is, however, Singaporean.

What does Tiktok say about the new bill?

Many US lawmakers have argued that the legislation, now passed by the House, isn’t a ban and doesn’t impinge on free speech. Representative Mike Gallagher, who is the lead GOP sponsor of the bill, had told NPR: “What we’re after is, it’s not a ban, it’s a forced separation. The TikTok user experience can continue and improve so long as ByteDance doesn’t own the company.”

However, TikTok views it differently. A spokesperson for the app said that it was indeed a ban. And its CEO posted a video later expressing dismay over the vote, saying the bill “gives more power to a handful of other social media companies” and that “it also take billions of dollars out of the pockets of creators and small businesses.”

“Over the last few years, we have invested to keep your data safe in our platform, free from outside manipulation; we have committed that we will continue to do so,” Chew said. “This legislation, if signed into law, will lead to a ban of TikTok in the United States, even the bill sponsors admit that that’s their goal.”

Chew added that TikTok “will continue to do all we can, including exercising our legal rights to protect this amazing platform that we have built with you.”

How will the ban affect users?

If signed into a law, the bill would prevent app stores like Apple and Google from distributing or updating TikTok and web hosting companies from distributing it. What this means is that if an American user already has TikTok on their phone, it won’t disappear. However, users won’t be able to update the app, making it obsolete over time.

The possible ban also would be bad news for small businesses, who use TikTok’s e-commerce arm to market or sell their products. Moreover, it would also impact the lives of social media influencers who have spent years cultivating their following on the platform, and rely on it to acquire brand deals or other types of income.

Others also argued that the platform was being unfairly targeted. TikTok creator Ariella Elm told AFP: “If it was really about all the things they were saying, then we would be having this conversation with (X owner) Elon Musk, who basically could change American politics at a whim.”

Another user, Freddie Smith who’s an Orlando, Florida-based realtor, said to NBCNews: “Before you go jump to conclusions and go ‘Boohoo a 25-year-old dancing with a shampoo bottle’s gotta get a real job,’ being an influencer is a fraction of what income is created on these apps.

“There are so many important things happening on this app,” he said, after listing a wide array of people who use the app, ranging from service-based businesses to video editors. “And I’m waiting to hear Congress talk about how this would take away millions of jobs.”

Where can TikTokkers go next?

If the bill is, indeed, signed into a law, Tiktokkers will have to look for other alternatives. And there’s no dearth of those. YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and X have all created scrolling video features similar to TikTok. However, users complain that it’s not the same.

Also, different platforms have different monetisation schemes, which, as CNN reports, could mean challenges for creators looking to rebuild businesses that relied on TikTok if they’re forced to move to another social network.

But security experts also noted that users will find ways to get around a ban. App users could try to use virtual private networks, or VPNs, to disguise their location and bypass such restrictions, said Roger Entner, a telecom analyst and the founder of Recon Analytics, told AP. It will be challenging for the government to crack down on that behaviour because there are many foreign VPN services that don’t need to abide by US laws, Entner said.

With inputs from agencies