The future of TikTok doesn’t seem too bright. There have been multiple disputes between TikTok and second parties, including Universal Music Group and NMPA, music catalogs taken out of the platform, and let’s not forget about the countless lawsuits filed against the social media giant over its dubious data security and user privacy-related issues.
The latest news, however, suggests that the situation around TikTok may get even worse, with the platform being potentially banned in US territory.
Biden to support steps taken against TikTok
According to the White House, President Biden will support and sign the bill currently in Congress that would effectively ban the TikTok app in the USA. The news comes a few days after it was revealed that Kansas has become the latest US state to file a lawsuit against the platform over the harm it allegedly inflicts on minors. The bipartisan legislation would require TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell the short-form platform or immediately cease its operations in the USA.
However, this is not the first time that Biden has signed a bill affecting TikTok’s services in the USA. Back in 2022, the app was infamously banned on all government devices. Funny enough, neither the previous nor the current bill has stopped the President from using the app for his reelection campaign and reaching younger voters. As stressed by the press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House is not against the app as such. Instead, it strives to ensure the app is not “in the hands of those who may do us harm.”
While ByteDance has not commented on the latest developments, TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek has criticized the latest legislation, calling it “an outright ban of TikTok,” which will “trample the First Amendment rights of 170 million Americans and deprive 5 million small businesses of a platform they rely on to grow and create jobs.”
Once the bill is signed, ByteDance will have 165 days to divest TikTok. If it does not comply within the designated time, the app will become unavailable in all US app stores, and ByteDance-owned applications will no longer receive web hosting services.
