Welp, it happened. The Biden administration has officially banned TikTok in the U.S. and plans to keep the ban in place unless the platform’s Chinese owner sells the company within a year. After the grace period has expired, “the law would make it illegal for web-hosting services to support TikTok, and it would force Google and Apple to remove TikTok from app stores — rendering the app unusable with time,” according to NPR.
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President Joe Biden signed the law banning the popular site made even more popular by the rhythm and style of Black creatives on Wednesday, but that doesn’t mean users are immediately barred from creating and sharing content because a buyer would still need to be found, and because ByteDance, the China-based company that currently owns TikTok, is not going to take the American government’s anti-China tech warmongering laying down.
Shortly after the bill banning the platform was signed into law, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew released a video on TikTok vowing to fight the move and expressing confidence that the company would win in court and that America’s own Constitution is on their side.
“Rest assured, we aren’t going anywhere,” Chew said. “The facts and the Constitution are on our side and we expect to prevail again.”
The company’s position is that banning the platform in the states would suppress the free speech of millions of Americans, and Kate Ruane, who runs the Center for Democracy & Technology’s Free Expression Project and happens to be an American, feels the same way.
“Congress shouldn’t be in the business of banning platforms,” NPR reports Ruane said. “They should be working to enact comprehensive privacy legislation that protects our private data no matter where we choose to engage online.”
Ruane was referencing the official reason Congress has given for banning the site, which is that it’s a security precaution aimed at protecting our data and personal information.
“Congress is not acting to punish ByteDance, TikTok, or any other individual company,” said Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell, who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee. “Congress is acting to prevent foreign adversaries from conducting espionage, surveillance, maligned operations, harming vulnerable Americans, our servicemen and women, and our U.S. government personnel.”
Regardless of who you believe, it’s substantial news considering the first time a social media platform has been banned from the U.S. for any reason. And it’s worth noting that the signing of the bill has done nothing but become more and more popular with American users.
Under ByteDance’s watch, TikTok has seen nothing but success and an increase in its value, which means the purchase has had the opposite effect that the purchase of the platform formerly known as Twitter has had since Elon Musk has been at the helm.
So, the question is this: Is it really a data security issue, or is the U.S. government so afraid of Chinese power that it’s just a little bit jealous that China, apparently, does the social media thing better than we do? Because, honestly, this ban gives off big hater energy.
Just sayin’, most people just block a social media user if they’re posting things we don’t want to see, but America is like, “Nah, throw the whole platform away!”
