The popular social media app TikTok could be banned in the United States within a year if a new law takes effect. Company ByteDance has already indicated its intention to fight the law in court. They are arguing it is an unfair restriction on a private company.
President Biden has signed a new law that could ban TikTok unless it’s sold within a year. This is a big deal for the popular app, which is owned by a Chinese company called ByteDance. The law is part of a bigger effort to keep American data safe from other countries, especially China. The legislation gave the application a six-month window to find a buyer, which some Senators said was too little time.
But don’t worry if you’re video video-sharing app fan right now. It’s not going away immediately. There are still legal battles and other things that could delay the ban for months. Company ByteDance indicates its next step toward a legal battle. They also reject being a Chinese firm saying its 60% of its stakes are owned by global investors.
In a statement, TikTok said: “We believe the facts and the law are clearly on our side, and we will ultimately prevail.”
“The fact is, we have invested billions of dollars to keep US data safe and our platform free from outside influence and manipulation,” it noted. Also adding that “this ban would devastate seven million businesses and silence 170 million Americans”.
Major Concerns
TikTok has become huge in the U.S., with about half of Americans using it. But some people worry that because it’s owned by a Chinese company, it could be influenced by the Chinese government. That’s why the government wants ByteDance to sell TikTok to an American company.
TikTok says it’s going to fight this in court, saying it’s not fair and it would hurt free speech. But if TikTok doesn’t get sold in time, the law could make it illegal for companies like Google and Apple to support TikTok, which would basically make it impossible to use.
This law happened pretty fast, surprising a lot of people working on this application. Lawmakers say they’re worried about national security, thinking China might use TikTok to spy on Americans or influence what they see. But not everyone agrees. Some think there’s no real proof TikTok is a threat. While the other says other American companies do similar things with data and privacy.
