On Wednesday, President Joe Biden signed a long-discussed bill that could ban TikTok in the United States (or, at least, force its owner, the Chinese company ByteDance, to sell it), representing a major blow to an app that draws roughly 148 million users per month in the U.S. alone. While it’s hard enough to imagine a world in which US users can no longer scroll their TikTok FYPs and watch silly little videos, the possible ban has much further-reaching national and global implications. Below, find everything you need to know about the (presumptive) future of TikTok in America.
What did Biden’s foreign aid package say about TikTok, exactly?
The $95 billion aid package, which provides $60.8 billion of funding for Ukraine, $26 billion for Israel, and $8.12 billion for Taiwan, also includes language forcing TikTok’s parent company—the China-based ByteDance—to sell TikTok within nine months or go up against a nationwide ban. Although the bill passed with bipartisan support, not everyone in politics is behind the TikTok ban; California Sen. Laphonza Butler has urged Biden to consider the thousands of US employees who would lose their jobs if the ban were to move ahead.
When did the movement to ban TikTok first start?
It’s been an embattled year for TikTok: The platform was forced to remove all music by Universal artists in February, after the mega-company behind performers including Taylor Swift, Drake, and Ariana Grande published an open letter titled “Why We Must Call Time Out on TikTok.” However, former President Donald Trump first announced plans to ban TikTok and other Chinese-owned apps due to alleged “national security concerns” in 2020, and the app has been the subject of Senate hearings and near-constant political discourse ever since.
Will we actually (gulp) lose TikTok access in the US? And if so, when?
Trump’s proposed ban never actually led to US users permanently losing access to TikTok, but unless ByteDance divests from TikTok by January 15, 2025, Biden’s ban will go into effect. The president also has the option to grant a one-time extension of “not more than 90 days” if he determines that ByteDance has a legitimate sales negotiation in progress to sell its TikTok stake.
How has TikTok responded?
“As we continue to challenge this unconstitutional ban, we will continue investing and innovating to ensure TikTok remains a space where Americans of all walks of life can safely come to share their experiences, find joy, and be inspired,” TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek said in a statement this week. For his part, TikTok CEO Shou Chew referred to the ban on Wednesday as “a ban on you and your voice.”