Why TikTok Faces a U.S. Ban, and What’s Next?

Technology|Why TikTok Faces a U.S. Ban, and What’s Next?

Concerns that the Chinese government could gain access to sensitive user data through the short-form video app TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, have prompted the U.S. government to pass legislation banning the social media platform unless it is sold to a government-approved buyer.

President Biden signed into law legislation that gives ByteDance up to a year to divest from TikTok. The company lost its first legal effort to overturn the law on Dec. 6, when a panel of three federal judges unanimously rejected TikTok’s argument that the law violated the First Amendment. The company pledged to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.

TikTok, which boasts 170 million users in the United States, could be banned as soon as mid-January, unless it receives a court-ordered injunction that would pause the law from taking effect as the appeal proceeds. There is also a chance that President-elect Donald J. Trump will try to rescue the app.

Here’s why the pressure has been ratcheted up on TikTok.

It all comes down to China.

Lawmakers and regulators in the West have increasingly expressed concern that TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, may put sensitive user data, like location information, into the hands of the Chinese government. They have pointed to laws that allow the Chinese government to secretly demand data from Chinese companies and citizens for intelligence-gathering operations.

They are also worried that China could use TikTok’s content recommendations to fuel misinformation, a concern that has escalated in the United States during the Israeli-Hamas war and the presidential election. Critics say TikTok has fueled the spread of antisemitism.

TikTok has long denied such allegations and has tried to distance itself from ByteDance, which is considered to be one of the world’s most highly valued start-ups.