The most downloaded social network in the world is preparing to stop its activities in the United States, scheduled for Sunday January 19. Downloading this application, particularly popular with young people for its ultra-short video formats which scroll continuously, may no longer be possible on American soil, reports the site The Information.
With more than 170 million users in the United States, TikTok could however survive thanks to the intervention of President-elect Donald Trump, who promised to save the platform. The network’s general director Shou Zi Chew was even invited to his inauguration on January 20, where he will occupy a place of honor, says the New York Times. Can the ban on the platform be avoided?
Why was TikTok banned in the United States?
In April 2024, Congress adopted a text forcing TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell its American activities by January 19, under penalty of banning the social network in the United States. American elected officials justified this decision by fears of seeing the data and content of American users exploited by Chinese authorities, suspected of espionage. The law plans to force internet providers and app stores to prevent TikTok from being downloaded after the deadline.
Where is the ban procedure?
TikTok and ByteDance have always refuted having granted access to the social network’s data to the Chinese government. Thus, ByteDance has so far systematically refused to sell TikTok, even if several American investors have positioned themselves, first and foremost the businessman Frank McCourtready to put 20 billion dollars on the table.
Part of the platform’s fate rests with the Supreme Court, urgently seized in mid-December 2024 by the group to block the application of the law. At the hearing which took place on Friday January 10, several magistrates of the highest American court seemed sensitive to the arguments linked to national security raised by Congress. The Supreme Court’s decision is expected any day now.
How could the shutdown of the platform take place?
From Sunday, users who have already downloaded the application will no longer be able to open it and will be automatically directed to a message relating to the new legislative provisions. They will be offered to download their data and content published on the platform. Those who do not have the application will no longer be able to download it. Another possibility: users will simply no longer be able to make updates, which, ultimately, would make it difficult or even impossible to use the app.
In an internal message sent to TikTok teams, management affirmed that it “prepared for several scenarios”. She also assured the group’s American employees that “their employment, salary and benefits” would be preserved whatever path TikTok chooses.
What are the possible scenarios?
The ban. The American government could force mobile application stores to remove the social network from their catalog. As the social network is still accessible elsewhere than in the United States, American Internet users who wish could use a VPN, software that allows sites and application stores to be deceived about their geographic location.
The bypass. Enforcement of the law will be left to the future Minister of Justice, Pam Bondi. Given Donald Trump’s opposition to the disappearance of TikTok, she could choose inaction, thus effectively preserving the social network. As part of the procedure before the Supreme Court, the president-elect asked the senior magistrates to postpone their decision until after his inauguration, considering himself able to “saving the platform while addressing national security concerns”. He could in particular suggest amendments to offer room for maneuver to TikTok. A surprising turnaround as Donald Trump tried, during his first term, to block the application in the United States.
@liberation.fr Suspected of espionage by Washington, the TikTok application risks disappearing from American territory on January 19 if it does not find a buyer. Faced with this, many content creators are moving to the Chinese social network Xiaohongshu (“little red book”). Emanuel Descours Social Networks
Resale. Until now, ByteDance has opposed the idea of selling its jewel but, according to the Bloomberg agency, the Chinese government would be open to a takeover by Elon Musk, already majority shareholder of the social network X, and ally of Donald Trump . TikTok on Monday described this scenario as «pure fiction». Other candidates have declared themselves, such as businessman Frank McCourt, owner of the Olympique de Marseille football club, who estimates the value of TikTok US at $20 billion. The former boss of video game publisher Activision Blizzard, Bobby Kotick, would also be interested.
User migration. Many of the content creators have already migrated to other platforms, such as YouTube and Instagram, with the first threats to TikTok’s future dating back almost five years, during the first Trump administration. In recent days, creators have also found refuge on the Chinese application Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book), likely to also be targeted by the American authorities for the same reasons as TikTok.
In which countries is TikTok already banned?
In Albania, TikTok must close for at least a year starting in early 2025. In announcing the suspension at the end of 2024, Prime Minister Edi Rama called the app a “neighborhood thug”. The decision came less than a month after a 14-year-old student was killed and another injured in a brawl near a school in the capital Tirana, which occurred after a conflict on social media.
In November, Nepal banned TikTok because its content would harm “social harmony” of the nation, the government declared. According to the authorities, the content published on the network fuels religious hatred and violence while encouraging sexual abuse.
In India too, the platform was banned, just like 200 Chinese applications, after a deadly clash between the Chinese and Indian armies in the Himalayas in June 2020. According to the Indian government, these applications compromised sovereignty, security and national integrity. TikTok thus lost its largest market, then estimated at more than 120 million active users per month.
Same ban in Afghanistan in April 2022, after the Taliban return to power. Jordan followed a few months later, officially for security reasons. Pakistan has temporarily banned the app at least four times since October 2020.
Source: www.liberation.fr
