Tiktok, known as Douyin in China, is a video sharing platform developed by the Chinese company ByteDance. It is a popular social media application in the US and most of the adult users of the platform spend at least 50 minutes of their day on it. But recently, the US Senate has taken strict measures for the privacy policies of US citizens and may impose a TikTok ban soon.

But will it actually happen? And if it happens, what will be the implications of the ban? Who will benefit from the situation?

Let’s go ahead with this blog and learn more about the TikTok ban in the US.

Why Is TikTok So Popular In The US?

Tiktok is very popular in the US among adults and teens as the application provides easy-to-use features and video creation tools. US adults spend more time on TikTok than on any other social media platform, which is a big headache for other platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. If Tiktok does not exist or is banned in the US, Meta or YouTube will definitely benefit from the situation.

Tiktok has a huge user base of over 148 million users, which is a pretty huge number. If a Tiktok ban actually happens in the US, then the creators will be the ones who suffer first. Tiktok has a monetization feature for creators who have a high number of views and followers on the platform. So if you’re a popular figure in the US, then you must have a TikTok account. 

The reason for the high popularity of Tiktok in the US is its simple UI features, easy-to-use applications, and attractive monetization features for creators. Plus, most of the popular figures have a TikTok account.

What’s The Reason Behind The Tiktok Ban In The US?

The US has always been at odds with anything Chinese since the beginning of the modern era. Tiktok is owned by the parent company of ByteDance, which is headquartered in Beijing, so the problem seems pretty logical. The Biden administration has made it mandatory for ByteDance to sell its stake or lose the ability to operate in the country. 

This move comes after the US approved a 95 billion USD “proxy-war” package for Taiwan, Israel, and Ukraine. The bill that made the terms and conditions mandatory for Tiktok is named “Protection of American Citizen’s Data From Foreign Adversaries Act of 2024.”. The aim of this bill is to protect and safeguard the data and privacy rights of US citizens.

The US Senate is reportedly suspicious that Tiktok is being used to collect the personal data of American citizens and send it to the servers in Beijing. They have described the situation as a digital threat that can be weaponized by Chinese authorities. It basically means that the Chinese Communist Party or CCP, might be using TikTok to spy on US citizens.

Previously, the US government has issued several warnings to government officials and agents not to install or use Tiktok. As a part of the latest order, the US government has ordered Tiktok to follow the terms and conditions or face a ban in the US after 270 days, which is on January 15, 2025.

It will be interesting to see what Tiktok will do to counter these issues. As per the notice, the Tiktok ban will occur only if the ByteDance stake is not sold. This means that if Tiktok sells the ByteDance stake, then it can run the application in the US as usual. According to some official sources, Tiktok is planning to sell the stakes to a US company as they don’t want to lose their second-biggest market. 

2020 Tiktok Ban In India

The 2020 Tiktok ban in India was very different from the ban that’s set to take place in the US. The Indian government banned Tiktok due to the military standoffs that happened on the Indo-China border, primarily in the Galwan Valley. The situation prompted the Indian government to immediately ban Tiktok on the grounds of national security and sovereignty. 

The Indian government did not only initiate the Tiktok ban but banned several other apps as well. The ban also received positive feedback from the public, which was followed by a boycott of Chinese products in India. Several Chinese smartphone companies also faced boycotts in India after the TikTok ban. Tiktok lost a whopping 200 million users in India after the ban.

Conclusion

Tiktok is all set to be banned in the US if they don’t agree to the terms and conditions that the Biden administration has set. Tiktok will try their best to counter these issues and prevent themselves from being banned. But if they do not agree to those conditions, then the Tikton ban will take place on January 15, 2025. 

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