TikTok will file suit in a US court against the law that leads to a possible ban of the popular video app in the United States. This was reported by a spokesperson. If the ban stands, it will have major consequences for the app’s 170 million American users.
Yorick Dupon
24-04-24, 12:09
Latest update:
12:16
Source:
own reporting, ANP, AP, CNN, Belga
LOOK. Why is TikTok such a danger?
The Senate approved an aid package for Ukraine on Tuesday. The measures against TikTok are part of that package. The law states, among other things, that ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok, must sell its American parts. The company will have a maximum of 12 months to do this. If ByteDance doesn’t do this, TikTok could be banned in the US.
The law is intended to prevent China from using the social media app for propaganda and from abusing data from American users. TikTok has 170 million users in the US. President Joe Biden announced shortly after the vote that he wanted to sign the law into law on Wednesday.
TikTok does not want the sale of American activities
The video app does not want to sell the American components, the spokesperson reports. That’s why TikTok is going to court. TikTok, with its American headquarters in Los Angeles, will file the charges shortly, he said. He said it is not yet known when the lawsuit will be heard. Moreover, the legal procedure could drag on for years.
TikTok has already had success in the American courts in the past. This is the first time that the company wants to avoid federal legislation coming into effect. The company wants to use freedom of expression as an argument. This is constitutionally established in the US.
According to experts the news channel CNN spoke to, that argument has a chance. Although the legislation is not direct censorship, judges can take the ultimate consequences of the TikTok ban into account in their judgment.
TikTok also in trouble in the European Union
TikTok is also under fire on this side of the Atlantic. The European Commission has two different investigations underway against the Chinese video app.
The first opened in February and revolves around the alleged addictiveness of the app. According to the Commission, TikTok may not adequately protect minors and that the social medium is designed in such a way that it encourages addiction.
The second study was launched earlier this week. In the crosshairs is TikTok Lite, a version of the app that Spaniards and French can use and is designed to be used when the internet connection is poor. A reward system in TikTok Lite is a concern because it could be addictive.
According to TikTok, TikTok is not a channel for Chinese propaganda
TikTok “fundamentally disagrees” with the law, the spokesperson said. According to him, former President Donald Trump previously tried to ban TikTok, but a court blocked this. “The only route we see is to go to court and challenge it there,” he says.
According to the spokesperson, the fact that TikTok is a channel for Chinese propaganda is “completely unproven”. Users post the videos, not TikTok or governments, he says. The spokesperson states that the video app keeps users’ data as safe as possible.
Consequences of any ban
If a ban does occur, the TikTok app will not suddenly disappear from American smartphones. According to the AP news agency, the most important consequence is that the video app will disappear from the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.
Redownloading TikTok will therefore not be possible and the company cannot provide the application with new functions or solve problems. In the long term, TikTok will therefore become virtually unusable and even a security risk for the 170 million American users.
It will most likely still be possible to install the app outside of the app stores, but that requires technical knowledge. Users are more likely to switch to other social media that have TikTok-like features. For example, there are Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts with vertical videos, which popular influencers already use.
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Tags: TikTok banned United States Company challenge law court
