U.S. TikTok Ban: What’s Going On?

In 2020, a national TikTok ban was discussed by the Trump administration. Now it’s 2023, and the Biden administration is revisiting this ban. This would mean the removal of TikTok from the app store, as well as blocking all transactions with TikTok. TikTok is owned by a Chinese company called ByteDance. The U.S. government says that unless the app gets sold to an American company, it’s not safe for the security of the 150 million American users. This is because the FBI has brought up concerns that the Chinese government could infiltrate TikTok to spy on U.S. citizens and after they gather personal information, TikTok will be used to spread pro-Beijing propaganda.

When asked about these concerns, TikTok CEO Shou Chew dispelled them. A spokesperson for TikTok also said that
changing the ownership of the app wouldn’t change how the user data is accessed. TikTok has already been banned on a smaller scale. It’s been banned from state- issued government devices in more than half of U.S. states and at some state-funded universities. For example, TikTok has been banned from being used on school-owned devices and school wifi at all Florida state universities due to “increasing cyber threats.” As of right now, no one knows if TikTok will actually be nationally banned. But if so, it will definitely take some time to officially
ban it, as it’s one of the most popular apps in the nation.