5 Things to Know About the Upcoming U.S. Ban on TikTok
TikTok, the world’s most downloaded app, has had a tumultuous history in the United States since its meteoric rise amid the COVID-19 pandemic. It continues to be a point of controversy:
In April 2024, President Biden signed the ‘ban-or-sell’ bill that forces ByteDance to sell TikTok to a U.S. company by January 19, 2025 or be banned in the United States, which would require app store companies and internet hosting providers to stop supporting TikTok.
In Dec 2024, a panel of judges from the DC Court of Appeals upheld the Justice Department’s decision that “the government’s national security justification for the law is consistent with the First Amendment.” On December 27, 2024, TikTok filed a brief for the Supreme Court to deem the law unconstitutional due to its restrictions on free speech. That same day, President-elect Donald Trump asked SCOTUS to delay the ban, requesting time for his administration to negotiate a solution.
TLDR Here are the 5 things to know about the upcoming U.S. ban on TikTok:
The main concern with TikTok is that its Chinese parent company could be influenced by the Chinese government to collect user data and content manipulation.
While cybersecurity threats do exist, lawmakers often frame the ban around protecting Americans' data. Yet, that logic isn’t equally applied to American companies (Meta, Google) that use the same tracking tools and collect the same data.
It’s not over: Donald Trump was sworn in as President on January 20, 2025 and promptly signed an executive order delaying enforcement of the ban for 75 days.
While restrictions on the app currently do exist, they haven’t been successful in the past: a federal judge blocked a ban in Montana in 2023, and an attempted ban by Trump via executive order in 2020 was also overturned. This time, TikTok isn’t the only one suing: 8 TikTok creators have also filed a complaint, stating the law threatens their livelihood by eliminating this method of communication. As of the January 10, 2025 hearings, the Supreme Court upheld the ban and forced divestiture as a matter of national security. TikTok shut down on January 19, 2025, but it was short-lived (it went dark for less than 24 hours) and the fight to extend the ban continues.
Beyond geopolitical ramifications, there are economic and cultural effects.
Among other outcomes, content creators, small businesses, and digital advertisers could face significant revenue loss, online communities would be forced to find a new gathering space, and many tech industry jobs would be at risk. Additionally, TikTok’s contribution to the U.S. GDP would be lost ($24.4 billion in 2023).
ByteDance is not without scandal in the U.S.
TikTok admittedly spied on reporters to find leaks within the company in 2022. ByteDance used the IP addresses to track the locations of journalists and suspected TikTok employees. That same year, TikTok settled a lawsuit of $92 million that claimed TikTok improperly harvested users’ private data. However, “TikTok has denied harvesting biometric data at all and has said it did not compromise users’ privacy.” In 2024, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against TikTok for violating the children’s online privacy law.
Consider this: Disclosures suggest Meta and Google spent millions on lobbying against TikTok.
In 2022, Facebook campaigned against TikTok to deflect from privacy concerns facing Meta. In 2024, Meta and Google spent millions of dollars on ‘China’ lobbying operations, though disclosures don’t specifically mention the bill banning TikTok.
At Feel Good Action, we believe in using social media for social good. 39% of adults under 30 report that they get their news from TikTok, and public trust in democratic institutions and national news organizations is at a near-historic low. While privacy concerns are real, addressing existing harmful practices and opaque social media algorithms should be equally prioritized.
Access to accurate information is essential in any democracy. Citizens of a modern democracy have a right to access news and social media platforms without sacrificing their privacy and data, but banning this popular platform is not without consequences. While privacy concerns are real, some harmful dynamics and practices are already rampant in social media, such as inaccurate information or algorithms that operate without transparency, suppressing some opinions while elevating more harmful, hateful, or controversial ideas. Feel Good Action supports policies that do not limit the sharing of accurate information and protect consumer data more universally without banning hugely popular apps against public opinion.
Now, you!
What do you think of the U.S. ban of TikTok? How do you protect your privacy online (like using a privacy-focused browser or viewing pages in incognito mode)?