TikTok is at risk of being banned in the U.S. if its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, doesn’t sell the app by mid-January 2024. A federal appeals court recently upheld a law requiring ByteDance to cut ties with TikTok or face a nationwide ban. The court ruled that national security concerns outweigh TikTok’s claim that the law violates free speech rights.
Lawmakers worry that the Chinese government could use TikTok to collect data on U.S. users or influence public opinion by controlling what content is shown. These concerns led Congress to pass the law earlier this year, giving ByteDance nine months to sell TikTok. However, ByteDance doesn’t plan to sell, and China has vowed to block any sale of TikTok’s technology.
If the ban happens, app stores like Google Play and Apple’s App Store will have to remove TikTok, and updates will stop. While current users could still access the app, it would likely stop working over time without updates.
TikTok plans to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court, asking for an emergency delay. The app argues that the law is unconstitutional and based on inaccurate fears about its operations.
This decision impacts TikTok’s 170 million U.S. users, who could lose access to one of the most popular social media platforms. For now, the future of TikTok in the U.S. hangs in the balance, with the Supreme Court likely having the final say.
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