“Make no mistake, this is a ban. A ban on TikTok and a ban on you and your voice.” TikTok chief executive Shou Zi Chew said that in a video posted on the app shortly after President Joe Biden signing a sell-or-ban measure on Wednesday, April 24, 2024.
The law gives TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, nine months to sell the app. A sale already under way could earn a three-month extension. If ByteDance does not sell, the app would be shut out of Apple’s and Google’s app stores in the United States. The Daily Beast framed it as a likely nationwide ban unless TikTok parts with ByteDance within about a year.
How it got through
Congress did not take it up on its own. The measure traveled with a large military aid bill for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. The House cleared it with strong bipartisan support, and the Senate followed three days later with a 79-18 vote. It is a rare step: a law that could bar a company from operating in the American market.
TikTok’s answer
Chew promised a court fight. “Rest assured, we aren’t going anywhere,” he said, adding, “The facts and the Constitution are on our side and we expect to prevail again.” He called the law ironic, since free expression on the platform reflects American values. TikTok is expected to argue the First Amendment, and some of its 170 million US users may sue too.
Courts have sided with the company before. A Montana judge blocked a state ban in November 2023 on free-speech grounds, and in 2020 judges stopped then-President Donald Trump’s attempt to ban the app. The American Civil Liberties Union warned that a ban or forced sale would “set an alarming global precedent for excessive government control over social media platforms.”
The security case
US and other Western officials have alleged that the platform lets Chinese authorities collect data, spy on users and spread propaganda. Beijing and ByteDance strongly deny it.
One awkward detail: an official from Biden’s re-election campaign said the campaign still intends to use TikTok in the run-up to the election.
Sources
- TikTok vows legal fight after Biden signs sell-or-ban bill
- Biden Signs TikTok Ban Into Law | The Daily Beast
