TikTok ban: Will you be able to use app? How will it impact users? Who is buying the Chinese app? What we know so farnews24

Is TikTok social media app being banned? If so, since when, where and why will it be banned for use? How will it impact users? Will users be able to download the app thereafter? What other options exist for users and TikTok owners if the app is deemed illegal?

Several questions are being raised as a ban on the popular short-video app, TikTok, looms in the United States. Here’s all you need to know about the controversy and what happens next:

Is TikTok social media app being banned?

Not just yet. But TikTok may be banned across the United States from January 19, just ahead of the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump.

But there’s a condition’s apply: TikTok sale or ban?

The US government had passed a law last year that forced TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance to either sell the wildly popular platform or shut it down. It goes into effect Sunday.

According to reports, the Supreme Court seemed likely to uphold a law that would ban TikTok in the US beginning January 19 — unless the popular social media program is sold by its China-based parent company.

Now, ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok faces a deadline of January 19 to find a US buyer in order to continue operating in the country.

Why US wants to ban TikTok?

TikTok is currently owned by ByteDance, a China-based parent company. Since it belongs to a Chinese company, the Supreme Court warned that the app should be banned on national security grounds.

The Supreme Curt’s Chief Justice, John Roberts, said his main concern was “TikTok’s ownership by China-based ByteDance and the parent company’s requirement to cooperate with the Chinese government’s intelligence operations,” the Associated Press reported.

The US government alleged TikTok allows China to collect data and spy on users and is a conduit to spread propaganda. Justice Brett Kavanaugh raised US concerns about China accessing information on tens of millions of Americans, including especially teenagers and people in their 20s, with whom TikTok is extremely popular.

Notably, the Chinese government has a “golden share” in ByteDance, which several members of Congress have said gives the government power over Tiktok.

According to the Associated Press, TikTok has been “on notice” since 2020, during Trump’s first term, that its sale could be required if it couldn’t satisfy the US government’s national security concerns

How TikTok owners have responded?

TikTok has previously said that the Chinese’ government’s stake “has no bearing on ByteDance’s global operations outside of China, including TikTok.”

TikTok, its Chinese parent company ByteDance and app users appealed a lower court’s ruling upholding the law and rejecting their argument that it violates the US Constitution’s First Amendment protection against government abridgment of free speech.

TikTok, which sued the government last year over the law, has long denied it could be used as a tool of China.

Short of a policy reversal by President-elect Donald Trump or ByteDance selling its US service, TikTok will be in breach of the law within a week, triggering the search.

Can TikTok be really banned?

Yes. The law passed by bipartisan majorities in Congress and signed by US President Joe Biden in April will require TikTok to “go dark” on January 19, said lawyer Noel Francisco, representing content creators and TikTok users.

Will TikTok be sold to a US entity?

Some investors have been eyeing TikTok. Some of those who have showed interest are Donald Trump’s Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and billionaire businessman Frank McCourt.

Tesla and SpaceX owner Elon Musks’ name also surfaced in the buyers list. Bloomberg News reported on Monday that Chinese officials are in preliminary talks about a potential option to sell TikTok’s operations in the United States to billionaire Elon Musk, should the short-video app be unable to avoid an impending ban.

Elon Musk, X, and China’s Cyberspace and Ministry of Commerce has not yer responded to the such claims.

What ByteDance said on TikTok sale?

ByteDance has said it won’t sell the short-form video platform, and lawyer Francisco said a sale might never be possible under the conditions set in the law. The companies’ lawyer said it would be impossible to complete a sale by next week’s deadline.

What would happen if TikTok isn’t sold?

If TikTok isn’t sold to an approved US buyer, the federal law would prohibit app stores, such as those operated by Apple and Google, from offering the popular app. It would also bar internet hosting services from hosting TikTok.

Can TikTok ban deadline be extended?

Reuters reported that US President Joe Biden could extend the deadline by 90 days if he certifies ByteDance is making substantial progress toward a divestiture but it is unlikely ByteDance could meet that standard.

Senator Edward Markey said he planned to introduce legislation to delay the deadline by which ByteDance must sell TikTok or face a ban by an additional 270 days.

What happens if TikTok is banned?

The companies’ lawyer Noel Francisco said that if banned, the short video app used by 170 million Americans would quickly “go dark” and “essentially the platform shuts down.”

Will TikTok users still have access to app?

Yes. TikTok users who already have the app on their phones will continue to have access to it.

But new users won’t be able to download the app, and existing ones will no longer be able to receive updates.

“That will eventually render the app unworkable,” the Justice Department has said in court filings.

How would TikTok ban impact users?

Senator Edward Markey raised concerns that “a TikTok ban would impose serious consequences on millions of Americans who depend on the app for social connections and their economic livelihood. We cannot allow that to happen.”

What would allow TikTok to resume operations?

Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar said an eventual sale of TikTok short-video app, even after the ban kicks in, would allow TikTok to resume operations. “The sale of Twitter to Elon Musk, who renamed it X, shows that the sale of a social media platform can happen quickly,” she was quoted by the Associated Press as saying.

What are the alternatives for ‘TikTok refugees’?

With TikTok facing an imminent shutdown in the United States, American content creators have taken flight to other Chinese social media app.

According to AFP, Xiaohongshu, known as Red Note in English, surged to the top of the Apple App Store downloads on Monday. Another Chinese-made social app Lemon8 has also taken over the top two positions on Apple Inc.’s iPhone download charts in the US.