[Software] TikTok ban: will the app be banned in the US and how would it work?

[Blackfire]

• TikTok's infinite stream of lip-sync videos, illusions, and air fryer recipes might seem innocent enough, but the app is now facing the very serious threat of a US ban.

• Over the past few months, TikTok has been in the eye of a political storm that has seen it banned from government devices in the US, the EU, and now the UK. But it's the very real prospect of an outright TikTok ban in the US that's worrying the app's millions of users.

  The US government, including the current Biden administration, has been investigating TikTok and its relationship to its China-based parent company for several years now.

• The app has responded to allegations that it collects and stores the data of American users by making several changes, including moving all of its US data to Oracle's servers(opens in new tab). But none of this has sated US concerns that the app poses a national security threat and the TikTok CEO will soon appear before Congress to defend the app.

• So what does this all mean for TikTok's hundreds of millions of global users, and in particular the 150 million who live in the US? Here's everything you need to know about the prospect of a TIkTok ban in the US.

• So what does this all mean for TikTok's hundreds of millions of global users, and in particular the 150 million who live in the US? Here's everything you need to know about the prospect of a TIkTok ban in the US.

• The main accusation behind the potential TikTok ban in the US is that the app poses a threat to national security. But wait, aren't most TikTok videos just frivolous video game walkthroughs and TV show clips?

• Yes, but the problem is less the content and more what TikTok might allegedly be doing with the underlying data it gathers – about your likes and comments, and also where you are in the world and who you interact with.

  For example, in February FBI Director Christopher Wray expressed "extreme" concern about the potential for China to "weaponize" data gathered from TikTok's US-based fans. 

• 

• This stems from the fact that TikTok is owned by Chinese company ByteDance – and Chinese law allows its government to force any company to hand over data they're holding on their servers.

• Another accusation made by Wray was that the Chinese government could strong-arm TikTok in a way that would allow it to "control the recommendation algorithm", therefore giving it huge potential influence given that more people than ever get their news from TikTok and YouTube.

• https://www.techradar.com/news/tiktok-ban-will-the-app-be-banned-in-the-us-and-how-would-that-work