As a potential ban on TikTok looms, millions of U.S. users are wondering what will happen to both the app and their accounts if the ban goes into effect in the coming days.
The ban, passed by Congress with a bipartisan majority last April and signed by President Biden, gives TikTok until January 19th to withdraw from ByteDance or face a ban in the United States. I was forced to face it.
TikTok hasn't publicly announced what users can expect on Sunday if this ban goes into effect, but cybersecurity experts say the ban doesn't necessarily mean that the U.S. agree that this does not mean the app will suddenly disappear from their devices.
The ban hinges on a Supreme Court ruling that took up TikTok's challenge to the Divestment Act on an expedited timeline. The high court heard oral arguments last week and expressed sympathy for the government's national security concerns about TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance.
Here's what would happen if the ban went into effect on Sunday.
TikTok will no longer be available in app stores and will be buggy for existing users
The No-Sale Act, officially known as the Protecting Americans from Applications Controlled by Foreign Adversaries Act, would prevent U.S. app stores and web hosting services, such as those run by Google and Apple, from distributing TikTok to users. It is illegal to do so. .
As a result, the application will be removed from the app store and no longer available for download.
Still, on US devices, existing downloads are unlikely to be removed, at least initially.
“TikTok can't do anything, and even if the app store were to remove the service, or remove the ability to download the app, it wouldn't immediately cause problems for most users,” the digital rights nonprofit Electronic said. Jason Kelly, director of operations at the Frontier Foundation, said: .
However, with no updates provided by the app store, the app may become buggy and eventually stop working for users in the United States.
“The bugs will arise from the fact that TikTok could slowly phase out the service overnight or over weeks or months,” Kelly said, adding: “If I were to make a bet, it would be that we are watching,” he added. Within 48 hours, most users will see some kind of connection error when loading TikTok. ”
Kelly said these errors can include visuals failing to load, links not being clickable, and content posted after the ban goes into effect not being displayed.
TikTok suspends app in US immediately
TikTok has not publicly acknowledged its plans, but one report said the company will immediately shut down the app for U.S. users on Sunday.
Unless the Supreme Court overturns the ban, TikTok plans to prevent people from using the app once the ban goes into effect. Information reported Tuesday, citing two people familiar with TikTok's plans.
Under the plan, users who try to open the TikTok app will be directed to a website with information about the ban, The Information reports. Users will be given the option to download the data, but will not be able to use the app, the media added.
TikTok's lawyer, Noel Francisco, told the high court last week that the platform would “go dark” unless a judge intervenes before the deadline.
“They may choose to exit the market because they are concerned about the impact,” Jennifer Huddleston, a senior technology policy fellow at the Cato Institute, told The Hill.
TikTok did not immediately respond to The Hill's request for comment about the report or Sunday's plans.
User tries VPN
Cyber experts predict that many users may try to use virtual private networks (VPNs) to hide their IP addresses and access apps.
“What could happen is that people will try to download a new version of TikTok because the version of TikTok on their phone will no longer work and it won't be available in the app store,” Kelly said.
Kelly points out that using VPNs and alternative channels is not without risks. He predicted that black market websites and hackers may try to take advantage of the influx of people searching for ways to download TikTok under the ban.
“What I would like people to consider is that if they can't download the app itself from a trusted source, are they going to end up downloading an app that has been manipulated in some way?” he said. Ta. “I think the potential consequence is that people end up putting spyware on their phones.”
“If you try to find an access point to the software, you're more likely to end up with something that isn't actually TikTok, or something that's potentially dangerous,” he added.
Rush to alternative apps
Block access to apps used by multiple people 170 million Americans This could lead TikTokers to look for alternatives to the platform they've been using for the past seven years.
The influx of alternative apps has already begun this week. Chinese social media app “Xiaohongshu” surged to become the most downloaded free app on Apple's App Store in the US on Tuesday.
This Chinese app, which translates to “Little Red Book” in English, offers short videos, posts, and e-commerce features. This app has become increasingly popular in China and other regions in recent years. Now I'm proud Over 300 million monthly active users.
Thousands of US users joined Xiaohongshu earlier this week, calling themselves “TikTok refugees” in protest of the impending ban. Many of these American users were apparently observed interacting with users based in China, who were teaching the Americans how to navigate the app and how to switch languages from Chinese to Chinese. .
lemon 8, Another app owned by ByteDance, The charts also rose For this week's download. The app has similar features to other popular apps, offering Instagram-like photo and carousel photo uploads and a TikTok-like personalized video component.
Despite the initial excitement about these apps, it's unclear whether they will ultimately face similar challenges in the U.S. or whether users will want to stick with them long-term.
The anti-sale law only applies to TikTok and ByteDance and their subsidiaries, meaning Lemon8 will likely face similar challenges, but other unrelated platforms will not.
Nevertheless, Mark Montgomery, senior director of the Cyber Technology Innovation Center, said the law would pave the way for future challenges to apps owned by foreign adversaries to move more quickly. Said it would be helpful.
“I feel good that TikTok is being treated this way. I remain concerned that there is a widespread and persistent information operations attack on the United States by adversaries that is not generally acknowledged. ,” he told The Hill.
TikTok finally sold
Even if the ban were to go into effect, it would not prevent TikTok from exiting ByteDance in the future.
A number of companies and billionaires are rumored to be interested in acquiring the social media platform, and President-elect Trump, who will be sworn in the day after the ban goes into effect, wants to keep TikTok active in the United States. It shows that they want to find a solution.
Still, a sale agreement could take several days or more.
“This is going to be a sizable deal, and sizable deals usually take some time,” Huddleston said. “Yes, sometimes it happens quickly, but even if there is a buyer, it usually doesn’t happen overnight.”
“This also comes at a time when there is intense scrutiny of technology acquisitions,” she continued, possibly referring to the anti-competitive scrutiny that big technology companies have faced in recent years. It will be done.
Biden has the option of extending the ban for 90 days before leaving the White House, but that would require ByteDance and TikTok to show progress in sale negotiations.
Huddleston said that if Trump becomes president, he could look to his allies in Congress to pass legislation to extend the deadline.
