With the ongoing tension between the United States and China, the social media app TikTok which is widely used in the US has become a security concern for the world’s oldest democracy. There are two Chinese laws which force any company registered inside China to help the Chinese Government to gather intelligence for the purposes of their nation. These laws have become the major arguments of the people in support of this ban. Although, this law might face legal difficulties, the learnings gained after implementing this law in the state of Montana could possibly help with the placement of such ban nationwide. There are already bans which prohibit the use of TikTok on government devices in the majority of US states. However, if the bill is passed, Montana will become the first state to implement a ban which prohibits the download of the platform throughout all devices inside the state.
Why implement a ban?
ByteDance owned company TikTok has been frequently targeted for sharing user information with the Chinese Government and promoting pro-China content more on the platform. Although, several agencies including the FBI and CIA among Republican and Democrat leaders have suggested the same, no proof which could support their claims has been provided. In December last year, the parent company of TikTok had let off four employees for retrieving the IP addresses and details of some reporters while they were investigating a data leak in the company.
There are other countries who have taken actions against the platform including India, Syria, Armenia, Denmark, Finland and many more. While the nature of the actions which have been taken differs country by country, it is quite clear that the social media company needs to improve their app to be more accepted.
Prevalence of the app:
The social media app has users spread across over 150 countries around the world and has been downloaded about 211 million times in the United States alone. The app is being used by users of all age, but the maximum users are in the age range of 13 to 60 years. The app saw a rise in its popularity during and after the pandemic. Other apps which included similar features like TikTok include Instagram which introduced reels and YouTube which came up with Shorts, both inspired by the idea of TikTok. The social media app has attracted influencers from other platforms who have now started creating their content on TikTok.
Other options in consideration:
The lawmakers of the United States are considering a proposal that provides their Commerce Department with the power to restrict foreign threats on technology based platforms like TikTok. However, the social media company was not specifically mentioned in the proposal. Although, this bill was supported by the White House, there were others who argued that the bill was not specific enough in mentioning its purpose.
Effects of the bill:
The bill proposed by the state of Montana suggests that there will be no action against anyone who is found using the platform. However, any other legal entity which violates the law would invite a $10000 fine for each user that accesses the platform from within the state of Montana. According to reports, the previous version of the same bill also made internet service providers liable, but this was later removed because it wasn’t possible to put this into effect.
Opposition faced by the bill:
- People who are not in favor of this bill have argued that anyone can access the social media platform by using Virtual Private Networks.
- Another problem came to light after TechNet employee revealed that app stores like the Google Play Store and Apple App Store are not capable of limiting the downloads of an application for users based in a particular geographical area within a country. He further added that it was almost impossible to ban a particular app in just one state.
- Some people who oppose the bill have also questioned the government as to why they did not take similar steps against other applications who take significant user data.
- Keegan Medrano from the American Civil Liberties Union claimed that the bill was promoting censorship and was violating the freedom of speech rights of the citizens of Montana.
- Some people who own a business have also come out in support of the platform. They are claiming that TikTok has given their hustles a significant boost that other platforms like TikTok failed to provide.
- TikTok as well has been openly opposing the bill. It has taken extreme steps from purchasing billboards and newspaper ads to asking its users to oppose the possible legislation.
TikTok’s solution:
The ByteDance owned platform has been trying to reach somewhere with ‘Project Texas’, a scheme that would transfer the data of all its users in the United States to Oracle servers.
