Title asks it all. “Banning” TikTok – is that at all possible? I understand they can make it hard for folks to get the TikTok app by coercing companies to remove the app from the app stores, but that’s simply a minor inconvenience I would think – I can’t imagine anything can be removed from the internet, access prohibited, etc. What am I missing here?
In: Technology
In the bill it allows the US government the ability to take civil action against any US company that allows it to be downloaded, so any app store, maybe even phone carriers, etc
They would add Bytedance to OFAC. The app stores would then have to drop the app.
Advertisers couldn’t pay to be on the app.
Content creators wouldn’t get paid.
That’s it, the app will die. Bytedance won’t bother supporting an older version of the app that’s not generating revenue.
Zero need for pressure on ISPs, or DNS providers.
https://ofac.treasury.gov/faqs
In a very real sense Congress *can’t* ban TikTok specifically. There are clauses in the Constitution that prohibit Congress from stopping Business XYZ from operating. Congress *can* block entire types of business from operating in the US, but if they try to do that by narrowly defining the type then TikTok goes to the SCOTUS and says “violation of Constitution!” just like if Congress called them out by name.
And that doesn’t even BEGIN to look at either the 1ST Amendment or Commerce Clauses of the Constitution. Congress can’t stop TikTok, and it’s just a big bunch of nothing-burger when they say they will, pandering to their (generally Republican) constituents.
Not being available in the app store is not a minor inconvenience. It is a massive deal breaker for the vast majority of people.
The people I know who use tiktok don’t know how to install apps without the app store and I doubt they will bother to learn.
There is part of the bill that will fine $5000 per USER to any entity that let’s you download (maintaining the app) so App stores/US websites are gonna axe it most likely.
“(A) FOREIGN ADVERSARY CONTROLLED APPLICATION VIOLATIONS.—An entity that vio25 lates subsection (a) shall be subject to pay a civil penalty in an amount not to exceed the amount that results from multiplying $5,000 by the number of users within the land or mari4 time borders of the United States determined to have accessed, maintained, or updated a foreign adversary controlled application as a result of such violation.”
Some offshore sites might illegally host it similar to illegal streaming sites but it’s going to hugely curb the population of users when an update patch hits your phone. Accessibility is a huge reason TikTok is popular.
Just bring up the app into a new domain. Or act as if it’s a completely new entity, provide the user the option of migrating content from one to another. Tiktok can be moved to toktik . So banning isn’t going to help anything. Already Instagram, YouTube does exactly same thing toktik does
Huawei is the second-biggest smartphone maker in the world, but only less than 1 percent of Americans own one.
Because congress banned hauwei from using the Google play store.
Congress can pass a law requireing all ISPs to filter out data going to tictok very simply, they can write a law requiring apple and samsung to create app filters that prevent tictok from being installed on their phones.
They can’t due to the constitution. The security risks that Congress outlines have only been theoretical. The current Supreme Court would almost certainly strike down the law.
And to the proponents of this ban, do you really want a precedent for the government to ban a form of speech because of whatever they define as a security risk?
You’re grossly overestimating the average person’s tech literacy. To circumvent a ban, you’d need to :
1. Sideload : People aren’t going to go out of their way to try and get something that’s been delisted from the app/play store.
2. VPN : Even if they sideload, you’d further need a VPN toggled on, in order for the app to work.
One of these alone, would be enough to knock off the “casual” user, basically the majority of the 150 million American users.
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