Chinese short video app TikTok is almost certain to be banned in the US. The court has asked TikTok to sell its stake to its parent company ByteDance by January 19, or the app will be banned in the US.
A US federal court on Friday rejected the app's 'free speech' appeal. During the hearing, a three-judge bench dismissed ByteDance's charge and said that no American law restricts 'free speech' in any way.
Justice Douglas Ginsburg wrote in the decision – 'The First Amendment to the Constitution exists to protect freedom of speech in America. Government has protected free speech from enemy country. The US has stopped an adversary country from collecting data on American people.
Indian government has banned Chinese short video app in June-2020 and British government in March-2023. Apart from this, around 50 countries including Pakistan, Nepal and Afghanistan have also banned TikTok.
What is the matter?
- US President Joe Biden made a law to ban the TikTok app.
- While introducing the bill, it called the app a threat to national security and user privacy.
- The Senate, the upper house of the US Parliament, passed the bill against the app by a vote of 79-18.
- On April 24 this year, Biden signed this new bill banning the app.
- Biden issued an order asking ByteDance to sell its stake within 9 months.
- At that time, TikTok CEO Shaw Ji Chew said, 'We will go to court against the new law.'
- The TikTok CEO filed an application in the US court calling this bill against 'free speech'.
- TikTok had hoped that the argument would be heard in federal court, but its hopes were dashed.
What are the options? Companies can approach the Supreme Court – ByteDance and TikTok may challenge the decision in the Supreme Court, although it is unclear whether the court will take up the matter. The companies have confirmed their intention to take the case to a higher court, saying the Supreme Court has 'an established historical record of protecting Americans' right to free speech.'
New President Donald Trump may halt the ban – If TikTok is banned on January 19, it can be stopped. Because, on January 20, the newly elected President Donald Trump will be sworn in and it is believed that Trump may oppose the ban of Tiktok. Trump talked about defending TikTok during his election campaign. However, it is not considered legally possible to do so.
One option is that Trump could also ask Congress to withdraw the legislation, which would require the support of the Republican Party. TikTok proposed the agreement to the Biden administration in 2022, but the administration believes there may be technical challenges in complying with it. Experts say that Trump's attitude may change after receiving new information.
Donald Trump during a campaign rally in North Carolina on November 2, 2024.
What will be the effect of banning the app?
- Many content creators and small businesses rely on TikTok. If this is banned, they may face an employment crisis.
- According to March 2024 data from TikTok, more than 70 million American small businesses use TikTok.
- In 2023, these businesses earned ₹1.27 lakh crore through TikTok. This is why there is opposition to the ban in America.
- If TikTok is banned, advertisers will have to transfer to other social media platforms.
- Alternatives like Meta already exist and experts predict that others may emerge in the future.
- While Oracle Corp. May come as a shock, as it provides Internet hosting to TikTok.
Tiktok in India More than 500 apps are banned including TikTok app was banned in India in June 2020. The Indian government called the Chinese apps a threat to the country's sovereignty and security. After a military clash on the Indo-China border, India banned 59 Chinese apps, including TikTok. A few months before the ban, India had also banned investment by Chinese companies. More than 500 Chinese apps have been banned in India so far.
The Chinese company's video app TikTok was accused of promoting pornography. Apart from this, he also faced allegations of stealing data from Indians. First, the Madras High Court banned it. After being banned by the High Court, Bytedance appealed to the Supreme Court. It also restored the order of the Madras High Court.
What did tiktok say? At the time of the ban, TikTok India CEO Nikhil Gandhi said – We are following Indian law. We comply with all data privacy and security regulations under Indian law. We have not shared the information of Indian users with any foreign government, including China. Even if we are requested to do so in the future, we will not do so. We understand the importance of users' privacy.
How did Chinese apps get banned in India? The IT Act made in the year 2000 – 69A has a section. This section says that if the government feels that it is in the interest of the sovereignty, security and unity of the country, it can order the blocking of any computer resource for the general public. The section says that failure to comply with government orders can lead to imprisonment of up to seven years and fine.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
