![]() ![]() Although popular among young people, the app has also come under fire for potential privacy abuses and ties to the Chinese government. TikTok was prohibited in Canada on mobile devices provided by the government, after a similar prohibition in the European Union. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.Recently, the opposition to TikTok, which is controlled by China, has grown in the United States and other Western nations. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at for further information. And it's notable that the Commerce Department is leading the national security discussions with TikTok.ĬHANG: That is NPR's Bobby Allyn. I will note that Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said recently that banning TikTok could mean losing every voter under 35. We have to see if that goes as far as the White House would like. Secondly, TikTok has spent $1.5 billion to safeguard Americans' data. First, the CEO of TikTok is testifying before Congress later this month. It wouldn't be instant.ĬHANG: And how close are we now to that actually happening, you think?ĪLLYN: So it's bad as it's ever been for TikTok, but there's a few things to consider. And if they're not able to do that, over time, TikTok would become slow. That's where TikTok and all apps send software updates. And so that would apply to Apple and Google. But if TikTok were banned, it could become illegal to do business with the company. There's no way of removing an app from someone's phone, obviously. ![]() Like, if TikTok is banned tomorrow, say, what will happen to the app that's already on millions of people's phones here in the U.S.?ĪLLYN: Yeah, it's not going to disappear overnight. But let's talk for a minute about just how such a ban would even work. And legal experts say passing a TikTok ban would likely once again run up against these same legal hurdles, these free speech issues.ĬHANG: OK, so let's say there is a ban, and we're sure to see some legal challenges to it. And it's this old Cold War-era law that says films, music, books and other information and now digital media must be able to flow freely between the U.S. There's a law called the Berman Amendment that court cited when Trump's ban attempts were struck down. And it's something Trump ran up against when he tried to crack down on TikTok. I mean, wouldn't banning a whole platform for speech potentially violate the First Amendment?ĪLLYN: Many legal scholars think so. It's full of people expressing political views, other types of speech. And now we have the Biden White House trying to make TikTok do the same exact thing.ĬHANG: The thing is, though, Bobby, TikTok is, you know, this hugely popular social media app. And the federal government looked at it and said, you know what? This kind of looks like a national security threat, so it ought to be sold to an American company. At one point, that app was acquired by a Chinese firm. ![]() The closest comparison would be of the gay dating app Grindr. So from that regard, it's definitely unprecedented. But that has never happened, Ailsa, with a huge global social media company like TikTok. Like, has this ever happened before?ĪLLYN: Yes, federal government has placed entities in China, Russia and North Korea on blacklists, basically making it impossible to do business with them. And the bill's sponsors say it would give Biden the power to force TikTok to be sold to an American company or to put TikTok out of business completely.ĬHANG: But the federal government banning a whole company seems like a really big deal. Now, in Congress, meanwhile, there have been a flurry of bills aimed at TikTok, but the one that seems to be gaining the most momentum is broadly about limiting business with foreign countries considered adversaries like China. Now, these bans honestly have had little effect on the company besides being kind of a hit to TikTok's reputation. Many states have banned the app on government-issued devices. So more than 30 states have acted to restrict TikTok in some way. Can you just bring us up to speed here?ĪLLYN: Sure. Hey, Bobby.ĬHANG: So it seems like TikTok has been dealing with a lot of legal problems in recent months. But is the super-popular video app actually going to be banned? And how would that even work? Well, to help us understand, we're joined now by NPR tech reporter Bobby Allyn. The White House has announced that it supports a bipartisan Senate bill that would give the president the power to ban the Chinese-owned app. ![]()
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