US BAN ON TIK TOK?

WHAT IS BEHIND THE US BAN ON TIK TOK?

By Ml Luqman Skink, INX Prime News and Current Affairs Editor

15 January 2025

Time is running out for the wildly popular TikTok app as the US Supreme Court deliberates on whether it will uphold a law that set a 19 January deadline for TikTok to either sell its US operations or face a ban in the country.

The Supreme Court of the United States is the country’s highest court and enjoys ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on questions of U.S. constitutional or federal law.

In April last year, US President Joe Biden signed the bill that could lead to a nationwide TikTok ban and threaten the company’s US operations.

A ‘TOOL OF THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT’

US officials began raising concerns about the application in 2020, accusing the app of being used by China as a tool for spying and for political manipulation. Byte Dance, the company that owns the app, has denied any influence by the Chinese Communist Party and has said the law to ban it in the US violates the First Amendment free speech rights of its users.

TikTok has repeatedly said that it will not sell its US operation, but after its CEO, Shou Zi Chew, met with US president-elect Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Trump reportedly said he is opposed to its ban and is seeking to resolve the issues through ‘political means’ before taking office on January 20.

AMERICAN USAGE OF TIKTOK

The U.S Supreme Court hears arguments on a law set to take effect the day before Inauguration Day that would force their China-based parent company to cut ties with TikTok
The U.S Supreme Court hears arguments on a law set to take effect the day before Inauguration Day that would force their China-based parent company to cut ties with TikTok (Photo by Andrew Harnik / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

According to Pew Research, between 2021 and 2023, the share of U.S adults who used the TikTok app rose from 21% to 33%, and about 63% of teens between the ages of 13 and 17 said they used TikTok including 57% who use it daily and 16% who say they’re on the app ‘almost constantly’.

Also, about half of U.S. adult TikTok users (52%) say they regularly get their news there; that works out to 17% of all U.S. adults.

While news consumption on other social media sites has declined or remained steady in recent years, the share of U.S. TikTok users who get their news on the site has more than doubled since 2020.

TIKTOK BECOMES A U.S POLITICAL FOOTBALL

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testifies before the U.S Congress March 23, 2023
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testifies before the U.S Congress March 23, 2023 (Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY / AFP)

Independent journalist and documentary filmmaker, James Li says there is more to the U.S ban and in a video he posted on YouTube, he concludes that it has very little to do with China.

“In 2024, four years after Donald Trump signed an executive order where he gave TikTok 45 days to sell its assets to an American investor, there has been no proof that Byte Dance took action to impair U.S national security.”

Of course, in the same year, Trump lost to Joe Biden in the U.S Presidential election and by the following year in June, Biden signed another executive order revoking the ban imposed on TikTok by his predecessor.

TIKTOK HASHTAGS AND CONTENT DURING THE GAZA GENOCIDE

logos of Chinese-owned mobile applications Xiaohongshu (L) and TikTok
Logos of Chinese-owned mobile applications Xiaohongshu (L) and TikTok (Photo by Anna KURTH / AFP)

From 2020 to 2023 there was neither political will nor appetite by US lawmakers to pursue legislation restricting the app. However, all this changed drastically after October 7, 2023.

In the horrific onslaught that followed, Israel has killed more than 46,600 Gazans including tens of thousands of children, bombed schools and hospitals, and presided over the mass displacement and starvation of millions of Palestinians.

Subsequently, footage from Gaza shared on TikTok became the world’s window into the conduct of the Israeli occupation forces and young people in the U.S began to challenge the idea that it was the ‘world’s most moral army’.

The pro-Palestinian posts and #FreePalestine hashtags significantly outnumbered pro-Israeli posts on TikTok, and by the end of the year, the powerful U.S-based Israeli lobby groups started accusing the company of disproportionately amplifying pro-Palestine content on the platform.

YOUNG AMERICA WAKES UP

Gen-Z content creators in America and elsewhere began doing their own research on the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, posting videos that challenged the narratives they have been fed by the mainstream media.

These videos were shared and watched by millions and helped to spread understanding on the root causes of the conflict which ended up portraying Israel as an occupying apartheid force that has been responsible for the displacement of millions of Palestinians since 1948.

’WE HAVE A TIKTOK PROBLEM’

In November 2023, a leaked audio from the highly influential Anti-Defamation League’s chief executive Jonathan Greenblatt was released.

He was having a meltdown because global youth were not buying into Israel’s propaganda anymore, and in the audio, he is heard saying:

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