The Chinese social network has become a heavyweight in user consumption in recent years. However, the United States government has labeled it as a potential cybersecurity risk, and the legislative bill seeking to ban it continues to make progress.
In recent years, TikTok has gained significant popularity and reach on the internet. Currently, according to Statista, the platform is expected to surpass 900 million users this year, with the United States being its biggest market, where nearly 150 million of its users are concentrated (Colombia accounts for about 27 million, according to the same source).
Despite being its largest market, the platform faces a regulatory landscape that is, to say the least, challenging. In the first week of this month, the Energy and Commerce Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives introduced and unanimously approved a bill that would facilitate the prohibition of TikTok in the U.S. market. And the President of the United States, Joe Biden, has assured that if the bill passes the legislative process, he will sign it into law.
At heart, the U.S. government harbors concerns about the influence that Chinese authorities could exert over the platform, whose parent company (ByteDance) is based in Beijing. For some lawmakers, TikTok represents a sort of digital proxy of Chinese politics, which in turn is seen as a security risk for the U.S.
What Does the US Bill Against TikTok Say?
The U.S. House of Representatives initially approved the proposal, known as the Law to Protect Americans from Adversary-Controlled Applications. The bill indicates that the Chinese social network would have approximately five months to disassociate from its parent company ByteDance.
Should it fail to comply with the measure stipulated in the legislation, TikTok would be banned from app stores such as the Play Store and Apple Store in the United States. Among the countries listed as “foreign adversaries” are China, Iran, Russia, and North Korea. The digital stores of operating systems that fail to comply with the regulation would be fined $5,000 per registered user.
