The proposed TikTok ban in the United States has gained congressional approval and awaits President Biden’s signature. However, it’s important to note that the ban won’t take effect immediately. TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, has been given a nine-month grace period to sell its U.S. subsidiary, TikTok. If a sale is in progress at the end of the nine months, ByteDance will have an additional three months to complete it. This means that the earliest a ban could go into effect is a year from now. Additionally, TikTok has a history of successfully challenging legal actions against it, which could potentially delay the ban even further through court battles.
Even if a ban does eventually take effect, TikTok is unlikely to disappear from your phone overnight. It would, however, be removed from Apple and Google’s app stores, making it unavailable for download. This means that TikTok would no longer be able to send updates, security patches, or bug fixes, rendering the app potentially unusable and a security risk over time.
Teenagers and other tech-savvy individuals may find ways to circumvent the ban, such as using VPNs, alternative app stores, or foreign SIM cards. However, such methods require technical knowledge and may not be universally successful.
In the event that TikTok becomes unavailable, users may migrate to other platforms that offer similar features, such as Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts. Many TikTok videos are already shared across these platforms, and popular creators are likely to maintain a presence on them.
The TikTok ban bill heavily relies on the control that Apple and Google have over their smartphone platforms. The primary mechanism of the bill is to direct these companies to remove TikTok from their app stores. However, experts believe that such a mechanism may be less effective in the future if antitrust actions and aggressive regulation against large tech firms continue to gain momentum.
