By CJ Kuechler

TikTok, a vastly popular social media platform with 1.5 billion active users worldwide, is set to be banned in the United States on January 19, 2025.

In April of 2024, President Joe Biden signed a bill for a potential TikTok ban, giving TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, an ultimatum to either sell the app or otherwise be banned in the U.S.

The US Supreme Court’s upholding of the law that could ban TikTok for the over 150 million Americans who use the app. With the app’s immense popularity, many are wondering why the app is the target of an imminent ban and what that could mean.

Why is TikTok Being Banned?

Since 2020, when then-President Donald Trump led the initial effort to ban TikTok, the primary reason given for banning the app has been national security.

ByteDance, the Chinese internet technology company that owns TikTok, has been at the center of the American government’s concerns. Like many social media apps, TikTok collects data on its users, including account and profile information, user-generated content, messages, purchase information, metadata, and more. With access to this data, lawmakers and regulators argue that the Chinese government could use this data to spy on Americans or influence their algorithms.

The app must abide by the Chinese government’s legal ability to instruct Chinese-owned companies to comply with government requests, which include access to data or changes to the platform’s practices. If the Chinese government hypothetically requested data from TikTok, then ByteDance would have to comply.

Lawmakers and regulators also expressed worry that China could use TikTok to fuel misinformation, push propaganda, or bury content critical against the Chinese government.

In the five-hour congressional hearing in 2023 surrounding TikTok’s influence, additional concerns were cited related to its addictiveness, the app’s effect on mental health, and worries about child safety.

The average American adult spends 58.4 minutes a day on TikTok.

How Will a TikTok Ban Work?

If a ban goes into effect, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act would make it illegal for app stores and web-hosting services to distribute TikTok. People who do not already have TikTok downloaded would no longer be able to access it as it would no longer be in Apple or Google’s app stores.

For those who already have the app, which is about one-third of all American adults, TikTok will most likely become unusable. The app will not disappear from the phones of those who already have it, but they will not be able to update it. TikTok plans to send a pop-up message to those attempting to open the app, directing users to information about the ban.

Individuals who use a virtual private network (VPN) may be able to bypass the ban, as VPNs can make computers appear to be based in other countries, but that may carry risks as well.

The TikTok ban will most likely cause users to turn their attention to other apps, with some already flocking to the Chinese-owned application Xiaohongshu, or “RedNote.” The move to RedNote is seen as a protest against the TikTok ban, since ByteDance and RedNote are both Chinese-owned, with RedNote being popular specifically in China. The rise in users going to RedNote is notable in highlighting how controversial the ban is in the eyes of many Americans.

Arguments Against the TikTok Ban

While TikTok does collect a lot of data, critics against the ban argue that banning TikTok will not solve the issue of invasive surveillance from Big Tech companies, as the ban doesn’t address how other tech companies like Meta and Google harvest data or invade users’ privacy. In 2020, The Washington Post determined that TikTok did not appear to collect any more data than other mainstream social media networks do. Asian American Advancing Justice (AAJC) also called the ban “hypocritical and steeped in xenophobia,” highlighting that the ban does not provide comprehensive privacy legislation for Americans.

Proponents against the ban also emphasized that many of the risks associated with TikTok are more hypothetical and theoretical, with the ACLU arguing that the government had not satisfied the requirements to prove that a ban is the only way to prevent imminent harm to national security. Moreover, there is currently no publicly available evidence that the Chinese government has influenced Americans or conducted cyber espionage through the app. TikTok’s chief executive, Shou Zi Chew, had stated that ByteDance is “not an agent of China or any other country.”

Some critics also expressed that a ban would violate TikTok’s and its users’ First Amendment right to free speech, claiming that the platform allows millions to exercise their right to free expression and access to information.

Additionally, many users have monetized content on TikTok and credit the app for their improved financial situations. Content creators expressed fear that being cut off from the app could hurt their finances and decrease their access to growth opportunities.

TikTok is also widely used for businesses to promote their products and gain brand recognition. There are an estimated 7 million small businesses that use TikTok to help sell their products, with the app generating $14.7 billion for small businesses and an additional $24.2 billion in total economic activity in 2023.

The ban could create a setback for many businesses and would force brands to rethink their marketing strategies.

How Businesses Can Prepare for a TikTok Ban

For many companies, TikTok has been a primary platform for publishing social media marketing campaigns and spreading brand awareness. To prepare for a TikTok ban, companies should make sure they are established on other platforms, such as Instagram or Facebook.

Businesses should maintain multiple channels for distributing content as this will help expand overall reach. Many social media platforms also have their own TikTok-style options for producing short-form video content, such as Instagram Reels or YouTube shorts.

Businesses should also move their audiences to a channel they already own, like email contact lists or SMS, and entice customers to join contact lists.

Marketers should expect to reallocate their ad spend to other platforms. Without TikTok, there could be an uphill battle to establish the same audience and performance, but brands should be ready to engage new consumers and establish themselves on other platforms.

Whether businesses or individuals use TikTok every day or not at all, a ban on the app will have far-reaching consequences for businesses, the social media landscape, and even free speech.