In March 2023, social media giant TikTok reached 150 million daily users in the United States alone. Fast forward 12 months and on 13th March 2024, the US House of Representatives voted to approve a bill that could ban the TikTok app from US app stores.
However, there’s no denying the popularity of TikTok across the globe, so how would a ban impact content creators and marketers? Even beyond the US – it could certainly shake the state of play up.
But, how did we get here? Despite TikTok dominating the app download charts in the country since 2019, concerns have grown surrounding how safe user data is. And, more specifically, how TikTok is allegedly passing on user data to the Chinese government. Company owner ByteDance strongly refutes these claims.
What’s the bill about?
The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applicants Act targets ByteDance, a Chinese internet tech company, and its app TikTok. It also allows for other major social media platforms to be targeted if they’re considered national security risks.
Co-author of the ‘TikTok bill’, Mike Gallagher, said the US “takes the risk of having a dominant news platform in America controlled or owned by a company that is beholden to the Chinese Communist Party.”
So, what does it mean for TikTok in the United States? If the bill is passed by the US Senate, President Biden has already announced he will sign it into law. As a result, ByteDance will have to sell TikTok within six months to a buyer that satisfies the US government. If it doesn’t, then it faces being removed from American app stores all together.
How is TikTok controversial?
Despite repeated efforts to distance itself from their Chinese owners, and attempts to reassure regulators with initiatives such as Project Clover – concerns amongst world leaders and regulators remain.
Similar to numerous other social media platforms, TikTok gathers user data, and critics worry about the potential for this information to be accessed by the Chinese government—an eventuality TikTok and ByteDance vehemently refute.
Towards the end of 2022, London-based journalist, Cristina Criddle was contacted by TikTok via telephone to inform her that two of its employees in China and two in the US had viewed user data from her personal account without her knowledge or consent.
TikTok has acknowledged that members of its internal audit department investigated Cristina’s IP address location and compared it with the IP data of some of their own staff, in an attempt to identify those clandestinely meeting with the press. This action was deemed an “unauthorised” misuse of their authority.
What action should marketers take?
TikTok’s future in the US remains uncertain, but for now, it’s business as usual, especially for those of us outside the States. However, wherever in the world you might be – it’s more than worth taking note ofand considering how you can leverage on your other channels if required later down the line. You may also want to look at how you can pool TikTok followers to other platforms.
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TikTok’s response
TikTok has attempted to assure regulators that it has implemented measures to safeguard the data of its US users from being accessed by ByteDance employees in China.
CEO Shou Zi Chew affirmed the company’s dedication to maintaining data security and ensuring the platform remains “free from external interference.”
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