TikTok prepares to shut down their app in the US unless Biden makes assurances

The inauguration of a U.S. president is typically accompanied by numerous changes, including the replacement of cabinet members and the furniture in the President's office. This year, significant changes have also emerged in the realm of social media.

Last week, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg adopted a strategy similar to Elon Musk's, utilizing a broader user base rather than paid fact-checkers to flag false content. However, the real issue facing U.S. social media users is the potential ban of TikTok.

The U.S. Congress previously passed a bill with an overwhelming majority to ban the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok from operating in the United States, setting a lengthy buffer period for implementation. The ban was originally scheduled to take effect on January 19th, approximately 32 hours before Donald Trump's inauguration as U.S. President.

Trump has made it clear in recent weeks that he will reconsider the ban, hinting at a softening of his stance on TikTok during his time out of office. This is a significant shift considering he sought to ban the app and transfer it to American ownership during his first presidential term. The Joe Biden administration, on the other hand, spearheaded congressional hearings and legislation that labeled TikTok a national security risk.

Given that numerous individuals and businesses profit from or increase their revenue through TikTok, the impact of the ban on the United States would be substantial. The incoming Trump administration is attempting to reverse the strong opposition that this could trigger. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew released a video welcoming the Trump administration's "commitment to working with us (TikTok) to find a solution to keep TikTok available in the U.S."

However, this commitment did not cover the period between the ban's effective date (around 4 PM on Sunday afternoon Australian Eastern Daylight Time, Sydney time) and Trump's inauguration ceremony (midnight Tuesday, Australian time). As a result, a legal "gray area" could exist for any company, leading them to choose to disregard current law. Complying with the ban would mean Apple and Google would need to remove the app from their U.S. app stores. Furthermore, without government guarantees, other third-party service providers working with TikTok could face legal action, and TikTok is currently urging the outgoing Biden administration to provide such assurances.

An official from the Biden administration stated that "Americans should not expect TikTok to suddenly be banned on Sunday," adding that they are studying various options for implementing the law without making TikTok "disappear" (unavailable to users). However, TikTok believes this is not enough and issued a statement saying: "Statements from the Biden White House and the Department of Justice today failed to provide the necessary clarity and assurance to service providers critical to maintaining TikTok's availability for more than 170 million Americans. Unless the Biden administration immediately issues a clear statement to satisfy the most critical service providers, guaranteeing non-enforcement, TikTok will unfortunately be forced to cease service on January 19."

U.S. TikTok users will be closely watching this. It is worth noting that this event has no direct impact on Australian users, but the U.S. video creators they follow may no longer be able to post content on the platform.