US bans TikTok, unless ByteDance sells it

US President Joe Biden signed a new law on Wednesday, potentially leading to a ban on TikTok, the Chinese-owned video streaming app, unless its ownership is sold within a year.

The legislation was incorporated into a bill providing foreign aid for Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan. It mandates that ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, must divest its stake in the app within 12 months or face a shutdown. US lawmakers argue that as long as TikTok is owned by a Chinese company, it is subject to China's authoritarian regime.

TikTok, which is popular with 170 million Americans and has become a trendsetter in short-form video content, has been under US scrutiny since its Chinese tech giant parent ByteDance relaunched the app from the popular karaoke app Musical.ly in 2017. TikTok's rapid growth has fuelled concerns over national security, with Washington worrying about potential Chinese government influence.

Despite these concerns, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, in a video posted on the platform shortly after the law was signed, expressed confidence that TikTok would prevail in court, reassuring users that the app would continue to operate in the meantime. He noted that "the facts and the Constitution are on our side," indicating TikTok's intention to challenge the law in court.

The law would require web-hosting services to cease supporting TikTok and force Google and Apple to remove TikTok from their app stores if ByteDance does not sell its stake within the stipulated timeframe. This could lead to the app becoming unusable over time. This legislation marks the first time the US has passed a law that could lead to banning a social media platform, drawing criticism from civil liberties groups and Constitutional scholars.

Selling TikTok may not be straightforward, as any potential buyer would need the approval of the Chinese government, which has shown resistance to a forced sale. China's content-recommendation algorithms are on an export-control list, giving the government a say in how the technology is sold. This, combined with possible legal challenges, complicates TikTok's future in the US.