VERIFYING what the TikTok ban legislation could mean for you

On April 24, President Joe Biden signed a $95 billion foreign aid package into law that includes a provision that would force TikTok to be sold or be banned in the United States.

TikTok is one of the most popular social media platforms in the U.S. However, some lawmakers and critics of TikTok see it as a national security threat, arguing that the Chinese government could force the company’s owner, Chinese technology firm ByteDance Ltd., to share data on American users.

Recent online search trends show that many people are wondering what the legislation actually does and how it will affect their personal use of TikTok.

Here’s what we can VERIFY about the TikTok ban bill that was just signed into law.

THE SOURCES

• H.R.815 - National Security Supplemental Package
• White House
• Press release issued by the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
• TikTok

QUESTION #1

Is TikTok now banned in the U.S.?

THE ANSWER

No, TikTok is not currently banned in the U.S.

Some social media users are confused as to whether TikTok is officially banned in the U.S. after President Joe Biden signed the bill on April 24.

A provision known as the “Protecting Americans’ Data from Foreign Adversaries Act of 2024,” which is included in the National Security Supplemental Package, gives TikTok’s Chinese-owned parent company, ByteDance, nine months to sell the popular social media platform or it will face a nationwide ban.

According to the law’s text, the president can grant a one-time extension of 90 days if he certifies that there’s a path to divestiture and “significant progress” toward executing it. This would bring ByteDance’s timeline to sell TikTok to one year.

If ByteDance sells TikTok, the bill would also block the company from controlling TikTok’s algorithm that feeds users videos based on their interests and has made the platform a trendsetting phenomenon.

TikTok told the Associated Press it will wage a legal challenge against what it called an “unconstitutional” effort by Congress.

“We believe the facts and the law are clearly on our side, and we will ultimately prevail,” TikTok said in a statement. “The fact is, we have invested billions of dollars to keep U.S. data safe and our platform free from outside influence and manipulation. This ban would devastate seven million businesses and silence 170 million Americans.”

TikTok has seen some success with court challenges in the past, such as when a federal judge blocked Montana’s TikTok ban in November, but the company has never sought to prevent federal legislation from going into effect.

QUESTION #2

If and when the ban goes into effect, can you still use TikTok in the U.S.?

THE ANSWER

Yes, you can still use TikTok in the U.S. if the ban goes into effect.

Others on social media have questioned if TikTok will immediately disappear from their phones if the potential ban goes into effect. We can VERIFY that the social media app will not disappear from your phone if TikTok is banned.

Instead, TikTok would no longer be accessible on Apple and Google’s app stores, meaning new users wouldn’t be able to download it. This also means TikTok wouldn’t be able to send updates, security patches and bug fixes, and over time the app would likely become unusable — not to mention a security risk.

“The TikTok bill relies heavily on the control that Apple and Google maintain over their smartphone platforms because the bill’s primary mechanism is to direct Apple and Google to stop allowing the TikTok app on their respective app stores,” Dean Ball, a research fellow with the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, told the Associated Press.

If Apple and Google don’t remove TikTok from their app stores, the companies could be fined $5,000 per existing user. Companies providing web hosting services to TikTok could also be fined.

QUESTION #3

If and when the ban goes into effect, are there any legal consequences if you continue to use TikTok?

THE ANSWER

No, there are no legal consequences if you use TikTok if the ban goes into effect.

Some social posts suggest there could be legal consequences, including jail time, if a person uses a virtual private network (VPN) to access TikTok if it’s banned in the U.S.

A specific provision in the legislation’s text says individual TikTok users cannot be prosecuted under the law. A press release published in March by the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which sponsored the first iteration of the bill, also said the legislation would not punish individual social media users or regulate speech.

“No enforcement action can be taken against individual users of an impacted app,” the press release says.

The law specifically targets social media applications and websites that are controlled by foreign adversaries of the U.S. that “pose an unacceptable risk to U.S. national security.” Those foreign adversaries, which are defined in Title 10 of the U.S. Code, include Russia, Iran and North Korea, in addition to China.

“This bill only applies to specifically defined social media apps subject to the control of foreign adversaries, as defined by Congress,” the press release says.

TikTok has denied assertions that it could be used as a tool of the Chinese government. The company has also said it has never shared U.S. user data with Chinese authorities and won’t do so if it’s asked.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.