Recently, users began panicking and taking to TikTok for their final goodbyes. Although the issue was an app glitch that erased video views on users TikTok video and had no ban-related context, users began to fear the worst and have started wondering about not if but rather when TikTok will be banned in the US.
This concern is not just understandable but also fairly legitimate, especially when U.S Secretary of State Mike Pompeo responded with “I don’t want to get out in front of the President, but it’s something we’re looking at” when asked if the government would be banning TikTok along with other Chinese Apps.
Updated (August 1, 2020): It appears that the concerns surrounding TikTok’s ban were not unfounded. Yesterday, in comments to the White House press pool onboard Air Force One, President Trump confirmed, “as far as TikTok is concerned we’re banning them from the United States.” He cited leveraging an executive order or “emergency economic powers” which will enable him to implement the ban.
When will TikTok get banned in the US?
Updated (August 1, 2020): On Friday, Time reported that President Trump plans to order ByteDance to divest it’s ownership of TikTok, with Microsoft in consideration for ByteDance’s acquisition. While there is still speculation around the divestment plan, it more or less certain that TikTok’s days (or hours in this case) in the US are numbered with a ban that could be effective as of today.
Last week, Tech policymakers and national security experts believed that if President Trump wants to end TikTok in the US, the issuance of an executive order declaring it a national security threat under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act will do the trick without the need for any constitutional proceedings. Once the order issued by the President, the ban will be effective immediately.
Reportedly, yesterday President Trump issued a statement that he might sign the executive order as immediately as Saturday, should there be no other effective alternatives.
…Meanwhile, Tik Tok is being banned in phases
So far, anyone that works for the TSA, the State Department, and the Department of Homeland Security have been barred from using TikTok on government-issued phones. The Pentagon has also advised all military departments to follow this directive.
The New York Times also reported that Amazon sent an email telling employees to remove TikTok from any device that also has access to their corporate email account. Amazon later claimed that this company-wide email was sent out by mistake.
Now is a good time to start looking at alternate options. Instagram is planning to introduce Reels in August which is a fairly decent alternative or you can also check out TikTok’s competitor, Triller which is already being used by many ex-TikTokers.
