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The Government of India has already banned TikTok in June 2020.
It is almost certain that the Chinese short video app TikTok will be banned in America. The court has asked TikTok to sell its stake to its parent company ByteDance by January 19, otherwise the app will be banned in America.
A US federal court on Friday rejected the app’s ‘free speech’ appeal. During the hearing, a bench of three judges rejected ByteDance’s allegation and said that no American law prevents ‘free speech’ in any way.
Justice Douglas Ginsburg wrote in the decision – ‘The First Amendment to the Constitution exists to protect free speech in America. The government has protected free speech from the enemy country. America has stopped the opposing country from collecting data of the American people.
The Indian government has banned the Chinese short video app in June-2020 and the British government in March-2023. Apart from this, about 50 countries including Pakistan, Nepal and Afghanistan have also banned TikTok.
Note – Data according to the Pew Research Survey report released in September.
What is the matter?
- US President Joe Biden had made a law to ban the TikTok app.
- While presenting the bill, the app was described as a threat to national security and user privacy.
- The Senate, the upper house of the US Parliament, passed the bill against the app by 79-18 votes.
- On April 24 this year, Biden had signed this new bill banning the app.
- Biden had issued an order asking ByteDance to sell its stake in 9 months.
- Then TikTok CEO Shaw Ji Chew had said, ‘We will go to court against the new law.’
- TikTok CEO had filed a petition in the US court calling the bill against ‘free speech’.
- TikTok had hoped that the argument would be heard in the Federal Court, but its hopes were dashed.
What are the options? Companies can go to Supreme Court – ByteDance and TikTok may challenge the decision in the Supreme Court, although it is unclear whether the court will take up the case. The companies have confirmed their intention to take the case to the higher court, saying the Supreme Court has ‘an established historical record of protecting Americans’ right to free speech.’
New President Donald Trump can stop the ban – If TikTok is banned on January 19, it can be stopped. Because, on January 20, newly elected President Donald Trump will take oath and it is believed that Trump may oppose the ban of TikTok. Trump had talked about defending TikTok during his election campaign. However, doing so is not considered legally possible.
One option is that Trump can also ask Congress to withdraw this law, which would require the support of the Republican Party. TikTok had proposed an agreement to the Biden administration in 2022, but the administration believes there could be technical challenges in complying with it. Experts say that Trump’s stance may change after receiving new information.
Donald Trump during an election rally in North Carolina on November 2, 2024.
What will be the effect of ban on the app?
- Many content creators and small businesses depend on TikTok. If this is banned then they may face employment crisis.
- According to TikTok’s March 2024 data, more than 70 million small American businesses use TikTok.
- In 2023, these businesses had earned ₹1.27 lakh crore through TikTok. For this reason the ban is being opposed in America.
- If TikTok is banned then advertisers will have to transfer to other social media platforms.
- Options like Meta already exist and experts predict that other options may also emerge in the future.
- Whereas Oracle Corp. may get a shock, because it provides internet hosting to TikTok.
More than 500 apps including TikTok banned in India The TikTok app was banned in India in June 2020. The Indian government had described Chinese apps as a threat to the sovereignty and security of the country. After the military clash on the India-China border, India had banned 59 Chinese apps including TikTok. A few months before the ban, India had also banned investment by Chinese companies. So far, more than 500 Chinese apps have been banned in India.
Chinese company’s video app TikTok was accused of promoting pornography. Apart from this, he also had to face allegations of stealing data of Indians. Madras High Court had first banned it. After being banned from the High Court, ByteDance had appealed to the Supreme Court. He had also restored the order of Madras High Court.
Due to the ban in India, its parent company ByteDance is incurring a loss of $5 lakh (Rs 3.50 crore) every day. Madras High Court had ordered the Central Government to ban the downloading of TikTok, which is promoting pornography. After this, the Ministry of Information and Technology had asked Apple and Google to remove TikTok from its online store. Both companies removed the app. At that time there were 24 crore users of TikTok in the country.
what did tiktok say At the time of the ban, TikTok India CEO Nikhil Gandhi had said – We are following Indian law. We are following all the rules of data privacy and security under Indian law. We have not shared the information of Indian users with any foreign government including China. Even if we are requested to do so in future, we will not do so. We understand the importance of user privacy.
How were Chinese apps banned in India? There is a section in the IT Act made in the year 2000 – 69A. This section says that if the government feels it is in the interest of sovereignty, security and unity of the country, then it can order blocking of any computer resource for the common people. This section says that if the government’s order is not followed, then imprisonment up to seven years can be imposed and fine can also be imposed.
