TikTok has become a social-media phenomenon over the past few years, with over 2 billion downloads worldwide. It’s ubiquitous within the culture of America’s Generation Z, but has also sparked concern amongst many national security experts and, most notably, the Trump Administration.
Photograph: Katherine Wu
Let's start from the beginning:
TikTok, created by the Chinese company ByteDance, was released in China September 2016 under the name DouYin, however the social media app was only recently exposed to the United States’ market in August 2018 as part of TikTok’s international release. It grew steadily over time and amassed a primarily young user base, with 41% of TikTok’s users aged between 16 and 24.
The company first ran into trouble in the United States in February 2019 when they agreed to pay a $5.7 million fine to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission over the illegal collection of data from minors by Musical.ly -a company that was bought by ByteDance and then integrated into TikTok. In March 2019, TikTok eventually surpassed 1 billion downloads attesting to the app's popularity among an American audience. Later that year, thought, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States began its investigation on ByteDance’s purchase of Musical.ly. At this time, the United States was in the midst of a trade war with China, with talks stalling and leading to economic damage to both countries.
As the 2020 election season started to come into full swing, more people had a renewed interest in election meddling and the security of voting after the Russian interference in the 2016 election. The government began questioning the security of TikTok users’ personal data, and in July 2020, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said “we are taking this very seriously and we are certainly looking at it.” By August 3rd, President Trump threatened to ban
TikTok and by August 6th he signed two executive orders: one of which would ban TikTok if it was not bought by an American company by September 20th. As the date for TikTok’s ban approached, many people were concerned about the motivations of the Trump administration as well as the effect the banning might have on the United States’ election and information about voting.
TikTok was being used by those trying to educate the next generation about about voting and various other civil liberties, so critics justified the Trump administration's decision as a wish to dismantle TikTok’s control over the mediasphere in the United States. This would limit information being spread online, especially by the younger generations.
Regardless of the validity of these claims, the ban continued moving forward. However, a 1 week delay was put into effect to allow the companies a chance to sell TikTok to an American corporation. During this time, TikTok sued that federal government and was granted a temporary injunction by a federal judge that would allow individuals to still download and use TikTok while it’s security is being challenged in court.
Currently TikTok’s status still remains unclear. The injunction granted by the federal courts is temporary and does not prevent future restrictions that would severely damage TikTok’s ability to operate within the United States. It’s likely that TikTok will challenge the orders put forth by the Trump administration, but while those orders are in legal dispute, TikTok may well continue to be a powerful force in the world of social media for the time being.
Click here to watch TikTok's interim head, Vanessa Pappas, give a statement to TikTok users.
(Timelines courtesy of William Ding)