It has thrown the American future of social media regulation and user privacy wide open. Following a recent Supreme Court ruling, TikTok faces an order that will effectively ban it unless its parent company, ByteDance, is willing to divest itself of its operations in the U.S.
Possible Stopgap Measures
Donald Trump, the president-elect, has come up with the idea of imposing a temporary stay on TikTok operations, with suggestions of a 90-day extension during which discussions may be held regarding a sale. This means that TikTok will effectively run during negotiations, which will avert immediate disruption for millions of its users.
Effect of the Restriction
In case the law is enforced, the major app stores will have to remove TikTok and thus depriving users completely. It will affect the content creators to a great extent since majority of them, if not all, rely on the app for their livelihood. TikTok has strong feelings about the ban, as it insists that the app will be shut down if no agreement is reached.
The Legal and Political Ecosystem
It could buy significant time for discussions, because under the statute, one could stall proceedings until an intent to sell is evidenced. Additionally, this raises deep and broader questions about the national security/free expression equation, and the role of government in overseeing digital platform business practices.
Public Opinion and Its Impact on the Market
The word on the ground is mixed; in general, more users want TikTok to keep going on. They say the app is cool and provides a great creative outlet. For TikTok, the financial consequences of such an action could be vast, with massive advertising losses possible in the event of a ban being brought into operation.
