What’s going on with the TikTok ban?

With a U.S. prohibition of TikTok looming, it mightiness look similar game-over for the deed video sharing app, which has taken the satellite by tempest successful caller years, reshaping each facet of civilization successful the process.

Uncertainty abounds close now, but TikTok’s destiny is acold from sealed. We’ve answered immoderate communal questions astir a concern that’s complex, confusing and changing arsenic we speak.

What happened successful Congress?

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified earlier Congress past week, enduring 5 hours of aggravated questioning from lawmakers implicit concerns that China mightiness leverage the app to compromise U.S. nationalist security. TikTok is owned by Chinese tech elephantine ByteDance, mounting it isolated from different large societal media companies based successful the U.S.

“Let maine authorities this unequivocally: ByteDance is not an cause of China oregon immoderate different country,” Chew said successful his opening statements, a refrain TikTok’s CEO repeated passim the proceeding arsenic helium sought to reassure lawmakers.

National information concerns were conscionable 1 of the worries that representatives expressed astir TikTok. Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee committee besides raised reddish flags implicit issues ranging from the app’s eating upset contented and viral challenges to its flimsy tools designed to forestall societal media addiction among teens. Those concerns, which absorption chiefly connected susceptible underage users, are serious, but besides issues that TikTok shares with U.S.-based societal media companies similar Instagram and YouTube.

In galore ways, the TikTok proceeding went overmuch similar different large tech CEO hearings person gone successful caller years. Lawmakers mostly spent their clip grandstanding and posturing for dependable bytes, dredging up small successful the mode of caller accusation connected TikTok, ByteDance and their operations successful the process. Ultimately, the proceeding isn’t apt to determination the needle connected TikTok’s home fate, but it does service arsenic a utile barometer for the headwinds the institution faces successful its biggest market.

Why prohibition TikTok?

The effort to prohibition TikTok successful the U.S. began during the Trump administration, but the Biden White House precocious picked up the baton.