The US president signed a law that could ban TikTok

The law, signed by the US president as soon as it passed the US parliament on Tuesday, tells ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, to sell its US market share or face sanctions. In the previous draft, it was proposed to give 6 months time for the sale of the company, in the now passed bill, it has been arranged that the work can be done within 19 January 2025 i.e. within 9 months.

Tiktok, which has about 170 million American users, and the government there is not a new topic. During the previous US President Donald Trump's tenure, i.e. in August 2020, an executive order was issued and it was announced that TikTok and WeChat would be banned if they were not sold to non-Chinese entrepreneurs. But just a few hours before the execution of that order, a US federal judge issued a stay order saying that the order was against the First Amendment of the US Constitution. For some time after that, this dispute was going on . At that time, ByteDance was actively trying to protect its dominance in the American market.

In this effort named 'Project Texas', the American cloud company Oracle will keep all the data of American users in the United States and it will also be supervised by an American citizen representative. Tiktok announced in June 2022 But in early 2023, when the chip war between the US and China was at its peak, TikTok was targeted again. The Biden administration banned the app from running on any device owned by the US government. Similarly, during a hearing in the US Upper House, Tiktok Chief Executive Officer Sao Ji was showered with questions by US lawmakers for hours on issues such as security, privacy, and protection of children.

In continuous dialogue with the American government, ByteDance has been saying that they are ready to address all the concerns of the American government. However, from the beginning of 2024, the US government announced that the current sanctions regime would continue . According to analysts, the US government's problem with TikTok has three main aspects: technical, political and economic. For technical reasons, concerns about the security of all data and privacy of nearly 150 million active users of the American population, and almost half of them are young women, have been raised.

Another serious question facing TikTok is its algorithms and online safety for children, as well as access to users' information unrelated to the app. The political side means that the long-standing technological superiority between the US and China has come to the fore with the impact it can have on the upcoming presidential election and its impact can be seen in various forms of demonstrations and social expression programs like other aspects of American politics .

The main reason for the problem between Tiktok and other western and big countries along with the US is its financial side . Figures have been released that the Chinese company, which earned about 15 billion dollars from the American market in 2023 alone, contributed about 25 billion dollars to the American gross domestic product in that one year. Similarly, Nick Fernandez of Android Authority has analyzed that the US government is worried about the increasing influence of this app, which is popular among thousands of small and medium businessmen, artists, and creators at both local and national levels, on the American economy.

Reacting to the US government's decision on Wednesday, Tiktok stated that they will face it legally and that the decision violates the First Amendment rights of about 170 million Americans. "All the facts and the right to freedom of expression given by the US Constitution are on our side and we will be successful in establishing it as before," the company's head Gee said in a short video response. Earlier, the Chinese government also strongly opposed the move to force the sale of Tiktok's American business.

Dozens of countries including Nepal, India, Australia, UK, European Union, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, New Zealand, Pakistan have already imposed their own restrictions on this app for various reasons, while different states of America have also been trying to control this app in their own way .