TikTok Ban Bill Signed by President Biden, Here's What Happens Next
The clock to TikTok being banned in the United States has now started.
President Joe Biden has today signed a bill that will outright ban the social media app/site TikTok in the United States if changes are not made. In recent months, momentum has continued to grow as those within the U.S. government have pushed for TikTok to be banned in the country due to claims of invasive data practices. After both the House and Senate passed the bill within recent days, the legislation was made official today after President Biden made the bill law.
Even though the TikTok ban bill has now been passed, that doesn't mean that the app is suddenly going to disappear off of your mobile device. Instead, what this law does is start the clock on a period of 270 days in which TikTok parent company, ByteDance, now has to sell TikTok or risk losing its presence in the United States. This timeline could always be extended, though, depending on whether or not ByteDance ends up actually trying to sell TikTok to a potential buyer.
TikTok Responds to Bill Signing
The other big wrinkle with this TikTok ban situation is that the courts will now certainly get involved. Prior to Biden signing the bill into law, TikTok asserted that this move was unconstitutional and said that it would challenge the move in court if it was passed. With this having now come to fruition, those in charge of TikTok will look to take their case to higher authorities, which will surely lead to the matter getting dragged out further.
"This unconstitutional law is a TikTok ban, and we will challenge it in court," the company said on social media. "We believe the facts and the law are clearly on our side, and we will ultimately prevail. The fact is, we have invested billions of dollars to keep U.S. data safe and our platform free from outside influence and manipulation. This ban would devastate seven million businesses and silence 170 million Americans. As we continue to challenge this unconstitutional ban, we will continue investing and innovating to ensure TikTok remains a space where Americans of all walks of life can safely come to share their experiences, find joy, and be inspired."
Given how the American legal system operates, there's a good chance that this case tied to TikTok will take multiple years to work itself out in the courts. The near-term conclusion to this entire matter could simply be that ByteDance chooses to sell TikTok, but this seems unlikely for the moment. Regardless of what the future holds, those worried about seeing TikTok go away any time soon shouldn't worry as this is going to be a very long process.