TikTok: Time is Running Out
TikTok has exploded in popularity with 170 million users in the United States (“US”). For context, at least one in three Americans access the application, and according to a 2022 Pew Research Center survey, two-thirds of teenagers use TikTok every day. If there is one issue capable of drawing responsiveness from both ends of the US political spectrum, it is the notion of a foreign nation corrupting the minds of their youth.
The Energy and Commerce Committee has unanimously approved a bill designed to force TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance Ltd., to sell the social media platform within six months. The Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act explicitly names TikTok and effectively criminalizes the distribution, maintenance or updating of a foreign adversary controlled application in the US. If the legislation is enacted, TikTok would be banned from all electronic devices unless ownership were to change.
TikTok responded with the following mass in-application message to its users: “Speak up now — before your government strips 170 million Americans of their Constitutional right to free expression.” The message was equipped with a button to reach TikTok representatives and urged users to “[l]et Congress know what TikTok means to [them] and tell [Congress] to vote NO”.
The possibility of democratic governments banning social media platforms, especially those as widely used as Tiktok, may seem somewhat draconian. The bill certainly raises interesting questions on the enduring struggle between private and public considerations, and in particular, individual freedom of expression versus national security. Policymakers have long feared that China could use TikTok data to identify intelligence targets, facilitate disinformation campaigns and sow disorder in the West. Will “Tiktokers” and American tech giants fend them off? Only time will tell.
Author: Emily Groper, 2023/2024 Articling Student-At-Law
Expertise
Insights
-
Technology
CanCode, Digital Literacy Program, Receives $39.2 Million in Federal Funding
From establishing the Digital Charter to earmarking $2.4 billion for the artificial intelligence (“AI”) industry in the 2024 federal budget, the Canadian government has consistently demonstrated its… -
Technology
Virtuix Announces Launch of their Omni One VR Treadmill
Virtuix recently revealed it will be launching a virtual reality treadmill—called Omni One—on September 10, 2024. The first of its kind, Omni One allows users to experience the locomotive elements of… -
Technology
WELL Health Plans to Spin Out and Publicly List WELL Provider Solutions
WELL Health (WELL) has announced its plans to spin out and publicly list WELL Provider Solutions (WPS), the company’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) business unit.WELL, founded in 2012 and listed on the… -
Technology
Perceptive Space Raises $3.9 Million to Predict Space Weather Using AI
Perceptive Space, a Canadian aerospace startup, closed a CAD $3.9 million (USD $2.8 million) pre-seed funding round. This marks the company’s first external funding to date. The round was led by… -
Technology
Advancing Femtech: Flo Health Secures $200 Million in Series C Funding
Flo Health is a London-based startup that designed a health app for fertility and period-tracking. On July 30, 2024, it raised $200 million in Series C funding from General Atlantic. Flo Health is now… -
Technology
The Microsoft and NVIDIA Collaboration
As modern medicine develops, it increasingly relies on technological advancements. One of the more recent and major examples of this is Microsoft’s collaboration with NVIDIA to bring the power of…