ASIATODAY.ID, JAKARTA – TikTok is now entering its final days in the United States (US).
This is because President Joe Biden has signed a bill that requires TikTok’s parent company to divest the application within the next 9 months.
If ByteDance fails to do this, TikTok will be completely banned in the US and removed from Apple’s App Store.
Biden signed the TikTok ‘divestment or prohibition’ law on Wednesday, April 24 2024. The bill does not explicitly ban TikTok. Instead, the US government gave China-linked parent company ByteDance 9 months to sell TikTok.
If Biden sees progress in sales, he could choose to extend the deadline another 3 months. However, if ByteDance fails to divest TikTok within that time frame, the app will be banned in the country. Apps like Apple and Google will be banned from hosting TikTok in the US.
In a statement, TikTok described the law as “unconstitutional” and committed to challenging it in court.
“This unconstitutional law is a ban on TikTok, and we will challenge it in court. We believe the facts and law are clearly on our side, and that in the end we will prevail. “The fact is, we have invested billions of dollars to keep US data secure and our platform free from outside influence and manipulation,” TikTok wrote.
TikTok also said that this ban would destroy 7 million businesses and silence 170 million Americans.
“As we continue to oppose this unconstitutional ban, we will continue to invest and innovate to ensure TikTok remains a space where Americans from all walks of life can safely come to share experiences, find joy, and be inspired,” TikTok continued.
The law is a result of concerns surrounding TikTok and ByteDance potentially posing a national security threat in the US.
ByteDance has repeatedly sought to allay such concerns and said that the Chinese government has never requested any data about TikTok users in the US. And if it does, ByteDance won’t provide that data. (ATN)
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