A recent bill sent to the legislature proposing the ban of TikTok in the United States has sparked concern over social media, as many creators thrive on the app. If this bill was passed into law, it would become illegal to distribute TikTok and any other apps developed by ByteDance, TikTok’s creator.
This bill, House Report 7521, also referred to as the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACAA), claims it would “protect the national security of the United States from the threat posed by foreign adversary-controlled applications, such as TikTok and any successor application or service and any other application or service developed or provided by ByteDance Ltd. or an entity under [their] control.”
Standing at 12 pages long, the PAFACAA seeks to prevent apps tied to foreign adversaries, like China, from potentially breaching American citizens’ privacy, collecting data from its users, and spreading propaganda or misinformation.
The bill presents no problem with TikTok itself, but rather targets ByteDance as a company operating in an adversary country, implying that, should TikTok no longer be under the ownership of this parent company, the nationwide ban would be avoided. If TikTok is sold to a company that is not an opponent of the United States, as determined by the President, the requirements of the bill would be fulfilled, and the app would not be banned.
This puts ByteDance in a precarious situation where either they forfeit the future profit potentially earned by owning the company and selling TikTok or risk losing millions of users in America. Should the bill pass, ByteDance would be given six months to come to a decision.
If ByteDance resolves to sell the app, they must also provide every user with data from their app content (images, videos, and text) or else face a lawsuit of $500 per user.
As to the burning question on every user’s mind – no, it will not become illegal to use TikTok. In order to enforce the ban, the federal government would target companies that supply TikTok, such as Apple or Google, and companies that supply data to access the app, such as Verizon, AT&T, or T-Mobile, with lawsuits as massive as $500 billion. The government cannot go after individual users – this bill supplies that distributing the app is an infraction, not just using it.
The PAFACAA follows multiple attempts to restrict and regulate TikTok usage in America in years past.
In 2020, the Trump Administration raised concerns about the app’s data security and attempted to restrict the operation of the app in the United States, but ultimately failed as district courts concluded that certain aspects of the executive order exceeded the President’s authority, according to the Congressional Research Service.
Furthermore, House Report 231, the Terminate TikTok on Campus Act of 2023, was introduced in January 2023. This bill mirrors the concept of the PAFACAA on a smaller level, looking to eradicate the app on university devices campuses and to “prohibit federal funds for any institution of higher education not banning the use of TikTok on electronic devices,” according to the text of the bill.
This bill inspired decisions to ban TikTok for university employees and on-campus Wi-Fis in states such as Texas, Alabama, Florida, Idaho, and many others.
The University of Idaho enacted the ban of TikTok on university Wi-Fi and devices in December 2022 after an executive order given by Governor Brad Little. This order prohibited downloading the app on state-issued devices and required that it be deleted immediately if already downloaded, as said by Jodi Walker, Executive Director of Communications at UI. This order mirrored a similar order for federal agencies but did not restrict students from accessing TikTok on personally owned devices, according to Dan Ewart, Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer at UI.
The PAFACCA has now been introduced and passed the House. In order to become law and begin the ticking timer of six months for ByteDance, the bill will need to pass the Senate and be signed off by the President.
Rebekah Weaver can be reached at [email protected].