16 January 2025 | By Marten Männis
Current Developments
US: TikTok Ban imminent
Social media company TikTok—the most popular platform among younger generations—is set to shut down in the United States this Sunday, 19 January 2025, under the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. Signed into law in April 2024, this legislation requires TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to divest its ownership to non-“foreign adversary” entities or cease operations entirely. ByteDance, headquartered in China, has so far failed to meet these conditions.

The law defines “foreign adversary controlled applications” as any software or platform operated, either directly or indirectly, by entities linked to nations designated as “foreign adversaries” under U.S. law (per Section 4872(d)(2) of Title 10, United States Code). Notably, ByteDance and TikTok are explicitly singled out within the text of the legislation, leaving no ambiguity about the primary target of this measure.
The rationale behind the ban centres on national security concerns. American lawmakers fear TikTok could facilitate the harvesting of U.S. citizens’ data by geopolitical rivals. ByteDance’s private ownership structure—outside the purview of U.S. financial or regulatory disclosures—has heightened anxieties that data from American users might be accessible to the Chinese government. This has triggered widespread bipartisan support for restricting the platform, despite pushback from some privacy advocates and free speech proponents.
The legislation leaves little room for manoeuvre. TikTok could avoid the ban only if it executes a “qualified divestiture” (i.e., sells its U.S. operations to approved entities) before the deadline. If divestment occurs after the ban takes effect, the prohibition would still lift—provided the sale meets legal requirements. Failing compliance, ByteDance faces stiff financial penalties, including fines of $5,000 per U.S. user. This could amount to billions of dollars, given TikTok’s massive U.S. user base.
The issue has sparked heated debate, both domestically and internationally. With TikTok serving over 150 million users across the European Union, many argue that the U.S. approach sets a worrying precedent. Critics fear it could embolden other governments to weaponise legislation against foreign platforms or companies in response to political tensions. Moreover, the ban highlights broader questions about how social media platforms—and the algorithms that shape public discourse—should be regulated to balance user safety, free expression, and data privacy.
Europe finds itself at a crossroads regarding TikTok. Despite lacking a similar federal push for an outright ban, the EU has been vocal about concerns surrounding TikTok’s data privacy practices and content moderation policies. Several member states have initiated investigations into whether TikTok complies with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Digital Markets Act. The platform has also faced growing scrutiny for its impact on younger users, raising questions about mental health, misinformation, and algorithmic bias. Additionally, recent unsuccessful elections in Romania have spearheaded a broader discussion into the weaponisation of platforms such as TikTok to subvert democratic processes.
The situation is further complicated by shifting political dynamics in the United States. Former President Donald Trump, who championed efforts to ban TikTok during his presidency, has now become one of the platform’s vocal supporters. His reversal stems partly from his popularity on the app and partly from lobbying efforts by prominent U.S. stakeholders, including an American billionaire with significant investments in ByteDance.
There is a sliver of hope for the platform however, as the Supreme Court will hear the arguments concerning the ban on Friday 17 January. However, it seems unlikely that the ban will be uplifted.
This is not the first cycle of concerns regarding the harmful effects of social media platforms to civil liberties. Most notably, Facebook has, for years, faced severe accusations of being complicit in promoting violence against the Rohingya people in Myanmar, due to how its algorithms promote content. The accusations highlight how social media platforms allow hateful echo chambers to fester and persist, emboldening violence and enabling in-groups to co-ordinate messaging and generate objectively harmful content against out-groups that is propagated through their channels.
Interestingly, American users, in anticipation of the ban on TikTok, are not looking towards American alternatives, such as those owned by Meta or others, but instead have sought refuge in another Chinese-owned platform RedNote. This raises a multitude of questions, such as whether users objectively prefer Chinese social media platforms (an if so, then why) or whether the algorithms on TikTok have successfully suggested in having users migrate to another Chinese-owned platform. Regardless, each generation gravitates to its own platforms, driven by the timeless instinct to reject what their parents find cool and carve out their own cultural space. The ban on TikTok will surely not drive any additional growth to existing US-based platforms, but could, however, encourage new options to arise.