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It has become a cliché to lament that the American government no longer does big, bold things. But shutting down TikTok — the social media platform used by roughly half of Americans — would certainly qualify as big and bold.
That outcome became more likely yesterday, although it is far from certain. Supreme Court unanimously confirmed legislation passed by Congress last year forcing ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, to sell it. If ByteDance refuses, as Chinese officials have so far insisted, the app will no longer be available to download or update in the US starting tomorrow.
The potential shutdown of such a large media platform as TikTok is unprecedented. This would create inconvenience and expense for millions of Americans. Many would have to change their daily habits, and some would lose business opportunities.
Yet allowing a Chinese company — and, by extension, the Chinese government — to control America’s communications platform and vast amounts of Americans’ personal data also has major drawbacks. Congress and the Supreme Court have decided that the risks are great enough to warrant an end. That’s a sign intensity of American-Chinese competition for global influence.
Bipartisan concerns
Both the boldness of the TikTok legislation and its bipartisan nature would not have seemed so unusual decades ago. US history is full of ambitious projects whose rationale was at least in part to confront foreign adversaries, including the space program, the Interstate Highway System, investment in post-Sputnik scientific research, and industrial mobilization during World War II.
Forcing the sale of TikTok or shutting it down clearly falls short of the scale of those projects. However, it is far-reaching in its own way. That’s a big enough change that many Americans found it hard to believe the federal government would accept it. And this is on top of that because a wide range of policy makers have decided that the alternative is unacceptable.
During oral arguments at the Supreme Court last week, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a Republican appointee, spoke of the possibility that China could use TikTok’s vast trove of data “to turn people, blackmail people, people who, a generation from now, will be working in The FBI or the CIA or the State Department.” Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, the Democratic candidate, has also been vocal about concerns about possible spying. Justice Sonya Sotomayor, another Democratic candidate, said, “This is about data control.”
TikTok claims that the Chinese government is unlikely to force the company to hand over sensitive data, such as users’ contacts. But that claim appears inconsistent with recent history, as the justices noted in their ruling. China “engaged in extensive and multi-year efforts to collect structured data sets, particularly on US persons, to support its intelligence and counterintelligence operations,” the ruling noted.
The vote in Congress also showed deep, bipartisan concern. The law passed 360 to 58 in the House of Representatives and 78 to 18 in the Senate. In addition to data security, members of Congress are concerned that China will use TikTok to spread misinformation and propaganda. Independent research has found that the platform appears to already be doing this, making it difficult to find videos sympathetic to Taiwan, Tibet, Ukraine and other things the Chinese Communist Party is hostile to.
What’s next
The biggest question now is what the new Trump administration will do. While previously president, Donald Trump helped crack down on TikTok, calling it a national security risk. It has been since then changed his position for reasons that remain unclear. The TikTok investor and Republican donor apparently lobbied Trump shortly before speaking out against the ban. It is also enjoying its popularity on the app.
The Biden administration said yesterday that it would not enforce the ban in the short term – 36 hours – after it takes effect and before Trump takes office. Trump allegedly considering the executive order delay the ban while his administration tries to help negotiate a sale to a non-Chinese owner. The Chinese government, for its part, insists it will not allow ByteDance to sell TikTok. Beijing apparently considers TikTok too valuable.
The range of outcomes over the next few weeks remains wide — including a shutdown, a sale, or some version of the status quo combined with an ongoing legal battle.
Enter the decision: To understand the reasoning of the Supreme Court, I recommend Adam Liptak’s article.
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