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The US Supreme Court upheld a ban on the social media platform TikTok on Friday. It’s not yet known if the ban will be enforced, but the Chinese-owned platform is set to shut down on Sunday — and Americans who use the app may start to notice some changes.
The outgoing Biden administration has indicated it will allow US President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office on Monday, to make the decision on whether to implement the ban. President Joe Biden signed the ban last year, citing national security concerns.
Under that law, TikTok cannot continue operating in the US unless it is sold. Trump has showed readiness save the social media platform. His new national security adviser, Mike Waltz, said Thursday that Trump would intervene if the ban is upheld.
NBC news quoted A Biden official said that “Americans should not expect TikTok to be suddenly banned on Sunday” and that the administration is looking for a way to implement the law without the app being blacked out.
So what might TikTok’s 170 million US users see on Sunday when the ban begins? While they won’t be forced to delete the app, it could become increasingly unusable, according to experts who spoke to CBC News.
Carmi Levy, a technology analyst in London, Ont., expects “more of a glitch than a Big Bang. But the bottom line is that if you live in the U.S., the experience will eventually be much worse than it is now.”
Here’s what could happen:
- Removal from app stores: The US will force Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their app stores so US users can’t download it. Lawmakers told the tech giants be ready for such a move back in December and can punish them if they don’t comply.
- App updates will stop: US users who already have the app will likely no longer be able to update it. This means that bugs and errors will not be fixed or new features will be added, making TikTok increasingly frustrating to use.
- Hackers could gain leverage: No updates means no opportunity to fix security issues affecting the app, which could make users more vulnerable to hacking and cyber security.
- Message from TikTok: If the ban is implemented, TikTok could show US users who already have the app a message informing them of the law. It may also offer them the opportunity to download their personal information.
Toronto-based cybersecurity expert Ritesh Kotak has a different hypothesis. He thinks TikTok users will be able to click on the app, “but the screen won’t load. It might just be a wheel that keeps scrolling, but it’s likely to be completely blank and you won’t be able to use the app at all.”
When India banned TikTok in 2020, along with dozens of other Chinese apps, the platform disappeared from the country’s app stores, with a pop-up message telling users that the company was “acting in accordance with the directive of the Indian government.”
During a news conference in Delta, BC, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre says he previously ordered conservative MPs, senators and staff to stop using the social media app TikTok because it risks espionage, infiltration and manipulation by what he called a hostile regime in Beijing. Poilievre added that he has nothing to announce at this time.
How will US users get around the ban?
What about workarounds? US users may still be able to access the desktop version of the platform, but it has fewer features than the mobile app, if at all. Some have suggested that they will scroll through TikTok using a VPNor a virtual private network, which is a tool that allows you to hide your digital location.
But that might not be as easy as it sounds. TikTok likely has other ways of tracking a user’s location, such as usage geolocation data from an individual’s phone. And the US government is likely to put in place a mechanism that prevents IP addresses belonging to TikTok from being accessed at all, Kotak says.
Users who circumvent the ban and are caught could be hit with financial penalties, but “we just don’t know, because we don’t know what kind of penalty will actually be,” he added.
What happens if 170 million users disappear?
Content creators recently told CBC News about TikTok’s demise could mean to them. After 170 million US users disappear, what will TikTok feeds look like for Canadians and other users around the world?
“This is a global app, more than a billion users worldwide. And they will also be affected because US Tiktok users make up a significant audience for many global users outside the US,” Levy said.
“Suddenly the remaining users in other countries may find it not as valuable anymore after all the Americans are gone or find some other app to use.”
There are signs that TikTok, like other companies, is hoping to build a friendly relationship with the incoming administration. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will reportedly attend Trump inauguration on January 20 together with other technical executives.
Supreme Court justices on Friday examined the nature of TikTok’s speech rights and the government’s national security concerns. Joanne Molinaro, an American full-time TikTok creator, says that ‘TikTok’s singling out seems arbitrary’, adding that the potential ban will ‘hit the bottom’ of small businesses and creators.
