Can TikTok be banned in Britain? What the US bill means and where the app is blocked
TIKTOK could be “banned” in the US if its Chinese parent company refuses to sell it for fear the relationship poses a threat to national security.
Concerns about the social media app escalated last year among governments in the US, Canada, the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom over its widespread data collection and ties to China.
On March 13, U.S. House representatives passed a bill requiring the app to be sold by owner ByteDance within six months.
The app has amassed more than 1.8 billion users worldwide since its launch almost eight years ago.
TikTok has called the government’s successive concerns “misguided and based on fundamental misconceptions” and has always refuted claims that it has ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Can TikTok be banned in Britain?
There are security and data privacy concerns with the Chinese app.
While TikTok is not banned for the average user in Britain, it was announced last year that the app would be banned on government workers’ phones.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has previously hinted at replicating nationwide bans, saying Britain will “look at what our allies do”.
TikTokers sign up for a significant amount of data collection when they create an account on the platform, such as:
- The device and operating system you are using
- How long you look at a message
- Which categories you like
- Where you are
- The keystroke rhythms you have when you type
In 2021, Ireland’s data protection watchdog launched an investigation into “TikTok’s transfer of personal data to China and TikTok’s compliance with the GDPR’s requirements for the transfer of personal data to third countries.”
However, Ireland will not follow the US in its attempt to ban the platformsaid Prime Minister Leo Varadkar.
Is TikTok banned in the US?
TikTok is not currently banned in the US.
However, since last year, Washington has floated the idea of a nationwide ban on TikTok – unless it is sold to another company.
The US also blocked all federal employees from having the app on government-issued phones in 2023.
Both the FBI and the Federal Communications Commission have warned that parent company ByteDance could share TikTok user data with China’s authoritarian government.
If ByteDance doesn’t sell the company within six months, the app will be banned for all 150 million US users.
Where else is TikTok blocked or restricted?
In addition to the US, Britain, the EU, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Taiwan have also banned people who work for government agencies from using TikTok on staff devices for a year.
In 2020, India banned the platform and dozens of other Chinese apps after warning that user data was being mined and profiled “by elements hostile to India’s national security and defense.”
India made the ban permanent in January 2021.
Authorities in Pakistan have imposed at least four temporary bans on the platform since October 2020 over concerns that it promotes immoral content.
However, the country always goes back on its decision.
Indonesia temporarily banned the app in 2018 for similar reasons, but lifted the ban a week later after the app agreed to censor some content.
The Afghan Taliban banned TikTok in 2022 because they wanted to protect young people from ‘deception’.
In August 2023, Somalia said the country planned to restrict access to TikTok, in addition to Telegram and online gambling site 1XBet.
Nepal announced a ban on TikTok at the end of last year.
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