As TikTok’s fate hangs in the balance, roughly 170 million users across the United States face the possibility of losing access to the app, which has become the focal point of a growing national security debate.
On April 24, President Joe Biden signed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act into law, which required ByteDance Ltd., TikTok's Chinese parent company, to either divest from TikTok or face a nationwide ban Jan. 19, one day before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. However, the Biden-Harris administration has recently indicated it won’t enforce the law, according to an ABC News article.
The future of TikTok now lies in Trump's hands. Although Trump said he is considering enforcing a 90-day extension of the Sunday deadline, the future of the app remains uncertain.
Congress passed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act with a bipartisan majority last year, but concerns about the app date back further.
In December 2019, the U.S. Army and Navy prohibited the app on all government-owned phones after the Department of Defense classified it as a security risk. In 2020, during his first term, Trump issued executive orders to ban TikTok. However, the orders faced multiple legal challenges and were ultimately blocked by federal courts.
In April 2023, UF implemented its own ban on TikTok, though students could still access the app by switching to cellular networks instead of UF’s Wi-Fi.
Although previous attempts to issue a nationwide ban of the app were unsuccessful, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act provided a stronger legislative foundation that has yet to be compromised.
TikTok filed a lawsuit in response, claiming the law infringed on First Amendment rights. However, on Dec. 6, a panel of federal judges unanimously dismissed the company’s arguments and upheld the law's constitutionality. TikTok appealed an injunction decision to the Supreme Court Dec. 16.
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Jan. 10 and affirmed the constitutionality of the ban through a unanimous per curiam ruling on Jan. 17.
Derek Bambauer, a UF Irving Cypen professor of law, said he finds the law unusual for three reasons: its highly targeted nature, the bipartisan support it has garnered and the reasons cited for banning the app.
Bambauer said a main concern for the public is the degree to which the government’s national security concerns are well-founded and how they can be distinguished from propaganda, as the latter does not justify enforcing a ban.
“Normally, we don't think of propaganda as something that is a sufficiently weighty national security concern because we rely on people's ability to discern right from wrong, fact from fiction,” Bambauer said.
When asked about his opinions on the ban, Bambauer said he believes it’s a bad idea, citing concerns about potential government overreach.
Once the ban is implemented, users in the U.S. will no longer be able to download TikTok, as app store providers will be prohibited from distributing it.
Christophe Bobda, a UF Citi Endowed Professor in Advanced Technologies, said the app would become inaccessible if the government decides to block its servers and internet connectivity. However, Bobda said users could bypass this by using third-party app stores or VPNs.
While Bobda said he believes concerns about cybersecurity and Chinese government spies are legitimate, he said there are more effective ways to address these issues than to implement a full ban on TikTok. He said one solution is to monitor all the data being transferred to China.
“The case of Tiktok could have simply been resolved by having some sort of bridge between their server in the U.S. [and China],” Bobda said. “It's totally doable.”
Andrew Selepak, a UF media production, management and technology professor, disagrees. He pointed to Project Texas, a TikTok initiative aimed at addressing U.S. national security concerns by keeping user data within the U.S. According to Selepak, the Chinese government was still able to access the data despite these protections.
“If you build a ten foot fence, somebody will build an eleven foot ladder,” he said.
Selepak said he believes the ban is necessary due to the threat the Chinese government poses to American users. China has banned American-owned social media apps like Facebook, YouTube and X, which Selepak said is likely out of concern over potential manipulation by the U.S. government. This, he said, raises the question: Is this their fear because it reflects what the Chinese government would do if given the chance?
Another point of concern for Selepak is how user data is being taken and misused. Selepak said the danger could extend to individuals who don’t even use the app.
“Let's say you work for the Department of Defense… and you don't have TikTok, but your daughter does,” Selepak said. “Some of the data that you give to TikTok is access to your contacts, access to your text messages, access to your photos, access to your videos.”
He said the daughter’s messages could be intercepted, potentially exposing sensitive information about the U.S. Department of Defense.
Selepak said this risk exists with all social media platforms, but the key difference is that an American-owned app like Facebook has to respond to the U.S. government, while a Chinese-owned app like TikTok doesn’t.
Jane Bambauer, a UF law professor and the Brechner Eminent Scholar Chair, offered a different perspective and emphasized the importance of the First Amendment.
“I am extremely skeptical of this idea of covert manipulation,” she said. “People kind of believe what they already want to believe.”
Bambauer said she's worried about the precedent the TikTok ban would be setting because it suggests that courts can free-wheel, especially in regards to national security-related government interests.
This could potentially be a springboard for greater government intervention on platforms, she said.
“If anything, I think the government has really undermined its own strength by claiming that it doesn't trust its own citizens to use the app,” Bambauer said.
Contact Annie Wang at awang@alligator.org. Follow her on X @wynwg.
Annie Wang is a sophomore journalism student and the Fall 2024 University Administration Reporter. She previously wrote for the University Desk as a General Assignment reporter. In her spare time, she can be found reading and writing book reviews.
