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THE US SUPREME Court has backed a law going into effect that would ban the social media app TikTok in the United States.
Congress last year, in a law signed by President Joe Biden, required that TikTok’s China-based parent company ByteDance divest the company by 19 January, a day before the presidential inauguration.
Last week, the US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a legal challenge to the statute brought by TikTok, its China-based parent company ByteDance, and users of the app.
The Supreme Court has now upheld the law banning TikTok beginning Sunday if it’s not sold by its Chinese parent company.
In a major defeat for TikTok, the court ruled that the law does not violate free speech rights and that the US government had demonstrated legitimate national security concerns about a Chinese company owning the app.
The US Justice Department has outlined concerns that TikTok and ByteDance collect large amounts of data and this could all into the hands of the Chinese government and that the algorithm that powers TikTok recommendations could be manipulated by Beijing.
To combat this, the US has therefore ruled that TikTok must split from ByteDance in order to stay online in the United States.
Unclear
However, despite the law and today’s ruling, President Joe Biden will not enforce a ban on the app before he leaves office, a US official said.
Incoming President Donald Trump, who once called to ban the app, has since pledged to keep it available in the US though his transition team has not said how they intend to accomplish that.
Following the court’s ruling today, Trump posted on his social media app saying: “The Supreme Court decision was expected, and everyone must respect it. My decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I must have time to review the situation. Stay tuned!”
The US Justice Department said that implementing the law banning TikTok in the United States unless its Chinese owner sells the platform will take time.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco welcomed the Supreme Court ruling upholding a law that will ban TikTok and said “the next phase of this effort — implementing and ensuring compliance with the law after it goes into effect on 19 January — will be a process that plays out over time.”
The outgoing Biden administration said Friday it will be up to President-elect Donald Trump to decide on whether to enforce a law banning China’s popular TikTok app in the United States.
The outgoing Biden administration has said it will be up to Trump to decide to enforce a ban.
“Given the sheer fact of timing, this Administration recognizes that actions to implement the law simply must fall to the next Administration,” Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
The most likely scenario at the moment is TikTok stays online for the time being while work on some sort of deal continues in the background, but its fate in the United States remains up in the air.
Should a ban go ahead, it would prevent people the US from downloading TikTok from app stores but this would not impact users elsewhere.
However, the disappearance of TikTok from one of its biggest markets would undoubtedly hit the platform in some way as it would fundamentally change how it looks.
Some users have already begun looking for alternatives and RedNote has quickly become the most downloaded app on Irish and US app stores in recent days.
More to follow
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The US is the epitome of do and I say not as I do.
@Ger Whelan: as
@Ger Whelan: agreed to an extent about that statement, only thing is that tik toc is a danger the tik toc in China and Asia as a whole promotes education, music instruments tutorials, math ect, the European and American versions promote life distractions and dumbing down of children, I see it myself with my grandchildren they have little attention span zero social skills there schooling gets affected by constant distractions on that app particularly and of course there is the security issue of privacy but all in all tic tok would not amend their app in America so the ban has to be done.
@Darran Macken: Naive parents giving children phones is the real problem here, but you are correct, apps like tik tok turn children into zombies.
@Darran Macken: interesting that you comment about tiktok being different in other locations as when I initially joined tiktok most of the content was from Asia but over time that changed and the content became more local Irish, UK and USA based. I actually preferred seeing how other cultures lived and farmed etc.. and I think tiktok is no worse than google or meta in data collection. The USA is practicing isolationism and censorship by the action of banning tiktok and hypocrisy by also not banning Google and Meta for the information they collect
@Ger Whelan: Most powerful country in the world…it’s like a mom smoking a cigarette and telling a child not to….do it kid and FAFO!!!!
@Darran Macken: Hi Darren what your seeing in your grandchildren wasn’t as a direct result of TikTok it’s as a result of social media in general especially Snapchat. Often heard my friend saying about his 4 daughters sat in the same room and my friend asking what you all doing and they reply messaging each other. I said to him the art of conversation is gone on the younger generation. It’s so so sad.
@Darran Macken: So Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat etc have no negative effects on your grandchildren? Pull the other one. The only difference between tictok and all the other social media apps is tictok is Chinese and they get your data and the rest are American and they get your data.
@Darran Macken: our version has all and every bit of the educational vids too you know. People just choose to watch daft influencers dancing.
@Darran Macken: the thing is that this could be said of any social media app. If they’re being banned for rotting minds then ban them all. I’d have no issue with that. But the current reason for banning it is made up because it’s hurting the profitability of American competitors
@Niall O’Cofaigh: When did you join out of interest? If you were an early adopter of a new app it’s not surprising at all that over time as it became ubiquitous in the West you saw more content generated in the West. However, if you know when you joined and it is much later than when it became popular that might be interesting.
This is amazing, all the “content” creators in America won’t know what to do!
@Eoghan Augusta: They do and many have started doing it.
@Eoghan Augusta: what about Daniel Larson? He is the greatest US creator and it will be sad to see him go.
@Eoghan Augusta: ironically tens of thousands of them have already switched to Rednote, which is similar to tiktok but is directly owned by the Chinese government, and they’re quite happy to give their data. So it is already back firing on Congress. Mark Zuckerberg pushed for this ban, no doubt thinking that Americans would switch to Instagram reels but that isn’t happening and Metas share price has been dropping in the last week and a bit.
Can we not ban the United States instead. Think most of the world is sick to the teeth of the constant warmongering BS.
Don’t use tok tok so have no opinion should it be banned. Would however agree to a EU ban on X and possibly Facebook. The amount of dangerous propaganda and lies spread on these sites is outrageous!
@Barry Gallagher: you must be wrapped in cotton wool
@Barry Gallagher: Any examples of this “dangerous propaganda” that you’d like to share with the rest of the class?
@Barry Gallagher: just crawl under your sisters bed and put your fingers in your ears Barry. No one can hurt you there.
@Freda Peeple: so you agree with weirdo Musk that he can use X to further his own agenda with disinformation and lies to achieve world domination or whatever the hell his aim is. He certainly doesn’t care about you or me or the plain people of America. Worse than Goebbels but far bigger audience. Would love to see Zuckerberg the spineless coward get his comeuppance after firing his fact checkers. Facebook will become a bigger sewer than it already is. Thank God I never joined it!
@Barry Gallagher: why don’t we ban Jewish owned media while we’re at it as they push their own Zionist agenda too? For example – Sky, BBC, Pretty much every single news outlet in the United States I’m not going to list all of them, Facebook, Instagram, ChatGPT, Google, YouTube etc. Should be van all these sites? That’s almost all the internet that people use.
@Barry Gallagher: now where did you hear his plan is world domination? Its almost like its media driven. That’s ironic isn’t it
@Barry Gallagher: agreed. Both platforms are toxic way beyond anything on Tiktok.
@Barry Gallagher: You seem to have an in-depth knowledge of it despite never having joined it. Strange. Almost like you’re talking out of your hole.
@Joe Willis: neither sky nor BBC are “Jewish owned”. And I would never watch American news broadcasters because I am not a child that needs to be told what to think.
@Chop Chop: Alright cowboy! Never read Mein Kamph either! Doesn’t mean it wasn’t a load of Bollix..
@Joe Willis: Sure agree with you to an extent, no media is perfect which is why I would treat a lot of it with a pinch of salt. But I have never heard Sky News or the BBC etc promote wild conspiracy theories such as FEMA and hurricanes, Pizza Gate, stolen elections and California wild fires to mention a few. He sets the algorithm too which favours pro far right. Tens of millions of Maga nuts believe this stuff which you know full well.
@Gearoid MacEachaidh: Sky is owned by Comcast. Comcast founder and CEO is a Jew, Brian L. Roberts.
Does Trump think the expendables was a documentary?
@Freda Peeple: Your first three words would have completed your query…
@Freda Peeple: retired and dangerous
@honey badger: Touché mr badger
@Freda Peeple: Miss Badger
@Peter Connaughton: How did you check?
Very wrong and a continuation on the American return to isolation
So much for freedom of speech…
@Gerry Dornan: Wasn’t Musk vilified when he said a couple of weeks ago that he is upset at the child gang rapes in the UK? They said he was ‘interfering’ in another countries affairs. So much for freedom of speech then.
@Joe Willis: he was vilified for posting lies about it.
Now, instead of the CCP all up in their stuff, Americans will now have the NSA all up in their stuff.
@David Guiney: The only reason they want to ban Tic Toc is because NSA does not have backdoor access.
Good news for RedNote, Lemon8 and Clapper though.
So much freedom…lol.
Most controlled society in the western world, but as long as they have enough guns for several mass shootings everyday they’re happy.
Tiktok is a fantastic source of global political soundbites and video. That’s why butcher Biden banned it. The US is becoming the most censored and controlled media in the world.
If the chinese ever spy on my phone, they’ll find that half the time I’m on the phone to a Chinese anyway, ordering me queen chicken with chips and coke
@Conor Mc: I have a Chinese made phone. I make sure no one ever speaks bad about them around me in case they’re listening. Great bunch of lads the Chinese.
Someone’s gonna make a fortune from this eventually, Who tho? they aint publicly traded
US Politics consumes itself with some complete bullshit to be fair. How is TikTok being allowed or not, going to help the average american that both sides kept bleating on about helping on the campaign trail? Every social media site spies on you. Basically just an exercise to have the right people controlling the surveillance.
So the court decided the ban is valid. Time for US teens to wake up and learn that “tik toker” is no job. Wonder what happens to the social media influencer courses offered by some irish universities now. Will those who started it finish or look for something “real” instead
@no no no: The US Supreme Court has no jurisdiction in Ireland. But you’re 100% right they should get real jobs
@no no no: yeah I tend to agree. another job title that grinds me in ‘content creator’. say one person describe themselves as a ‘social media presence consultant’.
@no no no: many tiktokers are making more in a week than we make in a year. It’s time for boomers and my fellow Gen Xers to accept that social media influencer IS a job, whether we like it or not.
@Gearoid MacEachaidh: Might be the next big economic bubble…
@Diarmuid Hunt: might be but it’s been going on since the early 00s with YouTube. Plenty of people have made foutunes, there, and on Vine, Instagram and tiktok too. A quarter of a century on there still seems to be an appetite for it.
@Gearoid MacEachaidh: It has grown exponentially since then. Many previous bubbles grew too fast, that’s why they burst.
@Gearoid MacEachaidh: Not fair on GenX, we’re the original internet age… we were their at the start, we built the chatroom, forum culture. Would agree tho, a real job is one that pays you real money, simple as that.
Great news if this happens. It’d be great if the same happened here.
Should be banned here too
Time is def ticking, tick tock….
Biden had a chance to do one good thing before he left office on January 20th, but he couldn’t even do that. He signed the bill that banned TikTok, why couldn’t he just enforce the ban that he signed now that the Supreme Court has officially signed off and blocks the appeal? It’s a pretty disappointing image of weakness that Trump is projecting by opposing the ban on the app as well, despite the overwhelming evidence that TikTok not only spies on Americans, but deliberately pushes pro-CCP and anti-West propaganda onto users. Hopefully someone talks sense into Trump. Rescinding the invitation to the CEO of TikTok to attend his second inauguration would be a start, but I won’t get my hopes up about such a move happening.
It won’t be banned. Biden has said that he won’t close it on Sunday and will leave it up to the next administration to do it. Trump has invited the CEO of tiktok to his inauguration. Not Trump likes more than compliments, so if he says nice things about Don the Con tiktok will continue as is
Oh what will they do
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