After weeks of deliberation, the US ban on TikTok has been passed by lawmakers. But this ban only affects a select number of users in the United States. Currently, the video-sharing app is banned on the devices of all lawmakers and members of the House of Representatives.
This ban is coming on the hills of security concerns that the US House of Representatives have concerning the application. As such, TikTok has been banned from being installed on smartphones owned or managed by the government for official purposes. Over 19 states in the US have made moves to enforce this ban.
For a while, this issue has lingered with the media taking different stands on the matter. As we already know, TikTok is a sub-brand of a Chinese parent company known as ByteDance. Some people say that its Chinese origin poses a security threat to the United States, but others take a different stand.
The second group views this move as an aggressive move by the US government on Chinese firms. They back this claim up with the treatment Chinese companies like Huawei, ZTE, drone maker DJI, and others get from the US government. Most companies above are labelled as a security threat to the US government. Their businesses are also negatively impacted by this accusation.
TikTok’s spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter also takes this stand, calling the ban “a political gesture.” He goes on to say that the ban “will do nothing to advance national security interests” of the United States. For now, the majority of US citizens can still make use of TikTok as the issue still unravels.