Banning TikTok: Lessons for the US

The US wants to ban TikTok. Four days ago President Joe Biden signed a bill that could do just that for the US.

While it may affect Americans, there are lessons that can be learnt from other countries that have successfully banned TikTok.

In June 2020, TikTok users in India bid goodbye to the app, which is operated by Chinese internet firm ByteDance.

The government cited privacy concerns and said that Chinese apps pose a threat to India’s sovereignty and security.

The move mostly drew widespread support in India, where protesters had been calling for a boycott of Chinese goods

There were about 200 million TikTok users.

The exit of TikTok opened up the market for other players.

Google rolled out YouTube Shorts and Instagram pushed out its Reels.

India questioned privacy and security aspects of TikTok which remained unanswered. THe ban was permanent in January 2021 without the need to go to court.

By comparison, the First Amendment is strong in the US.

At present, TikTok is also banned in Pakistan, Nepal, Afghanistan and EU.