All your favourite American TikTokers could soon be forced to leave the platform, according to Jess Kelly.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers in the United States Congress has introduced a bill that would ban the app in the US if TikTok’s owner ByteDance refuses to sell up.
ByteDance is a Chinese company and there has long been concern in the West about its links to the Chinese Government.
Last year, a former TikTok employee alleged that the Chinese Communist Party used the platform to spy on pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong - an allegation described as “baseless” by ByteDance.
American Congressmen and women have been deluged by calls from furious TikTok creators but on Newstalk Breakfast, Tech Correspondent Jess Kelly said the bill has one very powerful backer.
“Joe Biden, back when he was Vice President of the United States, he had a real bugbear about social media companies as a whole,” she said.
“He went very hard after Meta, saying that regulation needed to [be enacted to control it].”
US President Joe Biden delivers a State of the Union address in Washington DC, 7-2-23. Image: MediaPunch Inc / AlamyThe US President has said he would sign the bill into law if it is passed by Congress.
Republican Speaker Mike Johnson has promised to put the legislation to a full vote of the House of Representatives and his party’s likely nominee, Donald Trump, is broadly supportive as well.
“Donald Trump has flip-flopped his position on it a little bit,” Jess said.
“He initially said he wouldn’t back the proposed ban because it would make Facebook much stronger.
“He has since retracted that statement, saying he would look at it.
“So, regardless of which of the two key presidential candidates come out on top in November, it does look like this could be a bit of a headache.”
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at a campaign rally at the Memorial Auditorium in Burlington, Iowa. Photography by Jose More / VWPicsTikTok fears other jurisdictions like the European Union, Britain or Canada could follow the US’s example and also enact bans.
In 2022, the US banned sales by the Chinese telecom giant Huawei after similar security concerns were raised and Jess said the company was “decimated” by it.
“We rarely hear about them, talk about them and so on,” she said.
“The US is such a significant market; the thing to note about a social media platform as well is, it’s all about the content you consume.
“So, if you’re based here in Ireland and none of your favourite American TikTokers are there for you to consume, that’s a massive drain in terms of the talent on the platform.
“There’s no denying it would have a massive implication on the platform.”
Irish jobs
The legislation could have a particular impact on Ireland as TikTok’s European headquarters are based in Dublin.
If the company starts to lose revenue because of the ban, Jess feels it could have a “very negative” impact on the job prospects of the company’s Irish employees.
Main image: TikToker Charli D'Amelio and Dixie D'Amelio. Picture by: Alamy.com
