TikTok is facing a potential ban in the United States if its parent company ByteDance does not sell its U.S. segment.
Citing threats to national security, the Biden administration has re-engaged threats to TikTok over its ties to China to either force a sale or face a ban, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
TikTok fired back, saying that this measure will not fix the problems the U.S. is raising.
“If protecting national security is the objective, divestment doesn’t solve the problem: a change in ownership would not impose any new restrictions on data flows or access,” TikTok spokeswoman Maureen Shanahan told The Dallas Express.
“The best way to address concerns about national security is with the transparent, U.S.-based protection of U.S. user data and systems, with robust third-party monitoring, vetting, and verification, which we are already implementing,” Shanahan added.
The U.S. is not the first country to raise this issue, as TikTok has faced similar bans in other nations, according to The Washington Post.
Indonesia
Indonesia was one of the first governments to impose a ban on TikTok in 2018 but lifted the ban just a week later after the company agreed to censor some of its content.
“The app has a lot of negative and harmful content, especially for children,” said Rudiantara, Indonesia’s Minister of Communications and Information, at the time, according to Reuters.
Pakistan
Pakistan has temporarily banned TikTok at least four times since October 2020 due to inappropriate content, according to Time.
India
In India, TikTok was banned in 2020. The decision became permanent in January 2021.
The decision was made after 20 Indian soldiers were killed by Chinese troops in the Himalayas in June 2020, creating tensions between the countries, according to the BBC.
The clash led India to ban over 50 Chinese apps, including messaging app WeChat, according to The Washington Post. That list has now grown to 254, according to India Today. Forbes estimated that the ban in India cost the company $6 billion.
Afghanistan
The Taliban banned TikTok in April 2022 “to prevent the younger generation from being misled,” per the BBC.
Taiwan
Taiwan banned TikTok on government devices in December 2022 and is considering a national ban due to its ongoing tensions with China, according to The Washington Post.
Taiwan has seen India as a case study of whether it will outright ban the app but fears that decision will be ineffective due to the ease of savvy users circumventing the ban by using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to bypass restrictions.
Australia
In late January and early February, several branches of the Australian government imposed TikTok bans on staff’s work phones.
The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, and the Departments of Dense and Home Affairs have prevented staff from downloading TikTok, per The Sydney Morning Herald.
New South Wales is currently considering a more sweeping ban on the work devices of the state’s public sector employees.
European Union
The European Parliament, European Commission, and European Union Council all banned TikTok on its staff devices on February 21.
“This measure aims to protect the Commission against cybersecurity threats and actions which may be exploited for cyberattacks against the corporate environment of the Commission,” said the European Commission after banning the app, according to CNN.
E.U. members Denmark and Belgium have both banned TikTok on government phones, according to The Washington Post.
Canada
Canada banned TikTok on government-issued phones on February 27. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the decision “may be a first step, it may be the only step” the Canadian government will take, according to Reuters.
Britain
The British government banned TikTok on government devices on March 16.
Cabinet Office Minister Oliver Dowden told Parliament that the decision was out of an abundance of caution following a review by the National Cyber Security Centre, according to the BBC.
“The security of sensitive government information must come first,” said Dowden, per the BBC.
New Zealand
Citing cybersecurity concerns, New Zealand also decided to ban TikTok on devices linked to the island nation’s parliamentary network on March 17. The ban will go into effect at the end of the month, according to Reuters.
