Could TikTok be banned in the UK? What US bill means and where else the app is blocked

If TIKTOK’s Chinese parent business declines to sell, it may be prohibited in the United States.

Everything we know about the platform’s potential for banning stems from concerns that it poses a threat to national security.

Governments in the US, Canada, the EU, and the UK became more concerned about the social media app in 2023 due to its extensive data collecting and connections to China.

The US House of Representatives enacted a law on March 13, 2024, requiring ByteDance, the app’s owner, to sell the app within six months.

When President Joe Biden signed the National Security Act, 2024 into law on April 24, 2024, the bill was extended.

The previous deadline was extended to nine months by this new law, meaning ByteDance has until January 19, 2025, to sell off TikTok or risk being banned in the US.

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In January 2025, it was reported that Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, was involved in negotiations to purchase TikTok from China.

Tiktok, however, has rejected the assertion as “pure fiction.”

According to a representative for TikTok, “We can’t be expected to comment on pure fiction.”

Since it was released about eight years ago, the app has accumulated over 1.8 billion users globally.

Concerns about cascading government have been referred to as “misguided and based on fundamental misconceptions” by TikTok, which has consistently denied any affiliation with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Could TikTok be banned in the UK?

The app, which is controlled by China, raises security and privacy issues.

Although the typical UK user is not prohibited from using TikTok, it was reported last year that government employees’ phones will be prohibited from using the app.

Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunakhinte said the UK will “look at what our allies are doing” in reference to implementing nationwide restrictions.

Mr. Sunak’s spokesperson stated in March 2024 that while the app was still up to British users’ personal preferences, security experts will continue to monitor all of these concerns.

When TikTokers register for an account on the site, they consent to a significant amount of data collecting, including:

• The device and operating system you’re using
• How long you watch a post for
• What categories you like
• Where you’re located
• The keystroke rhythms you have when you type

An inquiry into TikTok’s transfers of personal data to China and its adherence to the GDPR’s regulations for transfers of personal data to third countries was started in 2021 by Ireland’s data protection agency.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, however, stated that Ireland will not follow the United States in attempting to ban the platform.

Is TikTok banned in the US?

In the US, TikTok is not yet prohibited.

But as the government ban draws near, TikTok is preparing to completely remove the app from the American market on January 19, 2025.

In 2023, the US also prohibited TikTok on government-issued phones for all federal employees.

The parent company ByteDance may give China’s autocratic government access to TikTok user data, according to warnings from the Federal Communications Commission and the FBI.

The app will be blocked for all 150 million US users if ByteDance does not sell the business within the six months that Biden has set.

Where else is TikTok blocked or restricted?

In addition to the US, the UK, EU, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Taiwan have prohibited employees of government organizations from using TikTok on their work-issued devices.

Following a warning that user data was being mined and profiled by entities hostile to India’s national security and defense, India banned the platform and hundreds of other Chinese apps in 2020.

In January 2021, India made the prohibition permanent.

Since October 2020, Pakistani authorities have temporarily banned the platform at least four times, claiming it encourages immoral content.

But each time, the nation has backed out of its choice.

For similar reasons, Indonesia temporarily banned the app in 2018. However, a week later, the restriction was lifted after the app consented to edit some of its content.

In 2022, TikTok was prohibited by the Taliban in Afghanistan on the basis that it was preventing young people from “being misled”.

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Somalia announced in August 2023 that it intended to restrict access to TikTok, Telegram, and the internet gambling platform 1XBet.

Late in 2023, Nepal declared that TikTok will be banned.

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