TikTok is in the crosshairs of authorities in the U.S., where new law threatens a nationwide ban unless its China-based parent ByteDance divests. It would be the biggest blow yet to the popular video-sharing app, which has faced various restrictions around the world.
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TikTok is already banned in a handful of countries and from government-issued devices in a number of others, due to official worries that the app poses privacy and cybersecurity concerns.
Those fears are reflected in the U.S. law, which is the culmination of long-held bipartisan fears in Washington that China’s communist leaders could force ByteDance to hand over U.S. user data, or influence Americans by suppressing or promoting certain content. TikTok has long maintained that it doesn’t share data with the Chinese government and its CEO has taken a defiant stance, vowing to fight back.
Here are the places that have partial or total bans on TikTok:
AFGHANISTAN
TikTok has been banned since 2022, along with videogame PUBG, after the country's Taliban leadership decided to forbid access on the grounds of protecting young people from “being misled.”
AUSTRALIA
TikTok is not allowed on devices issued by the Australian federal government. Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said he made the decision after getting advice from the country’s intelligence and security agencies.
BELGIUM
The National Security Council decided last month to indefinitely ban TikTok from devices owned or paid for by the federal government. The ban was issued on a temporary basis last year on worries about cybersecurity, privacy and misinformation. Prime Minister Alexander de Croo said it was based on warnings from the country’s state security service and cybersecurity center.
CANADA
Devices issued by the federal government are forbidden from using TikTok. Officials cited an “unacceptable” risk to privacy and security and said the app would be removed from devices and employees blocked from downloading it.
CHINA
TikTok has never been available in mainland China, a fact that CEO Shou Chew has mentioned in testimony to U.S. lawmakers. ByteDance instead offers Chinese users Douyin, a similar video-sharing app that follows Beijing’s strict censorship rules. TikTok also ceased operations in Hong Kong after a sweeping Chinese national security law took effect.
DENMARK
Denmark’s Defense Ministry banned its employees from having TikTok on their work phones, ordering staffers who have installed it to remove the app from devices as soon as possible. The ministry said the reasons for the ban included both “weighty security considerations” as well as “very limited work-related need to use the app.”
EUROPEAN UNION
The European Parliament, European Commission and the EU Council, the 27-member bloc’s three main institutions, have imposed bans on TikTok on staff devices. Under the European Parliament’s ban, lawmakers and staff were also advised to remove the TikTok app from their personal devices.
FRANCE
“Recreational” use of TikTok and other social media apps like Twitter and Instagram on government employees’ phones has been banned because of worries about insufficient data security measures. The French government didn’t name specific apps but noted the decision came after other governments took measures targeting TikTok.
INDIA
India imposed a nationwide ban on TikTok and dozens of other Chinese apps like messaging app WeChat in 2020 over privacy and security concerns. The ban came shortly after a clash between Indian and Chinese troops at a disputed Himalayan border killed 20 Indian soldiers and injured dozens. The companies were given a chance to respond to questions on privacy and security requirements but the ban was made permanent in 2021.
INDONESIA
TikTok isn't entirely banned in the sprawling, populous Southeast Asian nation, only its online retail function, after the authorities clamped down on e-commerce transactions carried out on social media platforms in a bid to protect small businesses.
LATVIA
Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics tweeted that he deleted his TikTok account and that the app is also prohibited from official foreign ministry smartphones.
NETHERLANDS
The Dutch central government banned apps including TikTok from employee work phones citing data security concerns. A government statement did not name TikTok specifically but said civil servants are discouraged from having apps “from countries with an offensive cyber program against the Netherlands and/or Dutch interests installed and used on their mobile work devices.”
NEPAL
The Himalayan country imposed a nationwide ban on TikTok, saying it was disrupting “social harmony” and goodwill and blaming it for a “flow of indecent materials.” Authorities ordered the telecom company to block access to the app.
NEW ZEALAND
Lawmakers in New Zealand and staff at the nation’s Parliament are prohibited from having the TikTok app on their work phones, following advice from government cybersecurity experts. The app was removed from all devices with access to the parliamentary network, although officials can make special arrangements for anybody who needs TikTok to perform their democratic duties.
NORWAY
The Norwegian parliament banned Tiktok on work devices after the country’s Justice Ministry warned the app shouldn’t be installed on phones issued to government employees. The Parliament’s speaker said TikTok shouldn’t be on devices that have access to the assembly’s systems and should be removed as quickly as possible. The country’s capital Oslo and second largest city Bergen also urged municipal employees to remove TikTok from their work phones.
PAKISTAN
Pakistani authorities have temporarily banned TikTok at least four times since 2020, citing concerns that the app promotes immoral content.
SOMALIA
The government ordered telecom companies to block access to TikTok, along with messaging app Telegram and gambling platform 1XBET. Officials said they were concerned that the platforms could spread extremist content, nude images and other material seen as offensive to Somali culture and Islam.
TAIWAN
Taiwan imposed a public sector ban on TikTok after the FBI warned that the app posed a national security risk. Government devices, including mobile phones, tablets and desktop computers, are not allowed to use Chinese-made software, which includes apps like TikTok, its Chinese equivalent Douyin, or Xiaohongshu, a Chinese lifestyle content app.
UNITED KINGDOM
British authorities banned TikTok from mobile phones used by government ministers and civil servants. Officials said the ban was a “precautionary move” on security grounds and doesn’t apply to personal devices. The British Parliament followed up by banning TikTok from all official devices and the “wider parliamentary network.” The semi-autonomous Scottish government and London City Hall also banned TikTok from staff devices. The BBC urged staff to delete TikTok from corporate devices unless they’re using it for editorial and marketing reasons.
UNITED STATES
U.S. authorities ordered government agencies to delete TikTok from federal devices and systems over data security concerns. More than half of the 50 U.S. states also have banned the app from official devices, as have Congress and the U.S. armed forces. Montana's efforts to bring in a state-wide ban failed, as did a proposal in Virginia to block kids from using it.
What does the possible TikTok ban mean for US-China relations?
TikTok has said it will challenge new US legislation requiring its parent company to sell it under threat of a ban in court.
The law signed this week by US President Joe Biden states that TikTok's Chinese-based parent company ByteDance has 270 days with a possible 90-day extension to divest from the app or face a ban.
"This unconstitutional law is a TikTok ban, and we will challenge it in court. We believe the facts and the law are clearly on our side, and we will ultimately prevail," TikTok said in a statement earlier this week.
Should a legal challenge fail, observers say Chinese authorities are unlikely to allow a sale, a move that could be seen as surrendering to Washington.
Beijing may not want the US action against the popular short-form video platform to set a “bad precedent,” said Alex Capri, a senior lecturer at the National University of Singapore and research fellow at Hinrich Foundation.
“If Beijing capitulates to the US, where does it end?”
'No plan to sell TikTok'
ByteDance said on a Chinese news app it owns that it "doesn't have any plan to sell TikTok".
Hu Xijin, a former editor-in-chief for the Chinese party-run newspaper Global Times and now a political commentator, said that with 170 million American users, TikTok should "have more guts to fight to the very end and refuse to surrender".
The fight over TikTok has increased tensions between the US and China, with both vowing to protect their interests.
US lawmakers have said that ByteDance's ownership of TikTok is a national security threat, with its algorithm manipulating what US users see.
They have said they are trying to prevent "foreign adversary espionage".
The law followed a string of successes by Washington in curbing the influence of Chinese companies through bans, export controls and forced divestitures, drawing protests from Beijing that the US is bent on suppressing China’s rise through economic coercion.
The US previously forced Beijing Kunlun, a Chinese mobile video game company, to sell the gay dating app Grindr after receiving a federal order.
But TikTok, which was created for the overseas market, is a case Beijing does not want to lose.
Financial interests might not prevail
National dignity is at stake and could "take precedence over the financial interests of ByteDance investors," including global investors who own 60 per cent of the company, said Gabriel Wildau, managing director of the consulting and advisory firm Teneo.
A legal challenge from the company is expected to lean on First Amendment concerns and could drag on for years. Beijing is betting on a legal win, analysts say.
What to do if TikTok doesn't prevail is likely still being debated with the Chinese leadership, said Dominic Chiu, an analyst with Eurasia Group.
President Xi Jinping, who will have to sign off on whether to permit or prohibit the sale, probably has not made the final decision, Chiu said.
Luckily for Xi, there is no urgency for Beijing to decide, said Sun Yun, director of the China programme at the Washington-based Stimson Center.
“A lot of things could change," she said.
If lawmakers get their wish and a sale does occur, it’s likely to be a challenging and messy process for TikTok, which would have to disentangle its US operations from everything else.
ByteDance says it won’t sell TikTok business in US
TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, said it will not sell the popular video sharing app to continue its business in the U.S., despite facing a potential ban under a law President Biden signed Wednesday.
The bill, included in a foreign aid package Biden signed, gives ByteDance up to a year to sell TikTok or be banned from operating in the U.S. The proposal was fueled by national security concerns raised by the supporters, who argued the Chinese government could compel TikTok to share U.S. user data.
It is the latest and most critical threat TikTok has faced in the U.S. yet — but the company is not backing down.
The company issued a statement on Toutiao, a news aggregation app ByteDance owns, dispelling a Thursday report by The Information that claimed ByteDance was exploring options for selling TikTok in the U.S. without its algorithm, according to a copy of the statement reported by CNN.
“Foreign media reports that ByteDance is exploring the sale of TikTok are untrue,” ByteDance said in the statement.
“ByteDance doesn’t have any plan to sell TikTok,” it continued.
The Hill reached out to TikTok for comment.
Even if TikTok were purchased in the U.S., it likely would be different from the app users use today because Chinese export rules would regulate whether the algorithm could be transferred, and the TikTok algorithm has been a key factor to its popularity among users.
The other route for TikTok to remain active in the U.S. is through a successful court case. TikTok announced Wednesday, immediately after Biden signed the law, that it would challenge it in court.
Other attempts to ban TikTok, both under the Trump administration and in states, have been blocked by courts.
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