The Fine Print of TikTok’s Importance Under the Google, Google, and Google Regulatory No-go Theorems
The fine print makes it illegal for any such entities to “distribute, maintain, or update (or enable the distribution, maintenance, or updating of) a foreign adversary controlled application” either through a marketplace or internet hosting services.
The letter to the CEOs of Apple and Google warned them to take steps to ensure they can meet the deadline or they would have an immediate impact on users.
There are also ways to download TikTok outside the Google and Apple app stores, through processes respectively known as “sideloading” and “jailbreaking.”
They are commonly used in countries with strict internet restrictions to access blocked social media platforms, streaming services and other geographically limited content.
There is a virtual private network that protects users’ location data and makes it look like they are accessing content in another country.
It will require more technical savvy to get to TikTok now that the law is in effect. “And that in and of itself is going to be too big of a barrier for lots and lots of people to continue to access TikTok, or to continue to try to use TikTok as a service.”
It is possible that on January 19th the service will not be available in the US when users try to open the app. This is what happens when someone tries to launch TikTok in India, which banned the app in 2020.
Bringing Back the TikTok App: Protecting Users’ Data and Implications for the First Amendment and the U.S.
“Over time … the service that you get with the application will be worse and worse and worse,” she adds, though it’s too soon to tell whether that will be a matter of days, weeks or months.
And without the ability to update, the platform won’t be able to fix bugs, add features or address security concerns. It may become incompatible with the operating system of certain phones eventually.
The Senator filed an amicus brief in late December — alongside Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) — with the Supreme Court in support of TikTok and its creators, arguing the law does not stand up to First Amendment scrutiny. “Its principal justification—preventing covert content manipulation by the Chinese government— reflects a desire to control the content on the TikTok platform and in any event could be achieved through a less restrictive alternative,” they argued in the brief. “And its secondary justification of protecting users’ data from the Chinese government could not sustain the ban on its own and also overlooks that Congress did not consider whether less drastic mitigation measures could address those concerns.”
The PAFACA, signed into law by President Biden in April 2024, gives the government the ability to ban foreign-owned apps that it deems a threat to national security.
At the end of the day, it is not clear what Trump can do to bring back TikTok, as new and existing platforms are sure to want its many displaced users.
But it will get harder for the platform’s users in the U.S. to access the app, says Kate Ruane, director of the Free Expression Project at the Center for Democracy and Technology (which joined an amicus brief supporting TikTok and its users’ protected speech).
Apple won’t honor warranties for jailbroken phones, which is a potential consequence. Many TikTok users are going to be deterred by the extra steps.
What to know if a TikTok ban hits the U.S. in days, and how to prepare around it: A case study by Allen Ruane
After previously branding the app a national security threat, and even attempting to ban it during his first term, Donald Trump has been an ardent supporter of the platform now that he is in office.
For one, he could try to convince Congress to repeal the original 2024 law that requires ByteDance to divest TikTok, which both the House and Senate passed with overwhelming support.
“That’s easy, but it’s incredibly difficult to do because the votes of many, many, many members of Congress would have to be changed,” he says.
The second option for Trump is to issue a directive for the justice department and attorney general not to enforce the law, which would allow services to continue for TikTok.
But Ruane says that’s also easier said than done, as lawyers within those companies would still see — and likely seek to avoid — “gigantic legal risk” in flouting the law, which includes hefty penalties.
If someone is found to be in violation of the law for using your service, then it’s worth $5,000 per person. “If you were to take the president up on his offer and continue to provide services to TikTok, even though you’re technically in violation of the law, that’s $5,000 times hundreds of millions of people.”
Alan Rubin, an associate law professor at the University of Minnesota Law School and the research director at Lawfare, has come up with the third potential option. Trump told NPR in December that the law couldn’t be applied anymore.
Source: A TikTok ban could hit the U.S. in days. What to know — and how to prepare
Project Texas, TikTok, and the Biden Abelian-to-Kamiokande Correspondence (Epoch Update)
The deal initially had support in the Biden administration, but talks stalled. Sources say that Trump might bring Project Texas back if it’s determined that the agreement with TikTok makes them in compliance with the anti-divestment law.