President Joe Biden has just signed the so-called TikTok ban into law, meaning that the popular social media app’s parent company must now sell the app or face a ban across the US,

The controversial ban of the app was passed by Congress this week, sending the measure to Mr Biden’s desk, who signed the legislation into law on Wednesday.

Despite fears that the Chinese-owned app will suddenly vanish from users’ phones, that is far from the reality of what will likely happen.

When does the ban go into effect?

At the earliest, it would probably take a year before TikTok would be banned.

Under the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, has nine months to sell the social media app, tacking on an additional three more if a sale is under way.

But if this doesn’t happen, TikTok will be banned from US app stores.

In reality, the app would be no longer accessible in the app stores in the US, meaning it would become more difficult to download the app or receive updates.

TikTok users could probably circumvent the app’s removal from US app stores and access the app through other means, like by using a virtual private network (VPN) or using a foreign SIM card.

“The TikTok bill relies heavily on the control that Apple and Google maintain over their smartphone platforms because the bill’s primary mechanism is to direct Apple and Google to stop allowing the TikTok app on their respective app stores,” Dean Ball, a research fellow with the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, told The Associated Press.

  • joaomarrom [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    7 months ago

    so unless tiktok is sold to a US-based company, it will be a bit inconvenient for US users to download the app and keep it updated

    is that all? can’t these geriatric corporate-owned fucking ghouls understand how toothless this supposed ban is? lmao this is pathetic

    • RedWizard [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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      7 months ago

      Just wait for all the bait apps and fake blogs with tiktok APK download links. Who knows, maybe it’ll filter out all the tech illiterate reactionaries. en On android it’ll be easier to keep your access. On iOS it’ll be almost impossible since sideloading apps is pretty hard if I recall. Tiktok should just put the most recent android apk right on their website.

    • Adkml [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      7 months ago

      If you deleted the edge shortcut from these ghouls desktop they wouldn’t be able to access the internet. They think the way you take a screenshot is by finding your intern and telling them to do it. They 100% think this will stop anybody from using tik tok.

    • EmmaGoldman [she/her, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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      7 months ago

      Actually it likely won’t even do that. On Android, it’s quite easy to have your app check a server for updates on startup and download an updated APK which the user can then install with one tap. It can require the user to grant the app permission to install updates, but you can easily just tell users how to do this, send them to the right setting, and even make the button they need to press flash so they know what to hit.

      You can also make a large number of changes server side so that users don’t even have to update the actual app very often.

      This would be a lot more of a punishment if it was still 2011, but all this will really do is make it harder for new users to install the app on iOS, where sideloading isn’t a thing in the US.

    • CarmineCatboy2 [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      7 months ago

      This bill’s original sponsors are Facebook. And however slight the inconvenience is, users can be very fickle. Even if most users stay with the platform via VPNs it can still hurt the bottom line. This means a victory for Facebook no matter what.

      As for Israel, Tiktok is hardly the only place the israelis behave like demons.

      • LaughingLion [any, any]@hexbear.net
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        7 months ago

        the real thing is tiktok did not suppress pro palestinian messaging. we learned that from the congressional probe. they actually promoted israeli messaging to be more “fair” to them because the israeli messaging was so unpopular.

        so the israeli side wants people sypathetic to them to be in control so they can better suppress these things and control the narrative. the people behind the “ban” which is really a sale and the people who control the companies that could buy it would accomodate the israelis and aipac

        • CarmineCatboy2 [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          7 months ago

          Yes, the Israel issue made it personal for US congresspeople. But the original sponsors of the ban were Facebook. Israel probably won’t get to have Hasbara people to command TikTok worldwide, but Facebook’s aims can still be fulfilled. However toothless the ban is, users are very fickle. They’ll move to competitors that are 1% more convenient than you. And having to have a VPN or download an APK or whatever, well, that may already kill the Apple market by itself.

          And then there’s the people who make money out of TikTok and create the whole social media ecosystem. Those won’t get their payments through, they’ll leave the platform and that will hurt the appeal of the app. And if people stream back to an American controlled platform, Israel gets what it wants anyways. Total suppression of their demonic deeds.