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Mahesh

25/04/24 07:23 AM IST

US Senate passes Bill that may ban TikTok

In News
  • A Bill that could force social media app TikTok’s sale by its Chinese owner, or ban it outright, has been passed in the United States Senate.
Features of the bill
  • The US Senate has passed the measure citing national security concerns because of TikTok’s Chinese ties.
  • The government is wary of the speculated risk that the Chinese government can force domestic companies like Bytedance to share sensitive personal data of over 170 million American users, or be abused to spread pro-Chinese propaganda.
  • The proposed law would allow TikTok to continue to operate in the US if Bytedance was to sell it within nine months.
  • The arm-twisting of the social media app is also being seen as an attack on free speech by some in the US, including TikTok.
  • The company has said that the Bill would “trample the free speech rights of 170 million Americans, devastate seven million businesses, and shutter a platform that contributes $24 billion to the US economy, annually.”
  • In 2020, the United Kingdom also banned the use of Huawei gear in the region’s telecom network owing to alleged national security risks.
  • India has followed a similar path, and aside from banning TikTok and similar platforms, disallowed Indian telephone companies from partnering with Huawei to set up their 5G networks.
About Tik tok
  • TikTok is a two-sided platform with users and advertisers as the two sides.
  • It derives its revenues from advertisements and other in-app purchases by the user, although the use of the app itself requires no payment.
  • Although the user pays nothing for downloading and using the app, in such cases they themselves become the product by virtue of surrendering their data and their eyeballs for advertisements.
  • The key would therefore be to regulate this transaction (between advertisers and users) to ensure that TikTok has the right incentives to build safeguards and innovate.
Source- Indian Express

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