INDIANAPOLIS — More than 170 million Americans use TikTok, but for how much longer? Unless it's spun off from its Chinese parent company, the platform could disappear from app stores by Jan. 19.
Supporters of the federal measure say TikTok poses a national security risk because of the information that could be collected from users by the Chinese-owned company.
"We cannot rule out that the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) could use it," Avril Haines, U.S. Director of National Intelligence, said during a Congressional hearing in March.
But banning TikTok faces a lot of opposition, including from social media influencers and small business owners who say it could cost them.
"You are voting against my small business. You are voting against me getting a slice of my American pie," business owner Summer Lucille told CNN earlier this year, aiming her comments at lawmakers.
"This is where entertainment happens," entrepreneur and content creator Max Klymenko said on CNN. "This is where commentary and analysis of the entertainment world happens. This is where education happens."
Experts say the issue is a unique debate that revolves around free speech issues, national security concerns and potentially significant economic implications.
"This is why it has been so challenging to come to a negotiated solution," said Sarah Bauerle Danzman, associate professor of International Studies at Indiana University and a fellow at the Atlantic Council. "In many respects, this seems quite unprecedented, although I will say that there is reporting that in the past, the U.S. has kind of required the sale of Chinese ownership in other social media applications that just didn't end up becoming such a prolonged battle."
Bauerle Danzman said if the ban does move forward, it would not result in a "dramatic shutdown" on all users' phones.
"Instead, if the Chinese owner ByteDance, does not divest from TikTok, what will end up happening is that the app stores where you get your apps will not allow people to download new versions of the app," Danzman said. "And over time, the quality of TikTok will degrade as people will be unable to update to the most recent version. And then, people will sort of drop off of being able to use it as the current version becomes obsolete."
On Monday, Dec. 9, TikTok asked a federal appeals court to pause the impending ban until the U.S. Supreme Court reviews the case. But it's not clear at this point if the Supreme Court will take it up.