TikTok Panic Users Because The US Threatens To Ban Apps

Chairman of the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, Michael McCaul (photo: x @RepMcCaul)

JAKARTA - TikTok users are now in panic after US President Joe Biden signed a law ordering owners of the Chinese social video app to sell it within nine months.

This move, which was endorsed by the US House of Representatives with broad support from both sides, 360 votes in favor and 58 rejecting, has led TikTok owner ByteDance to believe that the 'TikTok's total ban on the US' will soon be a 'predetermined' result.

ByteDance's refusal to divest shares has left 150 million Americans worried about the fate of their videos and followers on the platform. However, there are ways for TikTok users to protect their content even if the app is withdrawn from the US market, such as downloading account data stored by the app.

The US House of Representatives Election Committee alleges that officials of the Chinese Communist Party (PKC) through ByteDance used TikTok to spy on US user locations and set up algorithms for campaigning for influence, making it a national security threat.

The chairman of the US House of Representatives' Foreign Affairs Committee, Michael McCaul, of Texas, who introduced the move, said TikTok was a "spybalon on American phones" meant to "satire and exploit the personal information of Americans".

While the government is moving to ban TikTok, Americans are united against the law. Because many rely on the app as their only source of income.

"Fighting for TikTok is not a fight for an app. It is struggling for the right to speak," said Gavin Dees, a TikToker with more than a million followers but did not want to reveal how much money he made.

"It's struggling even for people who maybe I don't trust completely in the same way. I believe in your right to trust and talk about it. And TikTok allows it in a way we've never seen before," he was quoted as saying by VOI from DailyMail.com.'

For them, like Dees, the ban could mean all their work will be lost. But Jess Hunichen, co-founder of global influencer talent management agency Shine Talent Group, suggested that all your TikTok content has been backed up, so nothing is missing if the US imposes a ban.

"Influencers, content creators, and even more casual TikTok users, are also worried about losing the followers' communities they have worked so hard on in the app," Hunichen toldikan.

This news informs how to protect your TikTok content and maintain ties with followers on other platforms if the ban happens in the US.