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On April 24, 2024, the “Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,” found in H.R. 815, became law, commonly referred to as the “TikTok Ban.” The Act makes it unlawful for any entity to distribute, maintain, or update an application controlled by a foreign adversary. Therefore, it’s not just TikTok that’s now banned, but many others.
Despite its brevity, the Act is well-formulated. The Act gives subject applications, like TikTok (owned by ByteDance), 270 days to “divest” (sell) to another friendly owner before penalties are imposed. And while it singles-out TikTok like a former NBA star during a pick-up game, it quietly applies to several other popular applications, namely:
CapCut (video editing application)
Hypic (a beauty filter application)
Temu (an e-commerce brand)
Shein (an e-commerce brand)
WeChat (an instant messaging and social media application)
Every application owned by a company within the jurisdiction of China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia, with more than 100 million active users, and that enables its users to create and distribute content will no longer be tolerated within US borders.
As for enforcement, application hosting platforms like Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Android risk significantly hefty penalties if they allow US-based users to download such applications. Specifically, these entities will face a $5000.00 per user fine within the U.S. In short, Facebook’s $5 Billion fine from the Federal Trade Commission in 2019 may no longer hold the record for the largest government-levied monetary fine.
Accordingly, consumers and businesses that market their products or services within any newly-banned application should expect that application platforms will slowly start discontinuing their availability. Companies like Google and Apple will not immediately discontinue hosting TikTok, but may cease updates and stop allowing new downloads as the 270-day “sell-clock” ticks away. TikTok, given its sheer size and value, is expected to receive an additional 90 days (in addition to the 270 days) to find a buyer in an allied nation.
Recommended Next Steps for Technology Vendors:
Software manufacturers and service providers should prepare a response to eventual loss of access to TikTok and other soon-to-be-banned applications. Specifically, application and software developers are advised to untangle any service links between itself and a user’s TiKTok account, as well as discontinue any marketing services with or cookies sold to TikTok.
Service providers, especially Internet Service Providers, should send notices to customers advising them of the TikTok ban’s anticipated implementation date (pending a sale) and advise them that internet protocol (IP) addresses associated with banned applications will be blocked.
Firewall manufacturers should include a block against TikTok’s IP on the list of pre-configured settings.
Similar to ISPs, Managed Security Service Providers should send notices to clients informing them that access to TikTok and other banned applications will be blocked to prevent client disruptions, especially for any clients in the e-commerce space.
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