US TikTok ban: the clock is ticking for Americans' digital freedoms

The deadline for the ban-or-sell TikTok law is just a few days away and the fate of over 170 million Americans is still uncertain.

As Reuters reported, the US Supreme Court appears inclined to uphold the ban after hearing ByteDance's final plea on January 10, 2025. This perhaps explains the rumors about a potential sale of US TikTok's operations to Elon Musk, already owner of X (formerly Twitter).

The negotiations might have not been a success considering that TikTok is preparing to "shut down the app in the US on Sunday," according to Reuters. On his side, President-elect Donald Trump – who begins his term only a day after the TikTok law is set to be enforced – is also "exploring options to rescue TikTok from a nationwide ban," wrote Al Jazeera on January 16.

Looking at the latest news, it's difficult to understand what the future holds for the popular video-sharing app in the United States. What we do know for certain, however, is that banning TikTok will have a strong impact on Americans' digital rights and freedoms. So, what's at stake?

Freedom of speech at risk

Let's start with the obvious. Banning TikTok in the US will prevent its 170 million users from freely accessing information and exchanging communications on the platform.

According to Patrick Toomey, deputy director of US-based digital rights group ACLU’s National Security Project, a TikTok ban would simply trample on the constitutional rights of all American users.

"This social media platform has allowed people around the world to tell their own stories in key moments of social upheaval, war, and natural disaster while reaching immense global audiences," said Toomey, arguing that the connections built on there cannot be easily replaced elsewhere.

Today, in fact, TikTok is way more than a video-sharing app where posting funny videos and dancing challenges. Increasingly more Americans, for example, use this platform as a source of news – over half of TikTok users in the US (52%) did this in 2024, as per the latest Pew Research Centre data. TikTok has also become a powerful tool for both activists and small businesses alike.

"TikTok and social media are critical online communications infrastructure," Jack Buckley, Privacy Advocate at Private Internet Access (PIA), told TechRadar. "Businesses are run through it. Newsrooms get more views online now than via broadcast. Families use it to keep in touch. Cutting out this infrastructure with no replacement or fallback plan will have far-reaching and as-yet-unseen consequences."

All in all, for Lauren Hendry Parsons, Digital Rights expert at ExpressVPN, banning the use of specific apps or social media platforms runs counter to the ideal of an open and unrestricted digital world. "[This] gives rise to serious doubts about the future of digital freedom in the United States," she added.

Greater security risks for TikTok users

While the law doesn't give clear direction on how the ban could be enforced, mobile app store providers will be required to delete TikTok from their official stores in the US. What's important here, though, is that using TikTok in the US won't be illegal even in case of a ban

This means that all American users can still (and most likely would) use their TikTok app if they have already downloaded it on their phone before Sunday. Yet, this may come with a security cost.

Commenting on this point, Buckley from PIA said: "As those devices update, as permissions change, and as security updates dry up, users with the original US version of the app will be painting a target on their backs for any threat actor paying attention to TikTok’s release notes in other markets."

This is because Americans won't benefit from the same security updates as other users worldwide if TikTok isn't available on their official app stores.

One of the best VPN apps could help Americans mask their real IP address location. Yet, as Buckley explains, both Apple and Google use multiple signals to identify the true location of a user, meaning that using a VPN may not be enough to evade the block.

A difficulty in bypassing restrictions could end up pushing people towards alternative stores or apps, putting themselves at higher risk of falling victim to cyberattacks.

"Bans open the door to scams, malicious downloads, insecure connections, and risky apps that fly under the radar," wrote Natalie Campbell and John Perrino, Internet Society's experts, in a blog post.

"Attempting to address security and privacy concerns one app at a time is ineffective and potentially harmful. Countries should instead look to comprehensive privacy and collaborative security measures to protect people online and strengthen the foundation of an open, global Internet."

A global precedent

Worse still, perhaps, banning TikTok in the United States will set a worrying worldwide precedent: social media bans can be a solution. This would likely create a domino effect across the world. After all, the US is far from being the first country to block TikTok or similar.

India blocked TikTok in 2020, alongside other platforms, for example. Senegal did so in 2023 during the wave of protests following the arrest of the opposition leader Ousmane Sonko. For the first time, last year a Western government (France) ordered a temporary block on TikTok in New Caledonia during protests. The app has also been restricted in Venezuela since January 8, 2025. Even Albania announced a ban in December, which is expected to be enforced in the coming weeks.

According to the Internet Society, "a US Supreme Court decision could accelerate this dangerous trend of countries targeting individual apps and websites worldwide, further eroding the global Internet."

Experts at the Electronic Frontier Foundation are also worried about the legal precedent that a US TikTok ban could have across the world. They wrote: "Shutting down communications platforms or forcing their reorganization based on concerns of foreign propaganda and anti-national manipulation is an eminently anti-democratic tactic, one that the US has previously condemned globally."

If not a ban, then what?

China-based TikTok's parent company ByteDance was presented with a choice: to divest or be banned in the United States for good. The government is especially worried about the Chinese ownership of a very popular platform, which may be used as a tool for spying and political manipulation.

Experts, however, have long warned that a TikTok ban would create more problems than it can actually solve. Forget a TikTok ban – what we really need is better social media and privacy laws.

For starters, according to Parsons from ExpressVPN, the US government should strengthen data protection laws instead to ensure they provide adequate security to citizens’ privacy and personal data.

Research conducted by VPN provider PIA in 2023 showed a clear imbalance of data protection across states. Two years later, not much has changed. The US still lacks comprehensive data privacy legislation on a federal level, as only a bunch of States have clear data-sharing policies in place.

Parsons also believes authorities should encourage greater transparency from tech companies about their data practices, too. This includes how they collect, use, and store user data, which has been infringing on user rights.

She said: "This is the way forward that balances freedoms and security."