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Could a US TikTok ban affect users in the UK?

TikTok has come a step closer towards a ban in the US after politicians passed the bill in the Senate

Rob Waugh
·Contributor
·4-min read
What could steps to ban TikTok in the US mean for British users? (Getty)
What could steps to ban TikTok in the US mean for British users? (Getty) (Anatoliy Sizov via Getty Images)

TikTok has come a step closer towards a ban in the US after the bill passed in the Senate.

The bill, which was passed 79-18, would give the app’s Chinese owner ByteDance six months to sell the US version or face it being removed from app stores. The bill will go to president Joe Biden, who is expected to sign it on Wednesday - making it law.

TikTok's fate has become a major issue in Washington, due to concerns over persistent fears of how the Chinese-owned app handles the private data of users. TikTok, which is used by 170 million users in the US, has insisted it never has, and would never, share US user data with the Chinese government.

The measure is the latest in a series of moves in Washington to respond to national security concerns about China, from connected vehicles to advanced artificial intelligence chips to cranes at US ports.

"Congress is acting to prevent foreign adversaries from conducting espionage, surveillance, maligned operations, harming vulnerable Americans, our servicemen and women, and our US government personnel," Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell told Sky News.

UK government officials are already banned from using the app on official devices.

When the bill previously passed in the US lower house - the House of Representatives - Democratic and Republican lawmakers said their offices had received large volumes of calls from teenage TikTok users who oppose the legislation, with the volume of complaints at times exceeding the number of calls seeking a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

The ban still has to be signed by the president, and it is likely that the decision will then come under legal scrutiny - with both content creators in the US and the company itself potentially announcing challenges under the First Amendment (which concerns free speech).

TikTok has not yet commented on the Senate vote, but has suggested it will fight the decision. It said following the previous decision in the House of Representatives: "This legislation has a predetermined outcome: a total ban of TikTok in the United States. The government is attempting to strip 170 million Americans of their constitutional right to free expression.”

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 13: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) talks to reporters during his weekly news conference in the House Visitors Center in the U.S. Capitol on March 13, 2024 in Washington, DC. Jeffries said that he did not support of ban of TikTok but did vote for legislation that would force the popular video app to divest from its parent company, the Chinese-owned ByteDance, within six months or be banned in the United States. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries said that he did not support banning TikTok but did vote for legislation that would force the popular video app to divest from its parent company. (Getty Images) (Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images)

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the goal was ending Chinese ownership, not banning TikTok.

He said: "Do we want TikTok, as a platform, to be owned by an American company or owned by China? Do we want the data from TikTok – children's data, adults’ data – to be going, to be staying here in America or going to China?"

It’s also unclear whether China would approve the sale of TikTok’s Chinese assets, or whether this would be possible within six months.

TikTok is not facing a ban in the UK, and the US ban will not directly affect British users.

However, TikTok has come under scrutiny in the UK recently, too. The app, which uses data including geolocation and user contacts, was banned from government devices in March 2023 following a security review. Government officials are free to use it on personal devices.

Countries with the largest TikTok audience as of January 2024, in millions. (Statista)
Countries with the largest TikTok audience as of January 2024, in millions. (Statista)

Oliver Dowden told MPs at the time: "This ban applies to government corporate devices within ministerial and non-ministerial departments, but it will not extend to personal devices for government employees or ministers or the general public. That is because, as I have outlined, this is a proportionate move based on a specific risk with government devices."

TikTok said it was “disappointed” with the decision and said bans were based on “fundamental misconceptions and driven by wider geopolitics”.

A spokesman for the firm said efforts were being made to make UK data even more secure and stressed that information shared by British users was not stored on China-based data centres.

To reduce the prospect of any potential EU ban, TikTok is also spending £1bn on three new data centres, two in Ireland and one in Denmark, so that the data of EU users no longer leaves the bloc.