The “TikTok Ban” Was Never Just About TikTok

The national security debate at the heart of a federal law requiring ByteDance, TikTok’s China-based parent company, to sell the popular social media app’s U.S. operations to a U.S.-based owner to avert a nationwide ban isn’t just about TikTok—and it never was.

At New America’s Open Technology Institute (OTI), we share many of the national security and data privacy concerns that drove both Congress and the Supreme Court of the United States to stand behind the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA), which codified the ultimatum. However, none of those considerations change the fact that this “divest-or-ban” requirement sets a dangerous precedent for free expression. It also distracts from deeper problems with our country’s approach to digital governance, including the absence of a comprehensive federal privacy law and insufficient enforcement of algorithmic accountability.

President Donald Trump claimed last Friday that his administration “would pretty much have a deal” with China as soon as sometime earlier this week—an assertion China has reportedly avoided addressing concretely. But a “deal” shouldn’t become a shortcut for avoiding real reform or a license to use national security to mask protectionist technology policy. With TikTok’s fate in flux, here are five considerations stakeholders should keep in mind:

1. Continued Big Tech Consolidation: Although early reports indicate that the Trump administration may opt to sidestep its responsibility to enforce ByteDance’s complete divestment from TikTok’s U.S. operations by instead pressing the company to bring on more American investors—thereby diluting the stakes of its Chinese investors—this could inevitably result in the anticompetitive and anti-consumer outcome of greater Big Tech consolidation. Regardless of the specifics, a deal that puts TikTok in the portfolio of any leading U.S.-based tech company would only tighten the grip that Big Tech corporations have on our mainstream communications channels, while doing little to improve the privacy and security of its users’ data.
2. Politically Connected Buyers: One of the core arguments posed in favor of PAFACA’s divest-or-ban approach is that ByteDance’s relationship with the Chinese government raises national security concerns—and, as such, it cannot be permitted to control TikTok’s U.S. operations. That said, if the Trump administration pushes ByteDance to hand TikTok over to a buyer or a new set of investors with close connections to the U.S. government, this would both undermine our nation’s credibility on internet freedom and open the door to global copycat bans.
3. Different Owner, Same Data Problems: Even with a U.S.-based buyer, the absence of comprehensive federal privacy legislation in the United States means that TikTok’s users could remain vulnerable to data exploitation by American and foreign actors, including data brokers. Thus, the new buyer would still need to take steps to safeguard Americans’ data, including establishing strong data minimization practices, ensuring that data is not used in discriminatory ways, maximizing users’ control over their data (including the ability to view, correct, export, and delete data), and providing meaningful transparency around the operation and oversight of TikTok’s algorithm. By implementing these best practices to protect consumer privacy, TikTok’s new owner could raise the bar for social media apps across the board.
4. Compliance with the Law: While OTI has long opposed PAFACA’s divest-or-ban framework, the idea that everyone is held accountable to the rule of law is a cornerstone of American democracy. PAFACA prohibits any TikTok buyer from engaging with ByteDance via data sharing or licensing its content recommendation algorithm, so proposals that would facilitate or overlook this kind of cooperation would not comply with the law.
5. Security, not Symbolism: Congress has repeatedly claimed that PAFACA’s primary purpose is to reduce national security risks, so any sale should be consistent with that goal. If the core recommendation algorithm or back-end infrastructure still allows foreign entities like ByteDance to influence Americans’ perceptions, then the deal doesn’t solve the problem. This is where both the creation and consistent enforcement of stronger national data, algorithmic, and privacy protections come into play. With ByteDance reportedly planning to release a new app in the United States, if we don’t want to get stuck in a game of Whac-a-Mole, we need to get serious about securing Americans’ data writ large.

The future of TikTok matters more than you might think. TikTok itself reports that more than 170 million Americans and 7.5 million U.S. businesses use the app. Pew Research Center estimates that nearly 60 percent of adults under 30 are on TikTok, and more than 50 percent of those users consider it their primary source for news.

Beyond the sheer reach of its userbase, an Oxford Economics report commissioned by TikTok found that in 2023, the app generated more than $24 billion in gross domestic product (GDP) and created more than 224,000 jobs in the U.S. alone.

In a recent interview with content creator Jessica Hawk, we spoke about her strategy for transitioning to other platforms, the ripple effects of a potential TikTok ban on brand partnerships and income streams, and how the creator economy might shift. While the fate of an app many young people use to share videos of themselves dancing may seem trivial, for the millions of people and businesses across the U.S. relying on the platform to make a living, the stakes are incalculable.

Outside of the detrimental impact that a TikTok ban would have on the livelihoods of its users, there is also much to be said about how PAFACA’s ultimatum perpetuates the global shift away from an open internet. As recent New America Technology and Democracy Fellow Tianyu Fang observed in New America’s The Thread, the internet has become “less open globally” in recent years due to the actions of both authoritarian governments and democracies.

Just as the Founding Fathers emphasized the importance of a separation of church and state, ensuring a separation between our government and Big Tech will be crucial to defending democracy—both nationally and globally—for years to come. TikTok is only the beginning.