A Newspaper: TikTok Ban in India Serves America
A report from the Wall Street Journal suggests that the ban of the TikTok application in India provides a case study for the United States, which is moving in a similar direction, about what could happen when the highly popular service is stopped.
According to the report, a bill supported by President Biden and passed by both the Democratic and Republican parties in the House this month would force the Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell the platform’s operations in the United States or face a ban. Although the fate of the law, which has been referred to the Senate, remains uncertain, concerns about popular anger, which spread among young Indians after the ban on the application, and questions about restricting freedom of expression, remain early indicators of a previous situation that American decision-makers should pay attention to.
The report highlights that the Indian government banned the Chinese short-video sharing giant TikTok, launched in India in 2016 and boasting 150 million subscribers, due to concerns related to cyber security. India, like the United States today, fears that the Chinese parent company and its agents in other countries may be forced to provide user data to the Chinese government, which threatens security according to India and America.
The report points out that millions of application users in India were disappointed and angry with their government due to the ban on the application, which enabled many of them to develop their talents and earn income to overcome economic problems such as low income and unemployment.
According to the report, similar outcomes are expected for application users in the United States in the event of a ban.
