The US took another step towards banning TikTok on Tuesday night as the Senate passed a bill that could force ByteDance to sell the social media platform.
President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed the bill containing the potential ban, which was part of a $95 billion foreign aid package.
Supporters of a ban have expressed concerns that data from TikTok – which has about 170 million users in the US – could be shared with the Chinese government.
An outright ban in the US, which has more TikTok users than any other nation, would come as a major blow to the company.
TikTok says the bill violates free-speech rights for Americans, while China has accused the US of “unreasonably suppressing” the platform.
Even before the Senate took action, western countries including the UK, France and Belgium banned the app from government phones.
What happens next to TikTok?
TikTok is not yet banned in the US. Instead, the latest actions establish a new timetable for the short-video platform.
ByteDance has have nine months to sell TikTok. If a sale is in progress, it would be given a three-month extension.
The timeline would extend through the 2024 presidential election. This could extend even longer if lawsuits are filed, as experts and TikTok both say the ban is a breach of the First Amendment.
Shortly after Mr Biden signed the bill, TikTok chief executive Shou Zi Chew pledged the company would take the issue to court.
“Rest assured, we aren’t going anywhere," Mr Chew said on TikTok.
Should the timetable progress without any legal challenges, which is unlikely, then the company would be forced to sell within nine months or face a nationwide ban in the US.
If TikTok is sold, who could buy it?
Selling TikTok would be no easy feat.
TikTok's US business could be valued at $40 billion to $50 billion, Bloomberg Intelligence estimated last year.
Such a large cost would price many potential buyers out of the market.
Steve Mnuchin, who was Treasury secretary under former president Donald Trump, said he is putting together a group of investors to buy TikTok.
Mr Trump tried to ban TikTok in 2020 but the move was blocked by US courts.
Former Activision chief executive Bobby Kotick has also considered buying TikTok, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Canadian businessman and Shark Tank star Kevin O'Leary is also assembling a group to potentially buy the app.
Any unlikely bid by other tech companies such as Meta or Google would probably be blocked by anti-trust regulators in the US.
There is also the possibility that no one will or even could buy TikTok, which would bring about a US ban.
What countries have taken action against TikTok?
Numerous countries have raised concerns over TikTok's ties to Beijing and its global hold over user data.
India and Pakistan have already banned TikTok.
It also faces increasing scrutiny in the EU over its TikTok Like Rewards programme in France and Spain, which pays users to spend time on the app.
The European Commission has already opened proceedings against TikTok to consider if it has broken EU law.
Canada and Australia banned TikTok on government-owned devices last year, while the Taliban banned the app in Afghanistan in 2022.
A new relationship with the old country
Treaty of Friendship between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates
The United kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates; Considering that the United Arab Emirates has assumed full responsibility as a sovereign and independent State; Determined that the long-standing and traditional relations of close friendship and cooperation between their peoples shall continue; Desiring to give expression to this intention in the form of a Treaty Friendship; Have agreed as follows:
ARTICLE 1 The relations between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates shall be governed by a spirit of close friendship. In recognition of this, the Contracting Parties, conscious of their common interest in the peace and stability of the region, shall: (a) consult together on matters of mutual concern in time of need; (b) settle all their disputes by peaceful means in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations.
ARTICLE 2 The Contracting Parties shall encourage education, scientific and cultural cooperation between the two States in accordance with arrangements to be agreed. Such arrangements shall cover among other things: (a) the promotion of mutual understanding of their respective cultures, civilisations and languages, the promotion of contacts among professional bodies, universities and cultural institutions; (c) the encouragement of technical, scientific and cultural exchanges.
ARTICLE 3 The Contracting Parties shall maintain the close relationship already existing between them in the field of trade and commerce. Representatives of the Contracting Parties shall meet from time to time to consider means by which such relations can be further developed and strengthened, including the possibility of concluding treaties or agreements on matters of mutual concern.
ARTICLE 4 This Treaty shall enter into force on today’s date and shall remain in force for a period of ten years. Unless twelve months before the expiry of the said period of ten years either Contracting Party shall have given notice to the other of its intention to terminate the Treaty, this Treaty shall remain in force thereafter until the expiry of twelve months from the date on which notice of such intention is given.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned have signed this Treaty.
DONE in duplicate at Dubai the second day of December 1971AD, corresponding to the fifteenth day of Shawwal 1391H, in the English and Arabic languages, both texts being equally authoritative.
Signed
Geoffrey Arthur Sheikh Zayed
Tank warfare
Lt Gen Erik Petersen, deputy chief of programs, US Army, has argued it took a “three decade holiday” on modernising tanks.
“There clearly remains a significant armoured heavy ground manoeuvre threat in this world and maintaining a world class armoured force is absolutely vital,” the general said in London last week.
“We are developing next generation capabilities to compete with and deter adversaries to prevent opportunism or miscalculation, and, if necessary, defeat any foe decisively.”
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