Congress passed a law to ban TikTok in the US unless the Chinese-owned company transfers ownership to a US-based owner.

The deadline is this Sunday, Jan 19 -- coincidentally the day before the inauguration.

Fact #1 -- Biden can extend the deadline up to an additional 90 days.

Fact #2 -- The "ban" does not block TikTok traffic from US users.  It only blocks the app from being distributed on Apple and Google App servers.  If you already have it installed on your device/s, the ban is meaningless.

Fact #3 -- Even though the law only affects downloading the client app, TikTok itself is warning they are planning to drop all US users from the platform.  The company said users can do their own downloads to preserve their content, and the company will also back up user accounts in the event the law is reversed and TikTok continues distributing the client app as before.  They say resuming service after being turned off should be relatively quick if allowed to do so.

Fact #4 -- The Supreme Court unanimously ruled today, Jan 17th, to uphold the law/ban.

Fact #5 -- Trump may decide to implement the extension clause the day after the ban begins, so it's doubtful anyone who took that gamble would be punished (fined) by keeping the app available on their app store servers.  Fines can be forgiven by the Executive branch.

The bottom line:  the law is not going to hurt current TikTokkers, but the TikTok Company may hurt creators and consumers in order to gin up public support for repealing the ban entirely.

That's what I've gleaned from several sources.  This whole mess is a lot more complicated (and ineffective) than it ought to be.

It's not going to drive people back to Zuckbook or X. The reason why kids chose TikTok is they hate the censorship of the US platforms, and the CCP allows all sorts of degenerate content (in the Western versions) in order to destroy our civilization from within.

KIds are already switching over to Rednote. Let the games begin.

It's not going to drive people back to Zuckbook or X. The reason why kids chose TikTok is they hate the censorship of the US platforms, and the CCP allows all sorts of degenerate content (in the Western versions) in order to destroy our civilization from within.

KIds are already switching over to Rednote. Let the games begin.

In my opinion, the real problem with social media is a catch-22.  We have so many popular platforms, you have to have a presence on all or you miss out on a good percentage of your potential followers and viewers, which equates to ad and merchandise revenue.  That greatly increases the amount of time and effort needed to reach your audiences.

On the flip-side, if we only had one social media platform that everyone joined, there would be a monopoly that could easily exploit their members' information and control content -- as many are doing to appease their ideologies and/or the current political climate/administration.  That one platform would also have to be able to facilitate all the same capabilities as the platforms they incorporate.

Some platforms are better for posting snapshots users upload all day/every day.  Some allow for succinct verbal and visual posts while others accommodate lengthy or unlimited amounts of information.  Each attracts mostly the demographics that those platforms' features target.

Any rules that prohibit certain categories of content work both ways -- more open attracts people looking for that stuff, and more filtered attracts the rest.  Just because OF exists doesn't mean everyone is interested in subscribing and paying for that content.

Anyway, the most idiotic, controversial stories on social media the last 5 years have been all the TikTok "challenges", which is no different that Truth or Dare without the Truth option!