David Bridges
With the U.S. TikTok sell-off bill looming, many Americans remain confident that the app won’t be going away, amid ongoing political and legal wrangling over the push.
Back in April, the U.S. Senate voted to approve a bill which would force TikTok into U.S. ownership, or be banned if it refuses to cooperate. Chinese Government officials have vowed to oppose any sale of the app, which suggests, at this stage at least, that TikTok is headed for a full ban in the U.S., beginning, potentially, from early next year.
But according to new data from Pew Research, half of Americans don’t actually believe TikTok will be banned in the nation.
As you can see in this overview, based on responses from 10,000 participants, most people are confident that TikTok will avoid a U.S. ban.
And at the same time, overall support for a TikTok ban in the U.S. is declining:
As per Pew:
“The share of Americans who support the U.S. government banning TikTok now stands at 32%.<em> </em>That’s down from 38% in fall 2023 and 50% in March 2023. Meanwhile, 28% of Americans oppose a ban, up from 22% in March 2023.”
So as time goes on, more people are becoming more sympathetic to TikTok, and/or view it as less of a concern.
That’s likely been shifted, at least to some degree, by prominent voices like Donald Trump and Elon Musk voicing their opposition to a TikTok ban. Both Trump and Musk have their own reasons for criticizing the push, but given their relative supporter base, it makes sense that overall opinions of the sell-off bill have changed over time.
And it’s important to note that this is a forced sell-off, not a ban. U.S. senators have voted to push TikTok to be sold to a U.S. buyer, in order to cut off its links to the C.C.P. That’s primarily based on the concern that TikTok could be used as a propaganda tool for the Chinese Government, though TikTok maintains that it does not enact policies and approaches based on rulings from Chinese leadership.
But U.S. Senators, who’ve been briefed by intelligence and security officials on the potential threat that the app poses, voted strongly in favor of the sell-off bill, which suggests that there is something to be concerned about, even if the specific details shared with the public have been limited.
Now we wait to see whether TikTok’s legal challenge against the bill will hold up, but right now, despite shifting public opinion, it does seem like TikTok will be banned in the U.S., sometime soon.
Though a change of government may also impact this.
Cameron Steel
Maya Kensington
