Tik Tok Ban: Impact on Africa

February 14, 2025

(3 Minutes Read)

The short-form video-hosting service TikTok has been under a de jure nationwide ban in the United States since January 19, 2025, due to the US government’s concerns over potential user data collection and influence operations by the government of the People’s Republic of China.

Chinese unicorn ByteDance’s TikTok recently encountered issues, causing the app to stop working for its 170 million American users late on Saturday, January 18, just before a law to shut it down on national security grounds took effect on Sunday. However, the app went live again in the U.S., with Trump’s executive orders providing TikTok with a reprieve, allowing ByteDance additional time to find a U.S.-based buyer for its platform.

Earlier, the US Supreme Court unanimously upheld a federal law banning TikTok amid ongoing concerns about the Chinese government’s potential access to American users’ personal information.

TikTok said it shut down the platform late Saturday because of a federal law that required parent company ByteDance to sell its U.S. operation shortly.

In response to these allegations, TikTok has consistently denied any claims of government influence, asserting that it does not share U.S. user data with Chinese authorities and emphasizing its international funding sources.