UK will NOT ban TikTok like USA, Downing Street confirms – as Americans have just hours left until app is scrapped
THE UK will not ban TikTok as the USA has, Downing Street has confirmed – as Americans are left with just hours until the app is scrapped.
A spokesperson for the UK government assured that it was working alongside all social media platforms to ensure that data protections rules were not being breached.
It comes after President Joe Biden signed a law last year, mandating US TikTok to separate from its parent company, China-based ByteDance.
Fears had spread that the company was using data collected via the app to gather information on millions of Americans.
The social media giant tried to appeal the decision at the US Supreme Court, arguing that such a ban would be unconstitutional and impinge on freedom of speech.
But the court this week ruled to uphold Biden’s decision to ban the app.
However, it does not appear that the same will happen in the UK.
The government spokesperson told The Sun: “This is a matter for the US government. There are no plans to introduce a TikTok ban in the UK.
“We engage with all major social media companies to understand their plans for ensuring the security of UK data and to ensure they meet the high data protection and cyber security standards we expect.”
Judges in the US voted 9-0 in favour of the ban.
The ruling has left the future of the app uncertain, as Biden has signalled he will not enforce the law while he remains in office.
Instead, he will leave the decision up to his successor Donald Trump.
Despite this, the app has announced it will “go dark” on January 19 in just a few hours’ time – unless the US government guarantees it will not enforce the ban.
In a statement on Friday, TikTok said: “Statements issued today by both the Biden White House and the Department of Justice have failed to provide the necessary clarity and assurance to the service providers that are integral to maintaining TikTok’s availability to over 170 million Americans.
“Unless the Biden Administration immediately provides a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers assuring non-enforcement, unfortunately TikTok will be forced to go dark on January 19.”