What’s going on with TikTok in the US, and what will this mean for Australia?

According to the latest reports, TikTok has restored services in the United States after “going dark” on Saturday evening US time. The company turned off its services ahead of a nationwide ban that was set to take effect on Sunday.

However, on Sunday, President-elect Donald Trump announced he would issue an executive order after he is inaugurated into office on Monday, to “extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect”.

TikTok has thanked Trump, saying it’s a strong stand “against arbitrary censorship”.

What does it mean for TikTok to ‘go dark’?

To make the app unavailable in the US, TikTok went with two strategies. First, TikTok was made unavailable to download from the US version of Apple’s App Store, Google Play, and any other app providers where one could download the app.

Second, to turn off services only for users in the US, TikTok employed the user’s IP address – this indicates where in the world the user is located. If necessary, the same technical process could be done in any part of the world, including Australia.

However, the service should only be affected for people in the US. There have been reports on websites like Reddit that some users outside the US, including those who originally opened a TikTok account in the US, have been affected – but this is likely to be temporary.

If TikTok stayed dark, people who would still want to access TikTok in the US would have to use a virtual private network or VPN. This can make it appear that the user’s IP address is coming from somewhere else in the world.

So, is TikTok banned in the US or not?

Officially, TikTok is currently banned from operation in the US. The law was passed by Congress in April last year and came into effect on January 19 after it survived a Supreme Court challenge launched by TikTok.

The law was designed to force the Chinese company ByteDance to either sell TikTok in the US, or face a ban enforced by steep penalties.

However, Trump’s statement on Sunday made it clear that no penalties would be enacted on the service providers keeping TikTok available while it’s ostensibly banned.

Can Trump ‘save’ TikTok?

Trump’s promise to resurrect TikTok in some way was part of his election campaign, so this statement comes as no surprise.

While Trump cannot overturn the law, his goal is to extend the deadline TikTok has been given to try and sell the app in the United States. The law does not specify details about potential buyers or ownership structures, apart from that they “must not be controlled by a foreign adversary” (specifically China, in this case).

Overriding a law passed by Congress and approved by the Supreme Court is unlikely to stick, though Trump could work around the law by reassuring app stores and cloud-service providers they won’t face prosecution in the event of a violation.

Overall, the situation is slippery and unclear. Among some users, there’s a feeling nobody knows what’s going to happen, but all will be OK in the end. The fact an app can go dark and then be restored in light of an announcement from a politician in less than a day shows there’s an immense lack of stability in the social media sphere.

It also shows that big tech and social media, in particular, has entered the political agendas of governments in an unprecedented way. The situation with ByteDance demonstrates governments can use tech companies as political tools against other governments.

What does the US TikTok ban mean for Australia?

Australians should be able to continue to use TikTok without problems. However, if TikTok does eventually go dark in the US, they won’t see new content from US-based creators.

But there are larger implications. Last year, Australia banned children under 16 from all social media, although the details of how exactly this will work are yet to be determined.

Australia’s reasons for the ban are fundamentally different from why TikTok was banned in the US. In the US, it’s about foreign ownership, while in Australia the government has expressed concerns about young people’s wellbeing. (This issue has been widely debated by experts.)

But the fact that social media bans of different kinds have been on the agenda at all shows we’re going to see a lot more political game-playing involving social media and big tech in general.

Social media companies and governments are now locked in a global power struggle, playing out in multiple countries: from the US and Australia to others like Brazil.

This is a new kind of conflict in which governments are trying to control or regulate big tech companies, and tech companies are fighting to maintain their independence and power.

The outcome of these struggles will likely shape how online spaces are governed and who ultimately controls the digital world we all use. Stay tuned.