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Will This TikTok Alternative Be Banned Too?

Photo from antonbe via Unsplash

Will This TikTok Alternative Be Banned Too?

By Movieguide® Contributor

TikTok could be banned in the United States in less than a week if it doesn’t find a buyer, and the alternative platform its parent company ByteDance has frantically been promoting might face a similar fate.

“On Friday, lawyers for TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, argued before the Supreme Court that the app should have a right to exist in the U.S. under First Amendment laws,” the Independent reported. However, proponents of the ban contend that TikTok threatens national security.

“But justices appeared skeptical when questioning the app’s lawyers, signaling to some that the law potentially banning it will be upheld. If the Supreme Court votes to uphold the law signed by President Joe Biden last year, the app will shut down in the U.S. unless it separates from ByteDance by January 19,” the outlet added.

In an effort to get ahead of the ban, ByteDance has been promoting its TikTok alternative, Lemon8, “an Instagram-meets-Pinterest lifestyle app.”

However, Lemon8 may also be banned in the U.S. for the same reasons as TikTok.

“The bill signed into law by President Joe Biden last year that would ban TikTok unless ByteDance sells the platform would also ban Lemon8,” explained Christopher Krepich, communications director for the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, the congressional committee that advanced the bill.

READ MORE: CREATORS SEARCH FOR ALTERNATIVE PLATFORMS AS TIKTOK BAN LOOMS

TikTok has until Jan. 19 to find a buyer.

Kate Ruane, director of the Free Expression Project at the Center for Democracy and Technology, explained that “If TikTok is banned, it doesn’t necessarily mean the app will disappear from phones or its 170 million users will be punished for trying to access it.”

She told NPR, “I think the biggest obvious result of this law going into effect is that…it’s going to require more technical savvy to access TikTok. And that in and of itself is going to be too big of a barrier for lots and lots of people to continue to access TikTok or to continue to try to use TikTok as a service.”

READ MORE: CONSTITUTIONAL LAW EXPERT CALLS TIKTOK BAN ‘EXTREMELY HARMFUL’ FIRST AMENDMENT


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