Understanding the TikTok Ban and Why You Cannot Download It

It's good, Zachyy. But the way you mention both presidents makes Trump seem like the hero when in fact, he just changed his mind on the topic. Before this line:

On April 24, 2024, The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA) was signed into law by U.S. Congress and Former President Biden.

I suggest you add:

During his first term as president, Trump led the effort to ban TikTok.

Not to make this political, but if we are to name names, it should tell the whole story.

Well done, Zachyy. Thank you for telling the whole story.

Thanks, Zachyy, a really great tip!

Well done, Zachyy. Good, logical and factual information.

Nicely done Zachyy, I will be including your user tip in my future responses.

I suggest editing this line;

On April 24, 2024, The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA) was signed into law by U.S. Congress and Former President Biden.

The US Congress does not sign anything into law. The Congress passes laws that are then given to the president for their approval or veto. If the president approves the law, they sign it.

I suggest this as a replacement;

On April 24, 2024, The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA) which the U.S. Congress had previously passed was signed into law by Former President Biden.

Dear Carol B. and Dah•veed, both your suggestions have been implemented. Thank you for further enhancing my User Tip and I appreciate everyone else’s kind comments.

Now that the current administration has killed the ban what changes are you going to make to your tip?

Perhaps re-word this part: "Users who downloaded TikTok before the ban can still access it." This isn't true.

It seems like people believed what they were told and actually deleted the app of their own volition. Now, they think the app has been unbanned and want to download it again.

etresoft, I have re-worded that part, let me know how it looks.

Old Toad, I will continue to see how this situation unfolds, then I shall make changes accordingly.

What can you do? It’s a big ‘ole can-o-worms. Just be mindful of your own participation. These are all low-quality, low-value threads. Don’t get discouraged.

The legal definition of “foreign adversary controlled application” includes Web sites. Therefore it is illegal for an Internet hosting service that is subject to U.S. jurisdiction to provide access to the TikTok Web site to U.S. users as long as the ban is in place. The per-user fines are not as high for illegally distributing the Web site as for illegally distributing the app, but they are still potentially ruinous.

If, as a result, TikTok is hosted only on servers in foreign countries, U.S. visitors to that site might see worse performance. Assuming that the site isn’t firewalled entirely.

Re: “Now that the current administration has killed the ban”

Trump has not killed the ban. He issued an Executive Order directing the Department of Justice not to enforce the law for 75 days … and to interfere with any State or private attempts to use the courts to enforce the law.

I do not believe that is the same thing as repealing the law or the ban. It seems to me to be basically offering a “get out of jail free card” to those who violate the law during the 75-day period.

Whereas the law survived scrutiny by the Supreme Court, I don’t believe that the Executive Order has faced any judicial review yet, at all. Were Apple and Google to put the app back in their stores now, they would be breaking the law … and if that Executive Order then collapsed, they could be on the hook for ruinous fines.

So far they have chosen to comply with the law, rather than to break it and see if they can get away with it.

Nicely done Zachyy. Lots of useful information, well-organized.

IMPORTANT UPDATE:

The TikTok app has returned to the App Store.