Biden signs ‘TikTok ban law’, fierce legal battle expected

In the United States, a bill mandating the forced sale of TikTok was signed and promulgated by President Biden.

However, it is expected that TikTok will not be banned immediately.

TikTok announced a lawsuit.

This is Correspondent Sujin Kim from Washington.

◀ Report ▶

President Biden signed a bill to provide security assistance to Ukraine and other countries and a bill to force the sale of TikTok.

[조 바이든/미국 대통령]
″(The legislation signed today) will make America safer and the world safer.″

TikTok now has 360 days to sell its U.S. operations to Chinese company ByteDance.

If not sold, TikTok will be expelled from the United States, but the situation is complicated as to whether that will actually happen.

TikTok announced a lawsuit.

[츄 쇼우즈/틱톡 최고경영자]
″Rest assured. We’re not going anywhere. I am confident. We will fight for your rights in court. The facts and the Constitution are on our side.″

TikTok is expected to argue that the law violates the freedom of expression guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.

In fact, in 2020, former President Trump issued an executive order to sell TikTok, but a federal court blocked it on the grounds that it violated freedom of expression.

Last year, Montana also enacted a ban on TikTok, but it was not implemented.

Selling isn’t easy either.

Market experts estimate that ByteDance’s U.S. division is worth tens of billions of dollars.

A buyer with enormous financial power is needed, but large companies such as Meta or Google are unable to acquire it due to concerns about monopoly.

There is also a possibility that the Chinese government may restrict ByteDance’s sale of TikTok due to leakage of technology such as TikTok’s recommendation algorithm.

American media reports that TikTok will not be banned in the United States even after a year.

Once the lawsuit begins, it is expected to take a considerable amount of time to reach a final conclusion.

This is Sujin Kim from MBC News in Washington.