The law says it would be unlawful for entities to “distribute, maintain, or update” the app, including its source code, or “provide services” that allow it to continue running as it is now. The law says this distribution, maintenance or updates could be through mobile app stores that can be accessed in the US or “providing Internet hosting services”.
“The law actually deliberately avoids saying that it's illegal to have an app on your phone,” says Milton Mueller, professor and co-founder of the Internet Governance Project at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Amicus brief to Supreme Court Against the ban. “Their effort is to say that anyone new can't download it from the Apple or Google stores, and those who have it can't update it through those stores,” Mueller says. “There's nothing in the law that says 'TikTok has to block you US users,' which again is interesting.”
If TikTok is removed from Apple's App Store and Google's Play Store in the US, it will not be possible to directly install new updates that will add new features, fix bugs within the code, or patch security flaws. Over time, this means that TikTok will stop working properly. Apple did not respond to WIRED's request for comment, while Google declined to comment on what it would do if the law goes into effect.
The second focus of the law is on preventing “hosting” companies from providing services to TikTok – and its definition is quite broad. The law states that hosting companies “may include file hosting, domain name server hosting, cloud hosting, and virtual private server hosting.” Since the summer of 2022, as TikTok has faced pressure over its Chinese ownership, the company has faced pressure US user data hosted within Oracle's cloud servicesOracle also did not respond to WIRED's request for comment.
Nevertheless, other systems such as content delivery networks, advertising networks, payment providers and more are used as part of TikTok's infrastructure. The law does not specifically mention these services, but different legal readings may raise questions about whether they help “maintain” or “deliver” TikTok's fully functioning service.
Hall says a recent test of TikTok's website showed 185 embedded domains on the page. “They pull code, content, and even their own domains from a range of third-party providers,” he says. “As soon as services stop working, content delivery networks or services that don't support the language will. “If we can't afford the vague nature of the app or the potential enforcement by the incoming administration, the apps will begin to decay and rot.”
There is one Internet infrastructure player that is not particularly pressured by the restrictions: Internet service providers. Countries such as Russia and China have developed censorship measures that allow them to block entire websites from being accessed through web browsers. Mueller believes this omission by US lawmakers was probably deliberate, as it avoids setting up a Chinese-style internet firewall. “They knew that a system of ISP-based blocking and filtering would clearly be a form of First Amendment restriction,” he says.
Avoiding TikTok Ban
While TikTok's service in the US is likely to deteriorate over time, there remain some potential ways around any restrictions – both for individuals and potentially for the company as well. How effective these measures will be depends on how motivated people are to continue using TikTok and what the company decides to do.
“TikTok has 170 million users,” says Alan Rosenstein, an associate professor of law at the University of Minnesota, who is in favor of the law but says it is “the best option out of bad options” related to TikTok. “This law will not prevent every one of them from accessing TikTok. I don't think that was ever the goal of the law. “This law is meant to make it meaningfully more difficult to access TikTok.”