Is TikTok being scapegoated?

President Biden has signed into law measures to force ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, to divest its stake within a year or face a ban on the social network in the United States. The bill passed through the Senate much faster than was initially anticipated, and Biden said he would sign it as soon as it reached his desk.

The company has vowed to fight the move in the courts, appealing on the basis of the First Amendment to the US Constitution, which enshrines freedom of speech. In practice, it is likely that the company is playing for time until the presidential elections in November, given that Donald Trump is now saying he is against a ban.

The passage of the law signals an interesting turning point: forcing the divestment or banning a foreign social network is no different to what China has been criticized for doing on many occasions. In this case, it might seem justified, given that TikTok’s own employees say that although based in the United States, it works closely with its Chinese parent company. Nevertheless, its continued presence in the United States, despite the complaints and concerns it has generated, was a vindication that “we’re not like them”, supposedly consecrating the country as the cradle of freedom and the free market. Needless to say, the Chinese government has signaled its opposition to any divestment, seeing it as theft.