Almost 50% of Americans Support Potential TikTok Ban

Unlike many Chinese apps that failed to succeed outside China, TikTok snowballed into one of the world’s most popular apps, with more than 1.5 billion users across the globe. However, after years of success, occasionally interrupted by data privacy controversies, TikTok is now facing a potential ban in its second-largest market, the United States, which most Americans seem to approve.

According to data presented by Stocklytics.com, almost 50% of Americans support a potential TikTok ban.

49% of US Gen Zers and Millennials Approve TikTok Ban

TikTok managed to push itself into the overseas market through the acquisition of Musical.ly back in 2017 for one billion dollars. This added 80 million users, mostly Americans, which TikTok then imported to its platform.

Although the short-form video platform already faced several ban controversies, including those in India and Pakistan in 2019, the United States has become TikTok’s second-largest market behind its homeland, China, which makes the potential US ban scenario much worse.

Last month, US President Joe Biden signed into law legislation that forces TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to divest the US arm of its popular social media platform within 270 days or be banned from operating in the United States. This would help TikTok to cut any ties between its current parent company and the Chinese government, which allegedly abuses the platform to surveil and influence the American public in a way that poses a threat to national security.

And while this move sparked a heated debate about political misinformation, data privacy, and the power dynamics between the United States and China in the digital world, it seems that every second American approves a potential TikTok ban.

According to a recent YouGov and The Economist survey, 49% of US adults approve President Biden’s move, and only 28% are against the potential TikTok ban.  Looking at different age groups, older respondents were more likely to approve of a potential TikTok ban. But interestingly, a high 49% of Gen Zers and Millenials also approve of such a scenario. Statistics also showed two-thirds of Republicans agree with the potential ban. At the same time, Democratic voters are almost evenly split on the issue, with 40% of respondents favoring legislative action against TikTok and its parent company.

TikTok’s US Audience Counts Close to 170 Million Users

And while TikTok CEO Shou Chew said the short-form video platform isn’t leaving the US market, claiming the goal of the new legislation is to ban TikTok, not sell it, the potential ban could considerably damage TikTok’s user base.

The United States has the largest TikTok audience outside its homeland, China, with almost 170 million users engaging with the popular social video platform. Indonesia ranked as TikTok’s second-largest market, with around 126 million users, and Brazil follows with almost 99 million users.