The implications of the “TikTok ban” passed by the US House of Representatives on Wednesday are significant, given TikTok is the world’s fastest-growing social media platform and the US is its largest customer. Chinese-owned parent company ByteDance has just under six months to divest its interest in TikTok or it will be banned in its largest market, a move that would cripple the company.
This decision will change Australia’s legislative approach too – and ideally open a broader discussion about why we must regulate social media platforms and the data they extract from us. Australia have been global leaders in their approach to platform regulation over the last five years, as we saw in the world-first News Media Bargaining Code in 2021. But it is understandably hesitant in relation to TikTok: the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said on Thursday that the government had “no plans” to follow the US at the moment.
