The US is becoming increasingly aggressive about Tiktok. In March, House of Representatives Passed a bill It can see that the Chinese social media app has been banned across the country due to security concerns.

If the law is signed, the bill will give bidence – the company who is the owner Tikokok – Six months to sell the stage. If this does not, the tiktok will not be accessible to users in the United States. While still there go a long way Before it becomes reality, the intention is clear: the US government will ban software seen as a threat.

It was thinking us – can the same happen in Europe? Will the European Union ever try and end Tiktok?

There are signs. In 2023, European Union banned Tiktok From the equipment of European Parliament, European Commission and European Union members. it had been “Due to cyber security concerns, especially about data protection and collection of data by third party.”

Even further, it was “strongly recommended“To remove MEP, their assistants and anyone involved in the above bodies Application Also from their personal devices.

So can the European Union follow the leadership of the United States and try to stop Tiktok on the continent? Let’s know.

Will the European Union ban Tiktok?

The short answer is no. There is almost no way that the European Union itself will release a member-state-wide sanctions of the social media app. Experts we talked to were unanimous about this.

Ronan Murphy – Director of Digital Innovation Initiative CEPAEuropean Policy Analysis Center – was blunt in its analysis, saying that the European Union Ticketkok was “unlikely”.

It was echoed by the CEIAS (Central European Institute of Asian Studies) Executive Director Matej šimalčík, saying that it is “not very likely.”

One reason is that the tiktok ban will probably not be physical, it is simple: it is not something that the European Union actually does. As Murphy from CEPA explains, “Digital Markets Act (DMA), Digital service act (DSA)And GDPR Technology is weapons of choice for the European Commission in using technology use and data security, not banning apps. ,

Šimalčík Concurs, saying that things are not included in the attitude of the governing body for technology issues, instead it focuses on “investigating and approving specific legal violations.”

In many ways, it displays the difference between the legal systems of the United States and the European Union, is a common law system in the east, and later using the Civil Law structure – We have previously discussed regarding DMAGenerally, the general law will leave things alone until action is required to be taken, while the civil law focuses more on comprehensive regulation.

Simply put, it is not banning that the European Union does things.

Another reason Tiktok will not disappear completely from Europe – and something that was eager to both Murphy and šimalčík stress – this is that the National Security is the province of the member states. Because every country is in charge of its own safety, not the European Union will step with a blanket ban. He himself depends on the nations.

Wave effect

Yet this means that individual country in the European Union Be able to Ban Tiktok – And this is where things begin to get interesting. What happens if America really bans Tiktok?

The US is political, economically and culturally such a huge presence that its actions have a huge impact on European countries.

“An American restriction on the app can inspire a chain reaction in some member states of the European Union that closely aligns its security policy with the US,” says šimakík.

Adding this, Murphy tells me that if the US moves forward with blocking the tiktok, he thinks ” It is possible Ban at a member state level on security basis. ,

Possibly, adequate speed can be created by the United States by the distribution of tiktok that many European Union members will do the same, either because they want to align their policy with the US, or assure the public that they are ready to work against the alleged threats.

There is a similar example for this in the past. When? America launched a ban of Huawei and ZTE 5G devices in 2019, A fleet of European nations after suitIncluding UK, France and Germany.

Nevertheless, it is important to note that Murphy believes that there is no possibility of a lump sum tikton ban in the US, as the bill is passed in the Senate and officially confirmed “to remove unavoidable legal challenges”.

Therefore, according to šimalčík, the European Union “will stick to its specific perspective of targeting and removing specific problems,” its member states will not necessarily follow the same path.

How dangerous is the bus tick?

It all paints a little misleading picture. It is clear that European MPs are concerned about Tikokkok and its impact, so it seems somewhat unknowingly that it is still allowed to operate.

A restriction is that the country makes it clear that the country looks at it as a threat to national security, while the European Union’s approach gives the message that it requires some twicex to stay up to the standard – so what is the truth?

“Tikkok is a powerful app that is open to misuse,” Murphy says. It has a large and active user base and bad actors can use it to spread false or harmful information at incredibly intense rates.

Apart from this, sports also have global political elements. “It is well accepted that Tiktok, and all large Chinese technical firms, are at some level of control by Chinese authorities,” Murphy says, “So Tiktok is a China ‘vector’ in that sense.”

Šimalčík greatly supports this. He says the Chinese government “may force its data to share its data with the party-state system to carry forward China’s political interests.”

This, he explains, its roots in China 2015 state security act And 2017 intelligence actSomething that “binds all Chinese citizens and companies to assist the government in matters related to national security and intelligence activity of China.”

Nationalism is actually the main point here. “From a national security point of view, the native country makes a big difference in evaluating whether those violations are ‘only’ legal problems, or also translate to security risk,” šimalčík says.

While app likes apps Facebook and Instagram have their privacy worriesThey come from an affiliated country. But Tiktok? And China? It is a nation that has many more suspected visuals in the West.

what happens next?

In relation to the US, there is not much possibility – besides a lot of press coverage. Even though it has fired a warning in the bow of bidence, the possibility of a ban to pass is quite low. This can be, sure, but it would be a surprise.

When it comes to the European Union, things are less clear. As Murphy said earlier, the European Union would try to use the toolbox of its equipment – to manage and reduce the above DSA, DMA, and GDPR – Tikok.

The issue comes with enforcement, some Murphy sees as “a Sisifian function”. Keeping in mind the European Union There were issues of doing so in the pastThis means that it will be “a threat to misuse.”

It seems, so, we are somewhat on a deadlock. The US is getting bold with a low probability of success, and taking a subtler approach with a poor track record of European Union Enforcement.

Hopefully, Tikok sees this pressure, finds a way to decompose from the Chinese state, and gives concrete assurance to any privacy concerns – but it is somewhat a pipe dream. Currently, the way the European Union and America are working with Tikokkok, they feel like a lot of bark and a little biting.

so what does that mean? Well, if you are a European Ticketk fan, you probably do not need to worry about the app going anywhere soon.