US TikTok Ban May Lead to Global Restrictions
Analysts have suggested it is "just a matter of time" until the US ban on TikTok spreads to allied countries and beyond, as long as the Trump administration presses ahead with it.
The app will be banned in America from Sunday after US lawmakers ruled it was a national security risk due to owner ByteDance's ties to the Chinese government, which the company denies.
Incoming President Trump has indicated he is opposed to the ban and will seek to reverse it.
If the US ban goes ahead, experts note that previous actions against Chinese and Russian tech companies on national security grounds provide a potential blueprint for how the TikTok ban might spread globally.
Emily Taylor, Editor of the Cyber Policy Journal, stated, "There are big parallels between TikTok and what happened with China's Huawei and Russia's Kaspersky that indicates it's just a matter of time until a creeping ban takes effect."
In these cases, companies were accused by the US of being a threat to national security, although no conclusive evidence was ever provided by cybersecurity authorities.
The situation with TikTok has mirrored this experience. Under President Trump, Kaspersky's flagship antivirus software was banned from civil and military computers in the US after allegations arose in 2017 that it was implicated in a Kremlin-linked hacking incident that lacked proof.
The UK quickly followed suit, with allies implementing restrictions, warnings, or bans in similar fashion.
It took years for a nationwide ban to be fully enacted in the US, but by then, Kaspersky had closed its US operations and subsequently its UK offices, citing the untenable business environment.
The company has consistently argued that the US government's decisions were based on "geopolitical climate and theoretical concerns" rather than thorough verification of actual risks.
Research by Bitsight has shown that Kaspersky's usage declined significantly not just in the US but in at least 25 other countries, including those without any overt public policy to ban the software.
