In April 2024, Congress passed a law requiring TikTok's Chinese owner, ByteDance, to divest from the social-media company or have TikTok banned in the U.S. TikTok already is banned or restricted on official devices in a couple countries, including Canada and France. TikTok and TikTok influencers have since separately sued the U.S. Justice Department, arguing that this ban infringes on First Amendment rights.
More Americans support the law (46%) than oppose it (27%). The law is supported by majorities of Republicans (60%) and Americans 65 and older (66%). Support is lower among Democrats (43%) and Independents (38%) as well as adults under 65 (40%). Approval of the law correlates with usage, which is higher among adults under 65 than among older Americans.
The reason given for the potential ban of TikTok is its potential national security risk. Lawmakers are concerned that TikTok could share U.S. users’ data with the Chinese government. 35% of Americans believe that TikTok poses a national security risk and the same percentage believe it does not. The share of Americans who say that TikTok is a security threat to the U.S. has decreased by 4 percentage points from January 2023 to April 2024.
Even after this congressional action, TikTok continues to be a popular way for politicians to communicate with voters. After trying to ban the social media platform via executive order in 2020, Donald Trump joined TikTok this year. And even though Biden signed the aid package that would restrict or even ban TikTok, the president and his campaign say they will continue to use TikTok.
Americans are split as to whether they approve of presidential candidates using TikTok for campaigning purposes. 31% of Americans approve of candidates using TikTok to share content related to their campaigns, while 39% disapprove of it.
With presidential candidates still using the platform, what impact can be expected from the law requiring TikTok to be sold to an American company in the next year? One-fifth of Americans believe that ByteDance will not divest from TikTok and the platform will be banned in the U.S. next year. Slightly more Republicans (25%) than Democrats (20%) and Independents (17%) believe TikTok will be banned by 2025. 27% of Americans believe that TikTok will be owned by a U.S. company in one year.
Related:
- Many Americans say they support a TikTok ban
- What Americans think of Trump’s potential TikTok ban
- More Republicans than Democrats support Biden demanding TikTok's Chinese owners sell their stakes
- America’s impression of TikTok tumbles
See the results from the April 26 YouGov poll:
- A year from now, do you think that TikTok will…?
- Do you approve or disapprove of presidential candidates using TikTok to share content related to their campaigns?
- Congress recently passed a law that will either force a sale of TikTok to an American company within the next year, or ban its use in the U.S. Do you support or oppose this law?
Methodology: This Daily Questions survey was conducted online on April 26, 2024 among 4,096 U.S. adults. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, U.S. census region, and political party. The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 2%.
Image: Getty (Georgijevic)
