The purpose of this article is to serve as an apolitical case study of a proposed United States bill that proposes the ban of TikTok and other international social media platforms hosted outside of the United States. This article will study how such a law could impact Australians in terms of Australian citizen privacy, their right to opinion and Australian tech startups, particularly Australian made social media websites. What this article is not, is an endorsement of any political party, this article just looks at the known facts & then bulids an business market hypotheses.
I will be citing two pieces of United States legalisation in this article. Such as the United States bill titled Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (HR 7521) that prohibits the distribution of foreign adversary controlled applications (an foreign adversary being determined by the United States President to present a significant threat to national security).And the CLOUD Act, that is an agreement between Australia and the United States that authorises Australian law enforcement to access to electronic data held by United States communication service providers for the purpose of catching criminals.
It should be noted however, what defines a communication service provider? Are social media networking websites defined as communication service providers? Are social media websites responsible for the content their users post online? What about traditional landlines, are those communication service providers responsible for what their users discuss over the phone?
Information regarding the HR 7521 legislation can be found here (H.R.7521 - 118th Congress (2023-2024): Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act | Congress.gov | Library of Congress). Legislation regarding the CLOUD Act can be found here (Australian Government | Australia-United States CLOUD Act Agreement).
Australian social media websites could be affected by Australian-US CLOUD Act and the United States HR 7521 bill. The purpose of the CLOUD Act is to discover the identity of criminals. For example, criminals who attempt to sell private Australian citizen data online, or scam Australians. However, the Cloud Act does have its restrictions, such as the CLOUD Act cant be used to infringe on a persons freedom of speech, racial or sexual identities or their political, ideological and religious beliefs
The Cloud Act is an agreement between the US & Australia, UK has their own CLOUD Act, and the EU may be getting one soon. China is not bound by any CLOUD Act as they have their own laws and practises in place with allowing international authorities access to electronic data held by Chinese communication service providers.
The proposed TikTok ban could open a vacuum in the market, where social media users would be looking to migrate to a new platform to share pictures of their cats and their cooking. Perhaps an Australian company can develop the next Social Media platform. A Social Media platform built by Australians that hires Australian staff.
Regarding the HR 7521 bill. Australia is not an adversary to the United States, so its unlikely that the United States will impose any kind of ban on an Australian social media application from being distributed within the United States.
If the HR 7521 bill is approved in to legalisation and becomes law, The TikTok trend will likely die out in the United States, this will cause a sharp drop in creators content that can result in Australians leaving the platform . These users will end up migrating to a new platform. If this happens, hopefully an Australian tech company seizes on this moment and builds an Australian owned social media platform that the world can enjoy.
In conclusion, as Australia is not determined as an adversary to the United States so it is unlikely that the HR 7521 bill will have any impact on Australian tech startups. However, the CLOUD Act may have impact Australian hosted social media platforms. Such as allowing United States authorities access electronic data on Australian servers. But the determining factor is if Australia defines social media platforms as a communication service provider. But more research into the legalisation is needed, I am a technician, not a lawyer.
If the proposed TikTok ban does go through and any Australian Tech company startups are interested in developing their own social media platform to fill the market demand vacuum in the United States, Shanes Computing and Networking can assist in providing consultancy services regarding cyber security practices for such a platform. Let the lawyers worry about the legalisation and let Shanes Computing and Networking worry about the technical capabilities to mitigate breaches of privacy and cyber attacks
Are you an Australian tech startup firm looking to build your own social media website? Give Shanes Computing and Networking today for a no obligation free quote today.