TikTok will fight its corner in the US courts, but if that fails, either TikTok will be banned or TikTok will shut down its US operations. And #BookTok dies with it.
Publicly, publishers have steered clear of the growing controversy about TikTok and its alleged use, or capacity to used, as a surveillance device by China.
Targetted bans by various western governments on TikTok being used by employees have been slowly spreading, mission-creep style, but the Montana ban takes the confrontation to a whole new level.
TikTok is now, effectively, banned in Montana, with a $10,000 per day penalty for any company offering access to the platform.
Gizmodo has an overview.
The reality is the ban won’t take effect until January 2024 – so much for the national emergency – but all-importantly, other states are likely to follow suit, and of course a ban at national level has been repeatedly threatened unless TikTok hands over data-control to the US or sells the entire operation to a US company.
Realistically neither is going to happen. Can you imagine a US operator in China being told to sell itself to China?
TikTok will fight its corner in the US courts, but if that fails, either TikTok will be banned or TikTok will shut down its US operations. And #BookTok dies with it.
At a time when #BookTok, which cannot be separated from TikTok, is accounting for so many book sales and buoying the overall publishing economy, publishers have every reason to be concerned, and no excuses for not preparing for the worst.
#USpublishing #USbookmarket #TikTok #BookTok #TheSkyMightStartFallingSoon
