What does the House banning TikTok actually mean for users?

The TikTok apocalypse is upon us. Are you and your girly pop beige flag situationship ready?

Over the past few weeks, you’ve probably heard chatter of a looming TikTok ban from the news if not the app itself, in persistent pop-ups prompting users to call their reps and oppose the legislation. (If only TikTok was in love with a climate scientist, are we right?)

That call to action did not pay off. Today, the House passed a bill that would lead to a nationwide ban of the social media platform from app stores and web hosting companies if its China-based parent company, ByteDance, doesn’t sell the property to an approved, U.S.-based owner within six months of the bill passing into law (via Associated Press). The legislation passed with a vote of 352-65, receiving overwhelming bipartisan support amid concerns that ByteDance could hand over U.S. users’ data to the Chinese government any time it asks, under the CCP (Chinese Communist Party)’s national security laws.

This may sound like a lot of C-SPAN speak, but the bill could have a dramatic impact on regular schmegular users who just want to write an entire musical inspired by a Pixar movie or Netflix show, or go full CIA over the latest Taylor Swift conspiracy. If President Biden signs—which he said he would if the bill also passes the Senate—and ByteDance cannot find a buyer in the allotted time, which is unlikely due to its massive footprint and sure-to-be astronomical price tag that few would be able to afford (per The New York Times), civil penalties would be imposed on any store or platform that continues to allow users to download the app.

Remember when Flappy Bird was unceremoniously yanked from the app store and the world had a meltdown? This would be a similar situation on a far larger scale. Any of TikTok’s over 170 million, U.S.-based users who already have the app on their phone will be able to keep it, but restrictions on any sort of updates will likely erode the user experience pretty quickly.

In the meantime, anyone worried about losing access to their favorite creators doesn’t need to panic just yet. The Senate has indicated that it will subject the bill to a thorough review, with potential blockers on both sides. Still, it may be best to get any dancing (to non-UMG owned music, of course) out of your system now.