AS I write this, 170 million Americans are wondering whether their TikTok apps will go dark, with many scrambling to retain access through VPNs. It is easy to dismiss news of the US TikTok ban as another example of US vs China macho posturing, particularly as many expect Donald Trump to find a way to circumvent the ban (on Sunday, he said he would delay its enforcement). But the ban is the latest threat to a global human rights agenda, and so must be taken seriously.

The US supreme court last week upheld a new law, ruling to ban the app on national security grounds. The concern is that TikTok can be used to collect information about Americans that can be abused by Beijing, and to disseminate pro-China propaganda. To remain accessible to American users, the app`s owner ByteDance must divest to a US buyer.

At Trump`s inauguration today, TikTok`s CEO will be in attendance along with other Big Tech bigwigs. Rumours are circulating of a possible buy-out by Elon Musk, enabling social media consolidation under the X platform. Even if Trump finagles a way to retain app access for Americans, the human rights damage is done, and it`s significant.

During legal proceedings, TikTok itself made a human rights pitch, arguing that a ban would restrict Americans` freedom of expression, limiting their choice over which platform to publish on or source content from.

But the implications are wider, and link to the court`s de cision to privilege national security over human rights. Digital rights activists have criticised the ruling for focusing on limiting Chinese access to American user data, rather than considering individuals` rights to data privacy and limiting state surveillance powers.

Briefly, the ban`s message is: it`s okay to surveil internet users, as long as the surveillance is being conducted by their own government or compatriot companies.

A better approach would have been to use concerns about TikTok as a way to counter Big Tech surveillance and strengthen digital privacy and protection.

As Article 19, a British human rights group, put it, `this bill is unlikely to fundamentally disrupt China`s adverse influence over the digital space and without significant changes will fail to solve the fundamental problems posed by the biggest tech platforms, such as data privacy and algorithmic manipulation stemming from surveillance capitalism. It does very little to limit the power the tech giants, including the likes of Google or Meta, exert over public discourse. If anything, it weaponises consolidation and digitalmonopolies for geopolitical reasons.

Pakistanis should be as worried about the TikTok ban as American users. The ban will be interpreted by authoritarian regimes everywhere as a free pass for internet surveillance. Hybrid regimes such as ours will be particularly excited by the US template which allows for a national security argument to be used to trump any freedom of speech and expression or data privacy considerations. The push for local ownership and data localisation will also be emulated, easing state access to user data.

In one fell swoop, the TikTok ban erodes the legitimacy of initiatives such as the Freedom Online Coalition, a group of 39 countries, including the US, that call for a free internet without censorship and political disruption, and the Declaration for the Future of the Internet, which is a 70-plus country pact against the authoritarian control of the internet. Future network shutdowns or social media platform bans by our own government may still be met with international censure, but it will ring hollow.

The TikTok ban, even if circumvented,will also further spur internet fragmentation. In early utopian digital fantasies, the internet`s promise of global interconnectedness and a free flow of information across borders was celebrated.

So far, isolated net blocking by states has not materially resulted in inoperability.

But the shift towards fragmentation seems inevitable. Thatmeans not only differing norms for internet access and data privacy, but also separate flows of information in distinct internet spheres (for example, pro-China content will continue to proliferate on TikTok outside the US, leading to divergent global perceptions about the country). Echo chambers will take on global proportions, setting the stage for fragmented realities, a digital reflection of geopolitical tensions.

There is a ray of hope. One potential buyer for TikTok is a non-profit entity Project Liberty. This proposal pitches an alternative social media future, one in which TikTok`s current extractive algorithm is ditched, and American TikTok users control, protect and profit from their own data.

Such an outcome may be the only positive of a regressive ban, which otherwise hearkens a new era of state censorship.

The wúter is a political and integúty úsk analyst X: @humayusuf