Fizza Iftikhar
Title: Platform Governance and State Sovereignty: A Comparative Analysis of the TikTok Bans in India and the United States
Supervisor: Pauline Baudens
Opponent: Dr. Vasileios Kostakis
Defense: 9 June 2025
Abstract: This thesis examines the regulatory actions taken by India and the United States against TikTok as case studies to understand the evolving dynamics of platform governance, national security policymaking, and digital sovereignty. Understanding the governance of these platforms is crucial as they increasingly intersect with issues of national security, sovereignty, and global connectivity. By applying a comparative case study methodology and drawing on legal documents, policy statements, and expert interviews, the research explores how both countries framed and implemented their responses to TikTok through different institutional, legal, and political approaches.While both states justified their actions by invoking national security and sovereignty concerns, India’s executive-led ban emphasized digital nationalism and rapid state intervention, whereas the United States followed a more contested path marked by judicial scrutiny and eventual legislative action. These contrasting approaches illustrate two models of digital sovereignty: executive-centric and constitutionally constrained. However, both ultimately contribute to the broader fragmentation of global Internet governance and signal a shift toward state-centered control of digital infrastructures. The thesis contributes to the literature on technology governance by demonstrating how domestic political institutions mediate the operationalization of sovereignty in the digital domain and how platform regulation increasingly reflects geopolitical and economic rivalries.
Keywords: TikTok, Platform Governance, Digital Sovereignty, National Security, Internet Regulation, Technology Policy, India, United States
