Over the course of eight years, the world-wide sensation TikTok took social media by storm. TikTok, owned by ByteDance, was released sometime during 2016-2017, eventually leading to ByteDance’s purchase of Musical.ly and the merge of the two platforms into one in 2018. TikTok, similar to Musical.ly, is a social media platform centered around music, lip-syncing, and fast-paced minute videos, gaining most of its traction in 2018 and truly sky-rocketting during the COVID-19 quarantine. In the past 2 years, the U.S. government has tried (and failed) to ban the app from the app store multiple times for a multitude of reasons.
ByteDance is a Beijing-based company, founded by multiple Chinese entrepreneurs, and is currently managed by Singaporean CEO, Shou Zi Chew [Chew Shou Zi]. The U.S. and other governmental officials have found it increasingly worrying that the company is Beijing based and has mistaken it for being a complete Chinese company and being spyware to sell Americans’ data. However, is the U.S. right with it being spyware and Chinese propaganda?
No. Shou Zi Chew and multiple other fact-checking sources have stated and concluded that TikTok, although being Beijing-based and founded by, has nothing to do with China or its government. In fact, TikTok is not available in mainland China. Despite this, the U.S. has been adamant on its Chinese influence on the American people.
“This is a critical national security issue. The senate must take this up and pass it,” Steve Scalis, no. 2 House Republican said via social media platform, X.
In a recent press-conference with government officials and the TikTok CEO, the U.S. concluded that TikTok has been harmful to children, in addition to selling American’s data—without any actual evidence. Proposing a Bill that would wipe TikTok from all app stores and make it illegal for users to own the app on their mobile devices.
Other than the spyware allegations, one of the concerns of TikTok was its effect on childrens’ mental health while using the app. Multiple U.S. officials commented on the poor mental health that children were exhibiting. TikTok influencers agreed and disagreed. Some pointed out that poor mental health in children was not from TikTok exclusively and can be linked to social media in general.
TikTok wasn’t the only app that was brought up for the effects on childrens’ mental health. Earlier this year, SnapChat, Meta, Discord, TikTok, and X were brought to the Senate Judiciary Jury due to the failure to protect children from sexual exploitation and abuse. This meeting was meant to press the 5 CEOs about the exploitation of young children on social media and bring future punishments for failure to protect them.
On March 13, 2024, The House of Representatives gave ByteDance six months to sell TikTok assets to a U.S. company, or face a nation-wide ban for the American users. The bill passed 352-65 in a bipartisan vote.
In the revised edition of the bill, the deadline for ByteDance is extended to nine months, rather than the original six.
Although this came as no surprise for its users, it still received major backlash from TikTok users and non-users, calling it hypocritical and pointless. However, a surprise to everyone online, former President Donald Trump, opposed the ban.
Similarly to TikTok users, Trump also pointed fingers at other social media networks, in this case, Facebook. Facebook, unlike TikTok, has faced multiple security and privacy violation allegations as well as stalking its users, but received no criticism from the government.
“There’s a lot of good and there’s a lot of bad with TikTok, but the thing I don’t like without TikTok, you’re going to make Facebook bigger, and I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people, along with a lot of the media,” Trump said on CNBC news’ Squawk Box.
Security and privacy is a big part of social media and online surfing, and it is always a topic of discussion on whether or not these apps follow that. Two of these apps, Facebook and Instagram, are notorious for allegedly stalking its users. X, formerly known as Twitter, also commonly has data breaches. But, unlike TikTok, these apps are owned by American companies.
“TikTok has had such a big influence on Gen-Z and I can’t imagine it being gone. I’m personally worried for small shops on the app though, a lot of them use the app to support themselves and it being banned might put
these people and families in financial trouble,” junior Aaron Risner said.
One of the concerns of the TikTok ban is the effect it will have on small businesses, specifically on the new feature, TikTok shop, which allows users to sell almost anything that they want. People worry that the ban will have a negative impact on people who rely on TikTok to support themselves and their families. Although there are many drop-shipped and scam items that someone could simply buy from Ali-Express, there is no doubt that there are many genuine shops trying to make a living.
“If TikTok gets banned they should honestly ban every other social media for the exact same reason. Apps like Facebook and Discord get away with literally everything. And non-social media apps like Temu have actually stolen data from its users and it received no punishment,” junior Ella Lynne said.
Temu, although not a social media app, has been under fire since the TikTok bill. Temu, owned by PDD Holdings and is based in China, is an online marketplace similar to SHEIN and Ali-Express. Back in late 2023, when the app was first released for American users, it was reported that a multitude of people had their bank information stolen after using the app.
TikTok had displayed multiple in-app messages urging its users to call their representatives for it not to be banned, however it is uncertain whether TikTok will sell its assets to an American company, because the U.S. is only 10% of its user-base.
If a change needs to be made, calling and emailing local Representatives will do so, TikTok has had a major influence on many people. Seniors and people over the age of 18 have the opportunity to vote out some of the congressmen currently running who voted in favor of the bill. However, some of the members are unable to be voted out due to having another two to four years in office.
As of April 24, 2024, Bill H.R.231, the bill to pass the TikTok ban was approved by President Joe Biden. There are still nine months for ByteDance to sell their company to an American Business for the ban to be overturned.