TikTok is beloved by people of all ages across multiple continents. It offers a unique variety of content: adorable dog videos, dancing influencers, and even a built-in shop to buy from small businesses that flourished through the app. It sounds great; who wouldn’t want to waste some free time by indulging in short-form content to distract from the world around us?
However, that’s not the whole truth.TikTok has become Gen Z's primary form of news media consumption. Creators have helped in murder cases, shared important medical information, and even on-the-ground updates about wars. It has been utilized to share information that many major news companies fail to report on, or offer sides of the story often underrepresented. TikTok has given me information that I probably would never have known if I had only been receiving news updates from mainstream sources.
It would look as if TikTok is a net positive for most people. However, when yet another attempt to ban TikTok actually went for a house vote - and passed - it became clear that the US government is not the app’s biggest fan club.
I should be clear. The bill put forth is not an explicit “Ban TikTok” bill. If it officially passes, TikTok’s parent company, the Chinese-based ByteDance, would have to sell its stake to either an American-based or ally country company to continue access in the US.
Over the past few months, many members of Congress have been hinting around about some major security issues with China. TikTok is evidently one of them. Since its parent company is based in China, the FBI, alongside the Committee on Foreign Investment, has reason to believe that it is a true national security risk for the US and its citizens.
More specifically, they argue that ByteDance could potentially share US citizens’ data from the app with China’s government, due to a law in China which requires companies to give personal data relevant to its national security if needed. Additionally, they believe that it can use the algorithm to “plant” videos to influence Americans with misinformation. Many approve of it - the bill passed with a 352 bipartisan support vote in the House. Even our President, who recently created an account on the app himself, announced that if it passed, he would sign it. Many, also, have put forth claims they do not like the content of the app in general. Despite there not seemingly being any evidence to prove that the concerns are current problems, the idea that it eventually could is the main driving force behind the bill.
Or is it?
If congress members are so adamant about the risks associated with TikTok, why are a great deal of them on it, posting content for their constituents? Representative Jeff Jackson, someone who I admired for his transparency and honesty, has over 2 million followers on the platform. Jackson was relatively unknown nationally as a freshman congressman before he created videos that became viral seemingly overnight. He has majorly benefited from the app - yet he voted for the bill. His actions contradict his words, causing him to lose a great deal of respect from me.
Some might think it is a bit of an overdramatic stance to care so deeply about the potential banning of TikTok. I urge you to look a little closer.
US companies have had actual occurrences of sharing user data. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has been fined on multiple occasions for unauthorized user data sharing in multiple different countries. They have even been under scrutiny from our own government; remember the Cambridge Analytica scandal, anyone? Yet, no bills have been passed to take action on such an issue. It seems when it is an American company doing the exact thing they are afraid of, they will condemn it, and that is about as far as we get. Of course, Facebook has made attempts, so they say, to fix these privacy concerns. However, it is appalling that they have taken more action to protect the security of US citizens than our own Congress has.
Additionally, misinformation is already a huge issue on American social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and X (formally known as Twitter). However, despite the glaring red flags, these platforms still have significant misinformation issues, including A.I generated content passing as real, and the spread of “Fake News”. To give credit where credit is due, most of these platforms have tried to control it, by banning users or taking down content, and even administering warnings on posts that contain false information, but no platform has, at this point, won the battle.
If Congress themselves are using the app, and not doing anything about American companies who have actively had instances of data sharing (the exact thing they fear TikTok will do), then national security could not be a reasonable stance for this potential banning. So, what is?
Censorship.
Now, hear me out. Yes, we have freedom of speech - but that is largely brought into question when considering social media. Since these are owned by private companies, they do not have to abide by the First Amendment. If one spews hateful rhetoric, they can be banned on platforms. If one posts misinformation, they could eventually be muted or banned. So, if social media platforms in the US can already do this, and rightfully so, what is stopping them from taking down real, truthful information that the government doesn't want you to see?
TikTok has no stakes with the United States - therefore our government can’t control it. With large American media companies, while not government-owned, there is a big amount of government influence, or at least political partisanship. That can, sometimes, control a narrative through the information the United States provides to these sources. Through TikTok, one can share content that reaches millions of people; content that may never have reached our screens if it hadn’t fit the narrative that the media wants to portray. Average independent journalists and citizens are sharing the information, many on the ground, and the government can’t control the narrative the way they wish to, which is quickly changing the political landscape.
Since so many congress members have actually voiced that they do not agree with the content being shared on the app, it becomes increasingly clear that this was never about national security or protecting Americans. It was always about Censorship.
Specific instances include Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, who claimed TikTok promotes content on suicidal ideation and drug paraphernalia, as well as former Republican Presidential Candidate Nikki Haley, who claimed that “for every 30 minutes one spends on TikTok, they become 17% more antisemitic” and more pro-Hamas (a faulty statistic), during a debate last year. Both have called for the app to be banned.
The bottom line is that America does have a real need to worry about the Chinese government. There have been significant concerns over the years, and I don’t doubt that there are some cybersecurity concerns, as well. However, to use them as a scapegoat for your hidden agenda is faulty, and Americans are waking up.
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