TikTok is one of the leading social media platforms in the United States, but legislation was recently passed to ban the app and remove access for 170 million American users.
The TikTok ban didn’t come out of nowhere, Congress has been working toward this ban for over a year now. They deliberated and had hearings with the CEO of TikTok and asked him thought-provoking questions including ‘Is Singapore a real nation?’ and ‘If you plug in earphones, can TikTok listen in on conversations?’
After this deliberation, Congress decided to ban TikTok unless its parent company, Bytedance, sold TikTok to an American company. The reason behind this concern is that our legislators deemed that TikTok was stealing user information and collecting it for China and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
While Congress’s concern is valid, it makes little sense. The data being collected was already mostly public. TikTok users could choose which data to share with TikTok and which to post publicly.
Data leaks from social media platforms aren’t an uncommon phenomenon. Meta, an American company that owns Instagram and Facebook, was caught collecting user data illegally which has led to them facing multiple lawsuits and fines for over the past half-decade, according to a report from AP News.
Congress doesn’t care if user data is collected by an American company as shown by Meta still being allowed to operate, so why is TikTok being banned?
The real reason can be chalked up to the fear of China, as well as big social media corporations lobbying against TikTok.
China has been growing year after year with their economy rivaling the U.S. The main difference between the U.S. and China is their values and form of government. China is under an authoritarian government led by the CCP while the U.S. is democratic republic. With TikTok being one of the most popular social media platforms for younger generations, many Congress members have shown fear that TikTok will spread anti-American ideals to its users.
This line of reasoning is wrong. Most people on TikTok don’t ever encounter content promoting the CCP on TikTok. If anything, other social media platforms, like Meta or X, have tried to push more political messages compared to TikTok. The idea that TikTok will corrupt the youth is wrong, especially when other platforms are also considered in this equation.
The other line of reasoning that makes the most sense is lobbying. Social media is an incredibly profitable business so keeping the numbers up on the platform is how it makes more money. Seeing TikTok become so popular would concern big social media corporations. These companies may try to lobby the government to ban this app to help themselves out. The heads of Meta, X, and Google’s parent company, Alphabet, are now involved in the federal government, so it would make sense if they wanted to push this idea of banning TikTok through.
This practice is a gigantic violation of the “free market” America has. Being able to buy out Congress to ban your competitors is a terrible stepping stone that will only lead to worse and worse restrictions.
This ban has set a precedent that is scary for the future. Banning an entire platform because you are afraid of what is going to be said on them or for the sake of being lobbied completely goes against the values of the U.S, and our constitutional rights. For a nation that is born to be the land of the free, it seems very hypocritical that Congress bans a social media platform because they are afraid of its message.
This ban is not a law that is being passed to protect the American people, it is a law that is being passed to line the pockets of our politicians and suppress the free speech of the American people.
