Jack Cellucci ’24 | Dylan Unruh ’24
On Wednesday, March 14, 2024, the House of Representatives passed a bill delivering ByteDance, owner of TikTok, an ultimatum: sell the app within 165 days or face a complete ban in the US. The possibility of TikTok being banned puts into submission the right Congress has on the content we watch based on the potential of information reaching foreign hands. With a House of Representatives at the average age of 57 and a Senate at age 64, is their bipartisan concern a representation of the people or just another ‘back in my day’ irrelevance? Can they see something we can’t? Or is it a ploy to control the media coverage of key issues such as climate change, public opinion about Israel-Palestine, and even the 2024 presidential election?
PROS:
TikTok is the first Chinese social media platform to rival, and trump, Meta, X, and Instagram. How? The algorithm. ByteDance’s perfectly curated algorithm gives TikTok an addicting experience no other app has come close to replicating. Whether we realize it or not, the rabbit holes and the ability of TikTok to pinpoint our exact interests keep us zoned into the infamous “power scroll.” Through its secret sauce, TikTok has captivated American minds.
However, this power comes with the ability to spread misinformation to millions of people. “TikTok can be a force for good and bad. It can be used to promote businesses/creators but also circulates rumors and harmful trends,” says Sarah Taylor ’24. TikTok is a hotbed for misinformation including the circulation of many conspiracy theories on the Moon Landing, flat-earther theories, etc. There have also been several dangerous challenges on TikTok, such as the Skull Breaker challenge, where people try and trip people over so they fall on their heads. Some have died or been injured in this challenge, and several others.
The mobilizing power of TikTok alone is astronomical, and this ability to influence America’s youth and middle age sits in the hands of a Chinese entrepreneur, Zhang Yiming. As a government already fractured by deep partisanship, TikTok presents itself as a prime opportunity for an adversarial government to divide and weaken our country further. When the bill was passed, a pop-up on the app inspired thousands of users to call local offices of representatives and protest the bill. With a mere pop-up, TikTok proved itself to be a reckoning force in American society and politics.
Additionally, American data is being stored in China and the best insurance we have for our data protection is the word of ByteDance. Social media apps hold unprecedented access to our data, after all, it is their source of revenue. TikTok especially requires our data in order to effectively apply the algorithm. The concern is the United States government does not know where the resting place of our data is. Does it get spit into the machine, churned into the algorithm, and left to decompose? Or is it sent to a rival government? The unknowns drive the fear of our congresspeople. Should they drive us, too?
CONS:
The banning of TikTok also raises the question of the constitutionality of this ban. Does this hinder the First Amendment right to freedom of speech? Or even the freedom of the press? Connor Shanahan ‘24 asks, “Are my rights being violated? I feel that as a citizen of the United States, I am guaranteed certain rights and freedoms. Furthermore, the apps or media I consume should not need to be censored by the government. Where does it stop?”
Another question that arises is many American companies also sell their user’s information. It is very normal for this to happen, but all of a sudden everyone is up in arms when a non-American company does it. Is this a double standard? Why are some companies allowed to sell information and some not?
The final question to ask is if such a ban is even possible. The most plausible way that the US government could force TikTok out of American phones would be to constantly fine app stores that carry the app. If this was to work, eventually no American would be able to update the app. TikTok would fight a war of attrition with the US government and die a death ridden of hunger and exhaustion. The app would become unusable due to glitches and a lack of maintenance and Americans would be forced to take their attention to another inferior algorithmic-based app.