The popular video sharing app TikTok, which is used by more than 170 million Americans, has come under fire when the House of Representatives passed a bill to ban it. The app is owned by a Chinese company named ByteDance. This has caused concerns in the US government to pass legislation banning the Chinese app unless it is bought by a government-approved buyer and that TikTok will compromise sensitive data, such as location information, internal message information, and personal information.
We’ve seen this ban happen on several occasions: India banned TikTok, and other Chinese-owned apps, in 2020, stating that the app caused “prejudice to sovereignty and integrity of India.” Several other European countries have banned TikTok, too, many of which also stated there could be a risk of how information and data is used by the app. The Trump Administration had issued executive orders that would have banned TikTok in 2020 also due to security and data concerns, but a federal judge in Washington proposed that the ban was “arbitrary and capricious” and the ban later failed after White House administrators persuaded Trump to put a hold on banning TikTok because of possible legal and political consequences.
Biden supports the legislation banning TikTok while his presidential re-election campaign uses Tiktok to share videos on the platform and reach young audiences to gain support. If the TikTok ban eventually passes it won’t suddenly disappear from phones, but would disappear from Apple and Google’s apps stores, which means there won’t be more downloads of the platform, but if they distribute or continue updating TikTok, the federal government could impose civil penalties of them, VPN will also be penalized from helping to distribute TikTok. To protect data and information being shared on TikTok, decline apps from accessing location and contacts, or using a VPN can protect information.
In America, the First Amendment grants freedom of speech. TikTok is the biggest platform to do so. Removing the app would cause failure upon the rights of the First Amendment, which shall not be interfered with by the government. If it is interfered then people have their right to bring a lawsuit against that government for relief. Free speech is used for advocating for human rights and world issues, activists can use platforms to spread awareness about important issues. Free speech is also used for people to express themselves, find their identity and express their values, it promotes self-empowerment and a sense of belonging. Free speech is an important right to all US citizens, however, if it is used in a hateful way can provoke hateful, unlawful action. While the world is going through wars and genocide the US government isn’t too focused on it, but rather removing an app is their top priority. If the ban is passed, there are alternatives to TikTok; Instagram reels, YouTube shorts, Snapchat, and Likee.
