The famous worldwide social media app, TikTok, is causing many problems in the United States, which may lead to it being banned across the country. The US government is trying to pass a bill that would ban all citizens from using the app.
On Wednesday, March 13, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would ban TikTok if the Chinese owner, ByteDance, does not sell the social media platform. ByteDance has six months to sell, or else TikTok will be banned. If ByteDance does choose to sell, an American company would have to buy it, and then the President would get to determine whether or not this platform gets to be active in society. If ByteDance does not sell, TikTok would then be prohibited from app stores, offered by Apple and Google, and other web hosting services.
The main motive driving this act by the government is that they believe that the Chinese government is watching people’s every move, and invading people’s privacy. There are many organizations that are helping the Chinese government with intelligence gathering, and ByteDance is one of them. There are many other security concerns that the US government has with this app. Besides security concerns, there is also a belief that the Chinese government has used TikTok to influence US elections. Since it seems that the Chinese government is constantly tracking things through this app, there is a chance that the Chinese government is taking advantage of this app, and the data within the app, so that way they can use it against the US government.
Even though the House of Representatives passed this bill, the bill now goes to the Senate. If the Senate decides to pass the bill, then the bill goes to the President. It is then up to the President to make the final decision. No one really knows what the Senate is going to decide, and when. Many Senators have indicated that this bill will need to undergo a thorough review before being voted upon. If the Senate approves the bill, President Joe Biden has said that he will sign the bill, and then ByteDance would only have 180 days to sell TikTok to a certified buyer, or the app would be banned.
This is not the first time that the US government has tried to ban TikTok. Former President Donald Trump tried to ban the app through an executive order, yet failed because it was blocked by the courts after TikTok sued. Once Biden took office, he revoked the executive order, but continued to review the platform, and the national security threats it was posing.
Even though the ban could be significant for security reasons, many people might suffer as they rely on TikTok for their businesses. There are many small businesses who use TikTok to market or sell their products, so without the app, their businesses would have to find an alternate way to keep their business going. Also, there are many social media influencers whose lives are going to be affected if the ban goes through. Many influencers have used TikTok to gain popularity, and acquire brand deals or other types of income. To stop the ban, some influencers even flew to Washington D.C. to advocate against the ban of TikTok.
Despite the fact that the social media platform may be banned, and taken out of app stores, there are still ways around it. Some users could use VPN’s, virtual private networks, to hide their location, and bypass the restrictions. VPNs are hard for the government to keep track of as there are foreign VPN services that do not abide by US laws. However, VPNs also cause more security concerns as some may be unreliable, and cause more harm than good.
It is all up to the government to decide what to do about this very influential social media platform. The decision is a very hard one, and must be fully thought out as it may impact many people in the US.