Potential TikTok ban: Maybe there’s hope after all
IN a stunning display of rare bipartisan cooperation, the United States House of Representatives last Wednesday passed a bill that would ban the popular short-video app TikTok in the country if its Chinese owner ByteDance Ltd. does not sell it to a “nonforeign adversary company,” as former vice president Mike Pence put it, within six months. If the bill passes the Senate, which is not certain but seems likely at this point, President Joe Biden has already said he will sign it.
Even before it comes to fruition, the action against ByteDance and its horribly toxic and insipid, but undeniably popular and profitable app is a slap in the face to many who richly deserve it, including the Chinese government, the ill-mannered sack of crap leading the political cult that was once the Republican Party, and the entire vapid, narcissistic “culture” of people who have convinced themselves that being an “influencer” or “content creator” is a legitimate aspiration and a valid definition of character or personal identity.
The broad support for the bill in Congress is surprising, given how riven the US legislature and the American population in general is by political conflict. The bill was jointly sponsored in committee by Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin and Democrat Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois, where it passed quickly by a voice vote of 50-0 despite the committee members’ offices being inundated by calls from TikTok users demanding that the measure be rejected. Some members even had their phones temporarily shut off because of the onslaught, and most of the committee members agreed that the public lobbying campaign had utterly backfired. “It (the flood of calls) provided members a preview of how the platform could be weaponized to inject disinformation into our system,” Gallagher told AP News.
Security was the key justification for the bill, which passed by a vote of 352-65 in the full House. Lawmakers — and really, any person with even an ounce of sense — are concerned that China’s security laws which require Chinese companies to “assist with intelligence-gathering” give the Chinese government free access to TikTok user data. ByteDance has repeatedly denied it shares data with its government and has said it wouldn’t do so if asked, but the reality is it is legally compelled to do so, almost certainly already has and will continue to do so as long as it owns TikTok.
The dissent against the bill, though apparently ineffective, has been noisy. Hundreds of TikTok users protested at the US Capitol while the committee was meeting on the measure, decrying what they see as a curb on free speech and an attack on their online livelihoods. Despite the huge number of TikTok users in the US, however, these sentiments do not seem to be widely shared by the public.
In a local news segment posted on YouTube, Fox 10 News in Phoenix, Arizona, apparently seeking to be a controversy engine, interviewed students at Arizona State University to get their reactions to the passage of the bill by the House. This backfired in an amusing way. “I know there are a lot of users, and a lot of people make money from it, but I think it would be better for society” if the app were banned, said one student. “Some people make their main income on there (TikTok) and it will be stressful for them, but hey, life moves on,” said another.
The comments from YouTube users were equally unsympathetic. “TikTok conditions us how to think and act socially, and it’s trash,” said one. “Ban it. People need to get back to the real world,” said another. “Noooo! Now my mom’s going to make me go out and get a real job,” another sarcastically commented.
One of the more satisfying results of the House vote is that it totally ignored the disagreement with the bill expressed by disgraced former president and subject of 91 felony charges Gameshow Goering. While he occupied the White House, the anthropomorphic gas station urinal cake was all about banning TikTok, but since the move is something Biden, his once and future opponent for the presidency, might want to make, he’s now against it.
It is worth noting that the US is certainly not the first to take action against TikTok; a number of countries have already banned the app outright, including India and Nepal, while at least eight, including Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and, not surprisingly, Taiwan, have prohibited it from being installed or accessed on government-owned phones and other devices. However, the US ban, if it comes to that, would be the largest, affecting 170 millionplus users. At the time of the ban imposed in India in 2020, there were about 150 million users there who were forced to give it up.
I agree with the commenters who describe TikTok as a pox on society that is collectively making us stupider by the minute, and in fact I have the same opinion of all social media. The US bill is a good one in that it will force something to happen, and it’s something that this country should think about, too. Having an adversary state enjoying open access to the data of one’s citizens, businesses and indiscreet politicians is never a good idea.
However, I think the best outcome would be for ByteDance to acquiesce and sell off the app. There is something to be said for government striving to accommodate freedom of expression to the broadest extent prudence allows, even if the greater number of those expressions are utterly bereft of social, cultural or intellectual value. It is almost certainly too much to hope for, but perhaps the current controversy will make some people rethink social media and their relationship with it, and make better choices.