What would we lose if TikTok were banned?
Here we go again. Another attempt from Washington politicians to ban TikTok. This time, it’s an aggressive effort contained in carefully written legislation in Congress. The bill earned wide bipartisan support and was approved unanimously and swiftly by a powerful House committee last week — it was also endorsed by President Biden. “If they pass it, I’ll sign it,” Biden told reporters.
If you’re not one of the 170 million American TikTok users, it’s understandable that you wouldn’t care about, and may even support, the ban. But America would lose a lot if the popular videosharing app were prohibited.
At first glance, the legislation — densely titled “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act” — may seem sensible. But it also looks like censorship. It aims to protect US consumers’ data collected by Chinese companies from China’s communist government. If enacted, the bill would require ByteDance, TikTok’s China-based parent company, to divest the app or face a ban from US app stores.
Already millions of American TikTok creators and consumers have joined legal experts and civil liberties advocates to explain all the reasons why a TikTok ban would be detrimental. An outright prohibition raises First Amendment concerns and is unconstitutional, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, while doing little to address the vast data and privacy vulnerabilities found in other corners of the internet.
A few advocacy groups, including the ACLU and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, wrote a response letter to the House committee after its members quickly passed the TikTok ban bill last week without much public debate. “TikTok is home to massive amounts of protected speech and association: it enables its users to discuss their opinions, share their hobbies, make art, and access news from down the street and around the world,” the organizations wrote.
That’s putting it mildly. On a whim, I posted a TikTok of my yellow Labrador getting picked up by the doggie day-care bus in the spring of 2021, and it went viral. Ten million views later, we have more than 117,000 followers. Lest you think I have a financial interest here, no, I don’t post often so we don’t monetize our account.
Still, our quiet fame on TikTok has allowed me to have a front-row seat to the meaningful sense of community and space of creativity that the app uniquely offers.
Why else do The New York Times and The Washington Post now write often about trends and videos that go viral on TikTok? The app’s user base is primarily young people so it offers a singular pulse on a whole generation. Last fall, after a young woman posted on TikTok about a date gone wrong, a pair of ugly but very expensive shoes that barely anyone had heard of went mainstream. TikTok has also revolutionized the entertainment industry. When an Atlanta woman’s 52-part video series titled “Who TF Did I Marry?” took over TikTok last month, it led to a representation deal with the famous Hollywood agency CAA.
And sure, there’s the ubiquitous animal videos, like the Illinois doggy daycare that recreated in amazing fashion the movie posters of Oscar best picture nominees featuring their four-legged charges.
Don’t get me wrong. TikTok and other social media apps need regulation. But I and many others have previously noted that there are better ways — such as passing the American Data Privacy and Protection Act that would restrict how companies collect user data and a proposal by the company itself that would allow its data operations to be overseen by a federal committee, among other things. Never mind that lawmakers who favor a TikTok ban haven’t offered solid evidence that the Chinese government uses TikTok to spy on Americans.
Incidentally, former president Donald Trump, who already tried to ban TikTok via sloppy executive orders, is now against a ban. Though Trump said he still believes the app is a “national security threat,” he said a TikTok ban would only benefit competitors like Instagram. Trump also said on CNBC that “we have to … make sure that we are protecting the American people’s privacy and data rights.”
Trump is — and I can’t believe I’m going
Our quiet fame on TikTok has allowed me to have a front-row seat to the meaningful sense of community and space of creativity that the app uniquely offers.
to say this — right. Yet context matters. Trump may also have cynical and hypocritical intentions. He’s been cozying up to billionaire Jeff Yass, a Republican who’s an investor in ByteDance. (Yass is Pennsylvania’s richest man and “the largest campaign donor in the United States.”)
The House’s Chinese divestment legislation is expected to receive a House floor vote Wednesday. Meanwhile, TikTok is mobilizing its massive user base. Last week, on the app and via email, TikTok sent a plea to many users urging them to “call your representative now. … A ban will damage millions of businesses, destroy the livelihoods of countless creators across the country, and deny artists an audience.” True to form, lawmakers are annoyed at the deluge of calls they’re receiving. But they shouldn’t underestimate this demographic’s collective power; they would know about it if they’d only use TikTok.