On January 19, the United States law banning TikTok officially went into effect. This is due to the fact that the Chinese parent company, ByteDance, had failed to sell TikTok to an American buyer by the January 19 deadline. This represents a strong, bipartisan action to protect our national security and interests while also preventing the abuse of American consumers. It is vital that we those of us that used TikTok before the ban understand that fact, but even more important for those of us that continue to use TikTok today. 

First, it immensely clear that TikTok has the true potential to pose a real, honest threat to national security, allowing for the data of Americans to be accessed and used by a foreign adversarial government. It is not in the best interest of the United States to allow a foreign company such as ByteDance this unprecedented access to American data. China is not known for its respect of digital privacy, which can be easily determined from its past actions, including an  espionage campaign on hundreds of thousands of devices, along with more than 200 instances of espionage, corporate and otherwise since 2000. In these cases of espionage, 49% directly involved the Chinese government or military, 46% involved cyber espionage and 17% sought information on U.S. civilians. With this data, it is clear that the Chinese government has a more than two-decade history of targeting individuals in the US. This comprehensive history of past actions taken by the Chinese government make it more likely than not that ByteDance as a whole, or at least employees of ByteDance are beholden to the CCP. 

Moving on from the data privacy aspect of the TikTok ban, TikTok also represents a serious threat to the mental health among the youth and the adults of our society. Numerous studies have shown that TikTok promotes content to youths that promotes dangerous ideas, body dysmorphia, self-harm as well as sexual content and nudity. It goes without saying that such content should not be available to youth, but I also acknowledge that the internet is largely unmoderated and such content can be obtained if one is searching for it. However, it is a whole different story altogether when such content is being promoted to youth and being recommended to them.

This is not an issue unique to TikTok, with inappropriate content appearing on Instagram on February 28. However, TikTok and Instagram differ in the fact that Instagram is more beholden to the American people since it has an American parent company (Meta) which is publicly traded, which then incentivizes proper action to correct such algorithm malfunctions. This was the case for the malfunction on February 28, with Meta immediately apologizing for the malfunction and quickly removing the graphic content that was in violation of its policies. In fact, as a user of Instagram reels, I had seen such content on February 28, with an explicit video of a woman giving birth appearing on my feed. After I reported the content, I received notification within two hours informing me that the content had been removed. The speed and the transparency of this process provides me with confidence to say that Instagram is unequivocally better than TikTok when it comes to transparency, and the protection of the public when it comes to content that they’re exposed to. 

What about violations of data privacy by American companies? Yes, it is true no social media platform is perfect. The use of data by American companies has been well researched over the years and it is apparent that they use our data in order to improve advertising and better their algorithms, but at least American social media platforms do not come with the risk that China will receive this data and be able to use them in a manner without regulation. This is where the adage “Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t” applies. We are able to regulate and observe the use of data by American companies, however when that data goes to TikTok and by extension, China, we cannot. There is no telling how that data will be used and then we cannot enact penalties, such as fines, for the mishandling of data like how we do for American companies. 

This is where the adage “Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t” applies.

Now let us discuss what the economic impacts of a TikTok ban would look like. It is true that there are creators that depend on TikTok to either support their businesses or to fully run their businesses. TikTok claims that their platform contributes around US$24 billion to the United States GDP along with over 200,000 jobs. These claims should also be taken with a grain of salt since while the report was conducted by Oxford Economics, which was completely funded by TikTok. There is also no evidence to suggest that these contributions to the economy or these jobs cannot be supported by American social media platforms. In fact in India, where TikTok has been banned since 2020, other social media platforms have filled the void that the TikTok ban left. Immediately after the ban, other short form video platforms such as YouTube Shorts, MX TakaTak, Chingari and Moj. These platforms continue to allow for Indian creators to continue their income stream through social media. America already has such alternative platforms, such as Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts and Snapchat Spotlights. To imply that TikTok being permanently banned would cause irreversible damage to the American economy is disingenuous, as alternative platforms exist and there is a clear precedent of users being willing to switch to those alternative platforms. 

Finally, what I think that most strongly speaks to the virtues of the TikTok ban is how overwhelmingly bipartisan it was. It is very rare that both sides of our political system unite to achieve a common goal and in the few instances that it does occur, it is to fight a true threat to the American people. The TikTok ban passed the House in a 352-65 vote, with 155 Democrats and 197 Republicans voting in favor of the ban. In the Senate, 46 Democrats and 31 Republicans voted in favor of the bill that encompassed the TikTok ban and aid to Ukraine and Israel. This meant the bill passed in a final vote of 79-18. On April 23, President Biden signed the bill into law. TikTok attempted to fight the bill in court, appealing the case all the way to the Supreme Court, which ultimately upheld the ban, since it was their opinion that the ban did not violate free speech. These actions by the legislative, executive and judicial branches show that the entirety of the U.S. Government is in support of the TikTok ban, which has to be some indication of the TikTok ban being the correct course of action. 

“I think the TikTok ban shows us how much our society is addicted to TikTok. Personally, as someone who does not have TikTok I saw as an outsider that my friends were panicking. Once it was unbanned, magically, everyone’s lives went back to normal. This dependency on a social media platform is not healthy, no matter how you view it,” junior Mason Berardelli said. “Also, add on to that the extreme risk of TikTok selling data to the Chinese government and TikTok represents a severe threat. The TikTok ban was a joke, since it lasted around only a day, a permanent ban may be beneficial to our country.”

So why is TikTok unbanned right now? The answer is President Donald Trump, or rather when he supported the unbanning of TikTok he was acting as the president-elect, an office with no real power. It was his promise to grant TikTok an extension that resulted in TikTok coming back online after less than a day. It is Trump’s support of TikTok that furthers my belief that TikTok is not healthy for the American people, as he has a track record of acting in his own interests rather than the interests of the people. In fact the message that TikTok displayed after coming back online thanked Trump for his efforts. This gives the appearance that TikTok being temporarily unbanned was not about U.S. security, but rather a political ploy by President Trump. 

“I think the TikTok ban was an opportunity to acknowledge the harm social media does to young people and I feel like any progress that could’ve been done will now be delayed,” junior Leah DelOrbe said. 

National security and the mental health of this nation still remain at risk everyday due to TikTok. We see its negative impact in our own NHP community and across the nation. Critics of the TikTok ban use illegitimate arguments about the economic impact of a TikTok ban in an attempt to fearmonger the public into supporting TikTok remaining in the US. If you can recognize the threat that TikTok poses, I implore you to share your support of the TikTok ban with your representative or senator to ensure that the correct course of action is taken and TikTok is permanently banned to protect our great nation.