One of the most popular social media apps among teens is TikTok, and because of its popularity, it is under a lot of scrutiny. Lawmakers would like to ban the app, mostly because of worries about a Chinese company collecting American data, but this would not be a permanent solution to the problem as TikTok users will all move to another platform where the same situation will continue.
The U.S. pushes for its ban with TikTok continuing to back itself up claiming that a ban such as this would be unconstitutional as it is revoking the freedom of speech of the 170 million U.S TikTok users.
The app is also oftentimes very useful when creating groups or organizations that can be used to raise awareness for a cause whether that be donations or support. Series of videos can be made in order to inform those who follow the stories on how the situation will advance which is one of the many reasons why TikTok does so well when coming to bring attention to a cause.
TikTok also has its own shop within the app that has been generating billions of dollars in revenue ever since its release on Sept 23, 2023. There are thousands of businesses that are run through the app and users can use the app as a sort of promotion to push their products out to the public. If TikTok was banned thousands of U.S. businesses would be affected as they can promote or sell their products through the app.
Even though the U.S. government fears the information and trends shared on social media they suspect TikTok to be the source. If this were to be true little can be done to resolve the matter as users can just as easily go onto another app such as X and Instagram where the same information can be accepted and shared.
A possible solution for the matter is to concentrate and focus greater on online security and monitoring to prevent these dangerous trends from arising. Guidelines are both a good and bad thing to have as they limit dangerous content from being shared but people want a place where they can have freedom of speech and post about topics and their own beliefs. Although this resolution would be helpful it may also be harmful to the app as people may disagree with the guidelines preventing them from using the app.
The usage of TikTok in the U.S. is frowned upon as it is controlled and run by Chinese corporations. There have been many rumors of TikTok pushing Chinese propaganda but nothing has been official. According to movieguide.org, TikTok had denied the influence of Chinese propaganda but new studies have shown that they are pushing the Chinese government’s idealistic views. In this way, the ban on TikTok could be beneficial as China will have less of an influence on U.S. citizens.
