As the popularity of the social media app TikTok soars, experts voice that its Chinese ownership poses a national security threat. Now, Washington is seeing uncharacteristic bipartisan support for a bill to ban TikTok, passing in the House of Representatives on March 13, 2024, with a strong majority of 352 to 65.
The bill, if it passes in the Senate and becomes law, would give TikTok’s Chinese mother company six months after the legislation is enacted to sell the app to an American company. If TikTok’s owner ByteDance is unwilling to do so, they will have to stop their app being banned on all official devices in the United States.
Although the ban may come as a surprise to domestic consumers, this movement is not unprecedented. TikTok has already been prohibited on all military devices for three years and was first outlawed on U.S. government devices in February of 2023. In addition to domestic concerns, other countries such as Australia, the United Kingdom, the European Union, France, India, and Taiwan have recently banned the app for their own governmental employees.
What alarms government officials about TikTok is the possible opportunities for espionage. The piece of information fueling these concerns is TikTok’s geographical location. The company TikTok is currently registered in the Cayman Islands; however, it is a subsidiary within a larger Chinese corporation, ByteDance. Due to the authoritarian nature of the Chinese government, Chinese data security laws would technically allow the government to request information on the app.
Despite the lack of public evidence of China interfering with the app, China’s influence seems to be a big enough red flag for Congress members.
“I don’t think most people in Congress feel like they need hard evidence,” social studies teacher Mr. Tom Beaupre said. “Just the idea that Chinese companies are essentially under the authority of the Chinese government. There’s enough evidence for that.”
Classified national security assessments show that the app has been used to target journalists and interfere in elections. The technology that gives TikTok the capacity for this type of disruption is its unique content recommendation system, known as “The Algorithm.” This technology is addictive in nature and can be used maliciously. The potential for misinformation is more alarming when coupled with the sheer amount of international users interacting with the app on a daily basis.
“[I]f you consider that there’s 150 million people every single day that are obviously touching this app, this provides a foreign nation a platform for information operations, a platform for surveillance, and a concern we have with regards to who controls that data,” General Nakasone said in the release.
These concerns are a major reason why the bill is seeing bipartisan support. In spite of this, some politicians are still standing their ground that banning the app is a violation of the First Amendment and detrimental towards their constituents. Banning the app will undoubtedly impact the way Americans communicate with each other and how influencers monetize their content.
“I think that the banning of TikTok definitely goes against our right to freedom of speech. All social media platforms allow us to use our voice, but TikTok helps to spread our message farther and faster than those other platforms,” junior Mason Voght said.
These feelings have halted similar legislation in the past, as a bill to ban TikTok was revoked in the Senate years ago due to free speech concerns. With around one-third of the country using the app, a ban could cause a major barrier to communication.
Sophomore Zoe Vesenov agrees that prohibiting the app from American devices will impact Generation Z specifically.
“Lots of trends start on TikTok and many people share things they find funny, helpful, or interesting, so a ban would take away an important form of communication,” Vezenov said.
With thousands of users using the app to promote their brand or talents, a ban could seriously impact entrepreneurs. Students at Southern Lehigh take advantage of the app to promote their own career interests.
“Personally, it would be much harder for me to share my music with the world,” Mason Voght said, “There are many other ways that I could spread my lyricism, but TikTok has made it much easier because you can provide visuals, sound, and entertainment to engage audiences.”
The Spotlight conducted a poll of 123 students and staff at Southern Lehigh, which showed that movements to protect Americans from security threats on TikTok would be largely opposed. The poll showed that 45.5% of students and staff would oppose a ban, compared to 35% that would not care either way and only 19.5% that would support it.
“We can connect with more people through TikTok,” Voght said, “therefore, eliminating TikTok is just eliminating our voice.”
Updated April 24, 2024
As the popularity of the social media app TikTok soars, experts voice that its Chinese ownership poses a national security threat. After Washington generated bipartisan support for a national ban on TikTok, a bill passed in both the House and Senate with an overwhelming majority. Shortly after it passed in the Senate, President Biden signed the bill into law on April 24, 2024.
The law will give TikTok’s Chinese mother company nine months–or potentially twelve months if progress is made– after the legislation is enacted to sell the app to an American company. If TikTok’s owner ByteDance is unwilling to do so, they will have to stomach a ban on all official devices in the United States.
Although the ban may come as a surprise to domestic consumers, this movement is not unprecedented. TikTok has already been prohibited on all military devices for three years and was first outlawed on U.S. government devices in February of 2023. In addition to domestic concerns, other countries such as Australia, the United Kingdom, the European Union, France, India, and Taiwan have recently banned the app for their own governmental employees.
What alarms government officials about TikTok is the possible opportunities for espionage. The piece of information fueling these concerns is TikTok’s geographical location. The company TikTok is currently registered in the Cayman Islands; however, it is a subsidiary within a larger Chinese corporation, ByteDance. Due to the authoritarian nature of the Chinese government, Chinese data security laws would technically allow the government to request information on the app.
Despite the lack of public evidence of China interfering with the app, China’s influence seems to be a big enough red flag for Congress members.
“I don’t think most people in Congress feel like they need hard evidence,” social studies teacher Mr. Tom Beaupre said. “Just the idea that Chinese companies are essentially under the authority of the Chinese government. There’s enough evidence for that.”
Classified national security assessments show that the app has been used to target journalists and interfere in elections. The technology that gives TikTok the capacity for this type of disruption is its unique content recommendation system, known as “The Algorithm.” This technology is addictive in nature and can be used maliciously. The potential for misinformation is more alarming when coupled with the sheer amount of international users interacting with the app on a daily basis.
“[I]f you consider that there’s 150 million people every single day that are obviously touching this app, this provides a foreign nation a platform for information operations, a platform for surveillance, and a concern we have with regards to who controls that data,” General Nakasone said in the release.
These concerns are a major reason why the ban is seeing bipartisan support. In spite of this, some politicians are still standing their ground that banning the app is a violation of the First Amendment and detrimental towards their constituents. Banning the app will undoubtedly impact the way Americans communicate with each other and how influencers monetize their content.
“I think that the banning of TikTok definitely goes against our right to freedom of speech. All social media platforms allow us to use our voice, but TikTok helps to spread our message farther and faster than those other platforms,” junior Mason Voght said.
These feelings have halted similar legislation in the past, as a bill to ban TikTok was revoked in the Senate years ago due to free speech concerns. With around one-third of the country using the app, a ban could cause a major barrier to communication.
Sophomore Zoe Vesenov agrees that prohibiting the app from American devices will impact Generation Z specifically.
“Lots of trends start on TikTok and many people share things they find funny, helpful, or interesting, so a ban would take away an important form of communication,” Vezenov said.
With thousands of users using the app to promote their brand or talents, a ban could seriously impact entrepreneurs. Students at Southern Lehigh take advantage of the app to promote their own career interests.
“Personally, it would be much harder for me to share my music with the world,” Mason Voght said, “There are many other ways that I could spread my lyricism, but TikTok has made it much easier because you can provide visuals, sound, and entertainment to engage audiences.”
The Spotlight conducted a poll of 123 students and staff at Southern Lehigh, which showed that movements to protect Americans from security threats on TikTok would be largely opposed. The poll showed that 45.5% of students and staff would oppose the possible ban, compared to 35% that would not care either way and only 19.5% that would support it.
“We can connect with more people through TikTok,” Voght said, “therefore, eliminating TikTok is just eliminating our voice.”
