TikTok is Not the Problem: America is
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Danica Joyner
In recent media, the TikTok ban has been a big debate. First, let’s define what the TikTok ban is. Many TikTok users have been worried about the ban and what repercussions will be in place. Small business owners are concerned about how this ban will affect their businesses and product demand due to having fewer potential consumers. The so-called “ban” is not outlawing the use of TikTok but rather trying to get the company BiteDance to sell TikTok to an American company. Alternatively, if BiteDance does not agree to sell the app, the United States will ban TikTok from the inside. Officials aim to pass legislation that will force companies, like Apple and Google, to delete TikTok from app stores. If the companies fail to comply, the government could penalize them. The goal of removing TikTok is to prevent new downloads and updates, so eventually, the app will become so outdated it won’t work on any U.S. devices.
President Biden has recently signed a law that gives BiteDance only one year to sell TikTok to a United States company. The reason for this recent ban on TikTok was the speculation of potential security threats from China. There have been rumors and fears that BiteDance may try to sell sensitive user data, such as location information, or even try to hack into and gain other information about the United States to the Chinese government. However, the banning of TikTok will not happen immediately. Legislation had moved the original deadline of 9 months to a year soon after passing the law. On May 7, BiteDance filed a lawsuit claiming the ban would be unconstitutional. This lawsuit, and other potential legal challenges, could set back the sale of TikTok for additional months to years.
Many judges and experts say that without any actual evidence, the banning of TikTok violates the citizen’s first amendment rights. This platform allows anyone to speak freely, to a certain extent because they do have content policies and restrictions. Both President Biden and former President Trump are on TikTok, as well as other candidates to help spread their campaigns. Unlike on Twitter, where Trump’s account was suspended. If an American company gains the rights to TikTok, or if TikTok is taken out of app stores, it takes away a resource for people to spread their ideas and express their opinions with a chance to be heard. In 2023, when the state of Montana tried to ban the app, a federal judge found it “oversteps state power and infringes on the constitutional rights of users,” with a “pervasive undertone of anti-Chinese sentiment.” Through multiple attempts to ban TikTok at state levels, the First Amendment has been a topic of debate. Would banning TikTok infringe upon people’s rights? Some courts say yes, mostly on the state level. In multiple cases, the federal government has taken the initiative to agree that due to the First Amendment, the people do have the right to own TikTok, and banning it would violate the Constitution.
There have been many misconceptions and rumors about TikTok—many a ploy to turn Americans against it. An article from the New York Times, Why the U.S. Is Forcing TikTok to be sold or banned, stated, “They [government officials] are also worried that China could use TikTok’s content recommendations to fuel misinformation, a concern that has escalated in the United States during the Israel-Hamas war and the presidential election. Critics say that TikTok has fueled the spread of antisemitism.” While antisemitic propaganda can be spread through TikTok, it is not the main source of this information. In 2021, the Anti-Defamation League released data that showed the number of white supremacist propaganda remained at an all-time high, but the number of incidents decreased by about 5%. However, within this data, antisemitic propaganda and incidents had increased by 27% from the previous year and only continued to rise into 2022. In 2022, white supremacist propaganda increased by 38% from its previous 4,876 reported incidents to 6,751, the highest number ever reported. During this same period, antisemitic propaganda more than doubled. ADL also published more data this year showing an overall 12% increase in white supremacist propaganda and a 30% increase in specifically antisemitic propaganda from 2022 to 2023. This hateful speech has spiked beginning in 2020 when it quadrupled the amount of propaganda distributed in 2018.
The timing is no coincidence. Due to the lockdown, it gave people more time inside to be on the internet, especially social media and chat rooms. TikTok is not the main source of the rise of white supremacism but rather the vast amount of sites that are accessible on the internet. In fact, Twitter, an American-owned company, is a big platform for antisemitic propaganda. TikTok, like many social media platforms, has a team of people filing through videos and catching flagged words or inappropriate content. Videos also get taken down if they are reported. Of course, this does not guarantee people will not find ways around it. However, that can be said for any other platform, including Twitter. In the early 2010s, members of antisemitic groups began a campaign on social media using the tag “read siege.” This is a reference to violently antisemitic text written by neo-Nazi James Mason in the 1980s. The meme was coded, so it wasn’t flagged as hate speech by media platforms. A Twitter user, @ReidSeej had fooled written and media influencer, Perez Hilton into saying the term “read siege” in a Christmas video.
While looking into the TikTok ban, I noticed that I can’t access any article or information if I type in the word “TikTok.” However, I was able to search the word “antisemitism” and many sources came up. I could even search “antisemitic groups,” and nothing was flagged. I was able to access these sites and information from a school Chromebook, but I couldn't access a link from news sources because it had the word TikTok in its URL. I’m not saying the problem here is that TikTok itself is banned on school Chromebooks—all social media is. The focus is on the wide range of information that is available outside of just TikTok and the easy access to horrible things, especially on a device that is supposed to be managed by a school.
These white supremacist groups and organizations, specifically ones targeted towards antisemitism, don't care if TikTok gets banned. These groups will still hand out their flyers and go to Twitter, two of their main distributions of this propaganda. Sure, while there are chances antisemitic messages can be sent out on TikTok, there is an equal, or potentially higher risk of this happening on any other media platform. There is a vastly higher chance most of these propaganda videos will be taken down and/or reported than the chance of one becoming highly viral in support. Antisemitism is not only a problem in the United States but around the whole world. TikTok has an incentive to take down any harmful or inappropriate media to maintain a safe environment and keep their number of users increasing.
Again, like other media platforms, TikTok has a programmed algorithm that gives videos of an individual’s interests on their “for you page.” This is the same as the feed that shows posts on Twitter, Reddit, and Instagram, and can be compared to the video reels seen on Snapchat and Instagram. Even Netflix uses an algorithm to give you shows and movies under the section “shows/movies you may like” or even other shows/ movies based on what you’ve watched in the past under the “because you watched (show/movie)” sections. It is not uncommon for companies to program data analysis tactics into their apps because it keeps people interested and using their app more.
The fears about TikTok potentially harvesting data and selling it are not irrational. Many companies profit off of selling user data, some of the top sellers being Facebook, Google, PayPal, and Oracle—all of which are American companies. These companies don’t only sell to other American companies but rather make a majority of their profits selling user data all around the world. They sell data such as locations, phone numbers and contacts, personal preferences, and even financial records. If we can allow these big companies to mine our own data for a profit and sell it to foreign countries, given that TikTok is not anywhere near the top of the list, we should not be focusing on banning it, but rather focus on our own businesses. We cannot ban a company and continue to let ours do the same thing we are accusing them of doing. When it comes to American companies, it’s okay, right? These American organizations must be more trustworthy than TikTok.
The fact that there is no official evidence of TikTok committing the allegations against them isn’t the only problem with the ban. Millions of Americans rely on TikTok to promote their small businesses and sell their products. Banning TikTok will force these businesses to rely on other ways to sell their products, and limit access to potential customers. TikTok is introducing a new feature for business owners called Fulfilled by TikTok. This means that TikTok Shop will take care of storing, picking, packing, and shipping orders on behalf of the sellers. This new feature in addition to the availability of free advertising through their videos on TikTok can really help small businesses start up when they have a low budget. Cutting out this resource will cause many small businesses to struggle, and most will fail.
Within small businesses, TikTok has generated 15 billion dollars in revenue for these companies—billions within the United States but also almost $5 billion in just a few European countries. This revenue from TikTok boosts the economy of multiple areas around the world. Restricting TikTok in America will put a strain on small businesses and the overall economy. Banning TikTok would almost disconnect America completely from the world. Our economy would suffer, and we’d be relying on internal resources for money and trade with other countries from the government and big corporations. Unemployment would increase because a majority of small businesses would fail. Not to mention, we would have to trust our government and media with accurate news and safe media apps. This is a gateway into false media being spread about corrupt government policies and could actually generate more antisemitism, racism, and other violent propaganda against other countries because we’d be more exposed to radical ideals being spread online within American media apps.
On December 14, 2022, Congress passed the No TikTok on Government Devices Act (117 - S.1143). However, President Biden posted his first video under the user @bidenhq on February 11 of this year and continues to post nearly every day despite the alleged security threats and the law. Biden should understand how vital TikTok can be for some individuals to spread news and their opinions since he is using it for his campaign. Using TikTok to promote his campaign is comparable to the small businesses that use TikTok to sell their products and reach large audiences. If TikTok was an actual threat to American citizens, the President of the United States would not be promoting his campaign on the platform. If there were real security threats, and TikTok could gain sensitive information about the United States from its citizens, then one could assume the last thing the government would want is the President on the app and put them in a vulnerable situation.
While it will take a minimum of years for TikTok to be completely weeded out one way or another, it has the potential to have severely negative impacts when it does. TikTok has proven that its goal is to be a fun, entertaining media platform to connect people around the world. By selling out the United States and its users, it would ruin its reputation and force its business to fail. The government cannot ban TikTok without targeting the same problems within American companies as well. The backlash and consequences of banning TikTok would be detrimental to the way the United States functions as a society, both economically and socially.
Sources
Why the U.S. Is Forcing TikTok to Be Sold or Banned
What a TikTok ban in the US could mean for you
The Grim Reality of Banning TikTok
TikTok Isn’t The Only Foreign-Owned App Wildly Popular With Americans
The Dark Side of Social Media: How it Fuels Antisemitism
Antisemitic Attitudes in America 2024
White Supremacist Propaganda Incidents Soar to Record High in 2023
No TikTok on Government Devices Act
Legal experts say a TikTok ban without specific evidence violates the First Amendment .
A US TikTok ban could take a bite out of small businesses
Guide to TikTok Fulfillment in 2024: Fulfill With TikTok Shop
