In April 2024, President Biden signed into law the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, requiring a ban on TikTok or forcing its Chinese-owned parent company, ByteDance, to sell the platform. There has been increasing concern within the U.S. Government that the company could turn over sensitive user data, like location information, to the Chinese government.
There are also concerns that TikTok’s algorithms, which control content recommendations, can be used to spread misinformation, or otherwise negatively influence Americans. Many point to the rise of antisemitism, especially on college campuses, as an example.
The idea of banning TikTok is not new. In fact, about 34 states have enacted or announced plans to ban the social media application from government-issued devices. At Haverford, TikTok is blocked on school Wi-Fi. Interestingly, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) are not.
TikTok’s response to the potential ban was to point fingers at the U.S. Constitution. In a statement released after the passage of the proposed prohibition, ByteDance said, “This unconstitutional law is a TikTok ban, and we will challenge it in court. We believe the facts and the law are clearly on our side.” The promise of a First Amendment legal challenge to the ban and subsequent sale of TikTok is a good indication that this fight will be a long one.
There are strong opinions on both sides of the argument, but it seems that the majority of Americans support the ban. A Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 58% of Americans agree with the statement [that the Chinese government uses TikTok] to “influence American public opinion.” Similarly, the same poll found that 50% of Americans support banning the app. Of course, it only surveyed adults, and the outcome may be quite different if it included those under 18!
Is TikTok really a threat? Interestingly, the new law does not name any specific national security concerns. Also, the law does not seem to address what is the core concern—what happens to Americans’ data? Not just with foreign-owned companies, but also American companies including Google or Microsoft?
Congress has been unwilling to address the issue of data protection and privacy in any significant fashion, and technology innovations are outpacing U.S. laws and regulations about data and privacy. This poses the question, is America targeting foreign-owned companies for the benefit of their domestic competitors? If TikTok was sold to X (formerly Twitter) or Google, would our data be any safer or more secure?
According to one report (governing.com), 61% of Americans have had their data breached. U.S. laws to address this major issue are currently nonexistent.
The potential ban on TikTok seems unlikely in the near future, given the legal challenges the law will face. But the recent action by Congress raises a more pressing apprehension.
We have grown up in an era of school shootings; specifically, there have been 196 school-shooting incidents since 2018. We have grown up amidst astronomically-rising educational costs; between 2000 and 2021, average college tuition and supporting fees have increased by 65%.
We have grown up amidst increasing homelessness, with a 6% increase in national homelessness since 2017. We have grown up amidst a devastating national opioid epidemic; since 2000, opioid-related deaths have risen six times over.
We have grown up being told that nothing can be done about these problems, or that Congress cannot agree on a solution, or that our political system is broken. The ban on TikTok represents that Congress can, in fact, act … when they want to.
Maybe TikTok needs to be banned, and maybe it is a national security threat. But if Congress can act on banning a social media application, and if they can cultivate the bipartisan support needed to pass this new law, we should also expect them to control matters that are even more urgent for the American people.
