Legislation requiring ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, to sell the app or face a U.S. ban was signed into law by President Joe Biden on April 24. Students at UPrep hold conflicting views on the actions being taken by lawmakers.
Originally, the bill was introduced by Wisconsin Representative Mike Gallagher, according to the United States Congress. The app is believed to pose a liability to national security due to its suspected ownership by the Chinese government. The necessity of this initiative is debatable for some TikTok users such as sophomore Ilwad Mohamed.
I’ve already been on TikTok, so the Chinese government already has my data,” Mohamed said. “Other countries having my data isn’t really one of my top concerns.”
Although the Chinese government has denied working with ByteDance, lawmakers are still concerned about the app’s affiliation with China. The concern is how social media user’s data is managed, and its impacts on society. As referenced in the bill, lawmakers worry about the power that foreign governments could have over the American people through access to social media.
Still, Mohamed is not the only person to share a negative view on the ban.
Sophomore Aslan Malik believes that the pressure put on TikTok is unjust.
“I just think it’s kind of unfortunate that an American company has to overtake the previous company for it to be a legitimate thing in the United States,” Malik said.
According to the legislation, ByteDance has until January 2024 to sell its U.S. data to a third party that is not associated with the Chinese government. If a sale is taking place near the end of January, ByteDance will receive three additional months.
Sophomore Gavin Angeloff feels that the TikTok ban is an important matter of national defense.
“I feel like TikTok has the possibility to be a tool for propaganda or some sort of thing where people could be tricked,” Angeloff said. “That could be a big threat to national security because you have people on the inside of the U.S. going against it.”
Ninth grader Orrin Spiess thinks that lawmakers’ concerns are valid, but they are going about it from the wrong angle.
“I don’t think the government can ban social media, but I think it needs to place tighter regulations on what these companies can do with user data, ” Spiess said.
However, if ByteDance isn’t able to meet lawmakers’ demands, TikTok will be banned across the United States.
Senior Kian Baghai expresses his thoughts on what the aftermath of a ban would look like.
“It would impact students a lot because I know most of my friends use TikTok. We’re always sending each other videos, and I think that would definitely be an adjustment,” Baghai said. “ I think that is the part where that’s really difficult because many people have built a career off of TikTok.”
Kimberly Nielsen, a PhD candidate, and developmental psychology student at the University of Washington thinks that companies, such as TikTok, should be held responsible for the power they hold.
“I still believe that ultimately, social media companies themselves hold the majority of the power over how they use their platforms, for better or for worse, ” Nielsen said. “I do hope that this will count for the conversation about what else the U.S. government can do to regulate social media companies.”
