On March 13, the House of Representatives passed a bill dictating that ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, must either sell its app or lose access to American web stores and web-hosting services. The bill is a part of the current U.S.-China tech war, in which both countries aim to control valuable technology such as computer chips and artificial intelligence, and bar the other from accessing the newest versions. The United States have been attempting to ban TikTok for many years, citing their reason as TikTok posing a national security risk since it can access Americans’ data or spread disinformation and propaganda. However, this bill is the closest the government has gotten to actually regulating the app. Now, it faces the Senate, which will then pass it up to President Biden. But is it even worth banning the app?
TikTok plays an important part in young Americans’ lives, including PDS students. Both junior Cynthia Shen and sophomore Sarah Bridgeman have stated that they use the app daily for entertainment. While a common concern is the misinformation that plagues the app, Shen expressed, “I know where to get my news sources from… I try to not look at the news on TikTok as much.” The other major point of contention is TikTok’s data collection. Both Bridgeman and Shen confirmed that they acknowledge the security risks of using the app. However, they didn’t think it posed a major threat, which is something which experts have backed up. Currently, there is no evidence that Chinese espionage has been conducted through the app. In fact, TikTok does not even operate in China, though the Chinese government holds leverage over other businesses under ByteDance. It is evident that the issue of data collection has been exaggerated, and neither of the two reasons for the banning affect the general public.
We must also consider whether the ban would even be effective. When asked if she believes the ban would occur, Bridgeman said, “No, they’re [Congress] just doing it to scare [ByteDance].” But even if TikTok was banned in the U.S., users could still access the app using a VPN and setting their location to outside America. Additionally, the U.S. government is known to be slow in passing bills. However, the House of Representatives passed this bill just eight days after it was proposed. It might be worthwhile for the U.S. to focus on other concerns, especially when considering the current state of the world and international and national politics.
The TikTok ban depends on the rising distrust of China, not actual evidence of security risks and propaganda campaigns. It is clear that a complete banning of the app would not solve any current issues, just imaginary ones. The U.S. government is using its banning of TikTok to gain ground in the U.S.-China tech war, but it should be focusing on other, more pressing issues.
