The End of TikTok?

The United States has banned TikTok on government-official devices, and it may lead to the total annihilation of the application. In the past 14 weeks, 14 states have banned TikTok on government-official devices. In congress, it is being expected to hold a vote passing a separate “bipartisan” bill that was introduced in December 2022, which would completely ban the app for everyone in the U.S. This whole thing started with the Trump administration a few years back but has become increasingly problematic overtime. Politicians share concerns that the app surveils and gives information on U.S. citizens, including location, into the hands of China’s government. According to the New York Times, “Christopher Wray, the F.B.I.’s director, warned last month that the Chinese government could use TikTok for ‘influence operations,’ or try to use the app to infiltrate and compromise devices.”

Opposition to this app lies in the fact that it is the second most used social media platform in the U.S, just falling under YouTube. There are an estimated 100 million+ users in the United States, with most being of a younger audience. Two-thirds of teenagers in the U.S. use TikTok, making it extremely popular and extremely controversial. The removal of this app will have a huge effect on today’s society with social media, trends, businesses, people, lifestyle, and for some, full-time jobs. “I think I’d have a lot of positive and negative reactions. I get a lot of cooking recipes from TikTok so I’d definitely miss that, but also I’m a little too addicted to the app sometimes. I also think it would have effects on people’s music”, said Mary Price, a teacher at CHS.

The decisions toward the removal of the app are unclear, despite the introduction of the ban in Congress as of December 28, 2022. “I don’t think it’s going to have much of an impact on the accessibility to individual consumers because the direct threat to users has not yet been recognized,” said Cyrus Walker, the founder and managing principal at cybersecurity firm Data Defenders.  So in other words, we don’t really know what to expect. This could very well be 2020 all over again, when people last claimed the destruction of the app.

However, with the chance that this does all go through, it could have long-lasting affects on the way we live as a society today.