In a world where technology is the leading source of everyday activity, there has been a recent social rage upon the notion of closing down a popular media application. An internet sensation, TikTok, has recently been considered becoming a banned app across the entire United States as government officials have become concerned with the shared user data TikTok might have.
The company, ByteDance, which is a Chinese-ran corporation, currently owns the app TikTok and previously Musical.ly. TikTok has a history of collecting user data due to the algorithm featured on many’s feeds. If you notice your “for you” page, many activities you may like to do or enjoy viewing seem to pop up on the app’s site. However, users may not have even related to that certain content before but it still appears on the page. Collecting extensive data on its users, such as location, hobbies of sorts, and basic device information, has been commonly found in apps such as TikTok. But this isn’t the first time it has been reported or noticed.
United States lawmakers fear that the data ByteDance collects from the app TikTok could be easily accessed by the Chinese government and used to profile individuals or corrupt opinions of populations. Especially if it pertains to elections. There are also other worrying factors such as misinformation throughout the platform, cyberbullying, and security all together.
To be fair, every app has their issues. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. They each can spread misinformation, harm, and insecurities to many who use it. Therefore, TikTok is not the only problem, social media in general can be corrupt. But yet consumers still engage in the media and use it.
Where can we draw the line? That is unclear. To notice, according to this ban against TikTok, fast forwarding to January 19th, the app was planned to be taken down from the app store. On April 24th, 2024, President Joe Biden had stated that the app had to be sold to a United States corporation by that date or else it would be removed, but President-elect Donald Trump has urged the Supreme Court to take a step back upon the ban. The only information the public has grasped was that on Sunday, January 19th, 2025, the ban could go into effect if TikTok does not get bought by a different company other than ByteDance. Nothing is certain though.
This TikTok ban has bursted a social media outrage with mixed opinions surfing the internet. Some individuals are completely against the ban and others are for it. Many influencers or creators on the app have created a life or job out of posting videos and content, therefore when it is removed it will be taking away a part of people’s lives. But a lot of people do not take into consideration this idea.
In total, the TikTok ban is up and coming and with social media being a huge part of life, no one truly knows what will happen. The outcome can be positive or negative but only time will tell.
What are your thoughts on the TikTok ban? Let us know in the comments.
