As President Joe Biden signed a $95 billion foreign aid bill With the passage of the law on April 24, 2024, TikTok's China-based parent company ByteDance kicked off sales of the app in a nine-month window. The president can extend the deadline by three months, and TikTok has said it plans to achieve this challenge the law in court.
If the law stands and the corporate doesn't sell the app, TikTok can be banned from all U.S. app stores and website hosting services. This would affect the demise of TikTok 170 million US users including 62% of Americans ages 18 to 29.
It would also change the news and data landscape. Unlike its competitors, TikTok takes place annually Increasing the share of users who usually check the platform for news. Nearly a 3rd of Americans under 30 Use TikTok as a news source.
The principal arguments against ByteDance-owned TikTok include that it enables foreign influence over U.S. public opinion, encourages harmful behavior amongst minors and undermines Americans' privacy. However, none of those concerns are recent or unique to TikTok amongst social media platforms.
Foreign influence and propaganda
Lawmakers have raised concerns that the Chinese government could influence U.S. public opinion and due to this fact politics by exercising control over what content TikTok users see. Rep. Mike Gallager (R-WI), co-sponsor of the House bill on TikTok, warned that TikTok could emerge because the dominant news platform in America Transferring control of data into the hands of ByteDance and by extension the Chinese Communist Party.
Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) referenced TikToks Role in difficult ConocoPhillips' Willow oil drilling project in Alaska meant as a possible Chinese use of influence to undermine US energy dominance.
But U.S.-based social media platforms have been and proceed to be exploited by quite a few foreign governments, including China, and their proxies who use them to their very own ends influence public opinion within the USA. Beginning with its efforts to intervene within the 2016 presidential election, Russian intelligence has long used platforms like Facebook And Xthe platform formerly often known as Twitter, To this ends for nearly a decade.
These influence campaigns create and Maintain coordinated cross-platform networks. Researchers claim that Facebook, Instagram, X and YouTube deny access to the info essential to trace or prevent such activities.
Dangerous for minors
Some lawmakers are also warning that TikTok is feeding children Content linked to dangerous behavior, reminiscent of eating disorders and self-harm. However, All social media can pose these threats.
For example, internal documents leaked out of a revealer revealed that Meta has known since 2019 that its platforms are prone to harm the mental health and well-being of U.S. minors. The company's internal investigation found that the platform contributed to body image issues and eating disorders amongst teen girls and exposed teens to other harmful behaviors reminiscent of bullying, substance abuse and self-harm.
Currently 41 US states and the District of Columbia have filed lawsuits against Meta for the harm allegedly caused to minors.
At the identical time, there was little outcry about how the period of time young people spend on social media is increasing Exposure to hate-based content or that platforms like YouTube Channel users into radicalization pipelines.
Data security and data protection
Proponents of the TikTok sell-or-ban law also claim that the app poses an unacceptable threat to privacy. Rep. Gallagher claimed that the Chinese government could use TikTok for espionage “Find Americans, exfiltrate data and Track the location of journalists.”
Still, there may be little reason to imagine that Americans' data is safer with U.S.-based firms. Meta had one broad Range from Data privacy Scandals. Last yr, leaked documents showed that even meta-engineers have minimal understanding or control over how people's data is used.
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), co-sponsor of the House bill on TikTok, called a case involving the dating app Grindr successful Precedent for ByteDance being forced to divest TikTok. In 2020, the Chinese company that owned Grindr sold the app to a US company Security concerns just like those surrounding TikTok follow. But only last yr an edge Catholic group in Denver bought location and usage data from Grindr and other dating apps to trace LGBTQ+ priests.
Furthermore, the Chinese government hardly needs control of TikTok to access the info sets that apps, devices, and smart devices collect from Americans. Much of this data will be acquired completely legally by business data brokers, no matter who owns it.
It has been shown that data that’s freely available for purchase on the open market also comprises the situation data of holiday makers Planned Parenthood and mobile device Location pings which will be de-anonymized to disclose the whereabouts of the President of the United States.
The need for regulation
Concerns about TikTok usually are not unfounded, but they usually are not unique either. Every threat posed by TikTok has also emanated from US-based social media for over a decade. I imagine lawmakers should take motion to combat harm attributable to each U.S. firms in search of profit and foreign firms engaged in espionage.
Protecting Americans can’t be achieved by banning a single app. To truly protect their constituents, lawmakers would need to enact comprehensive and far-reaching regulations.
image credit : theconversation.com