What You Need To Know About The TikTok Ban

Read Time:6 Minute, 23 Second

By: Maddie Webb

“Stop a TikTok shutdown.”

While using TikTok within the past month you may have been greeted with this urgent message from the owners of the app. The message, shared with its users, explained that the app was at risk of being banned within the United States. This original message stated that “Congress is planning a total ban of TikTok,” urging the American users to call their congress members and “speak up now–before your government strips 170 million Americans of their Constitutional right to free expression.” But the thing is, this isn’t entirely true.

H.R. 7521, or the “TikTok Bill,” was introduced to the House of Representatives on March 5th of 2024, which marked the beginning of its process of being passed into law. The bill states that TikTok will be banned within the United States if the app is not sold by its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, within 180 days of the bill’s passing.

So, TikTok’s message that “Congress is planning a total ban of TikTok,” isn’t entirely true. ByteDance has an entirely equal chance of keeping TikTok alive within the states as the US government has. Will it even come to this though? What is the likelihood that this beloved app will be banned?

On the 13th of March, 2024, the House of Representatives passed the “TikTok Bill”, making it much more possible that this will become a law. The bill was passed with a sweeping majority of 352 representatives voting to approve it and 65 representatives rejecting the bill. While at first glance this may look bad for the app’s livelihood in the US, it’s important to remember that a bill cannot be enacted until it is approved first by both the Senate and the House of Representatives and then, the President. Meaning the bill is currently only one third of the way through the process. This means that it could be a while until this bill actually becomes law. Furthermore, even if it does make it through all of these steps, that doesn’t necessarily mean it will be banned, considering the terms of the bill.

There is still a possibility that this bill will not even be passed into law. Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, has yet to decide whether the bill will be taken to the floor to be voted on. This slows down the process of passing the bill, meaning it could sit in the senate for weeks or even months. So, there really is no way to predict the Senate’s decision on the bill, especially since few Senate members have yet to speak on the bill. However, President Joe Biden has spoken out about the bill stating, “If they pass it, I’ll sign it,” meaning if it does make its way through Congress successfully, Biden will be passing it into law.

Over the past four years TikTok has become a key part of many Americans’ lives, especially those of teens and young adults. Young people across the globe have bonded

together through the app, becoming increasingly obsessed with the short-form content it provides, over other apps like Instagram and YouTube who have fallen in popularity as TikTok has risen. So, why is it that the US Government has become hell-bent on banning the app?

The bill states that ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, “has been determined by the President to present a significant threat to national security.” This is due to ByteDance being a Chinese owned company that is part of the Chinese Communist Party. TikTok itself is not Chinese, based in California and Singapore, and was only ever available in one Chinese administrative region, Hong Kong, before being banned in 2020. However, it is still ByteDance’s Chinese government association that creates fear within the United States Government. American politicians are arguing that the app needs to be banned because of the company’s ability to sell U.S. data and information, a massive security risk for the country.

Not all TikTok users necessarily agree with this narrative though. Many people have speculated that the US government is banning TikTok because they are unable to control the media and content that the app shares. With the current conflict in Palestine people noted how TikTok has become a hub for pro-Palestine activism, opposing the US government’s support for Israel. Even looking at domestic issues, such as the upcoming election, TikTok is not a platform that older politicians are literate in, making it hard for them to understand the trends and opinions of younger voters who are using the app. This gives another explanation for users to speculate causing the government’s ban.

Here on campus, students seem to believe that the ban isn’t coming from the right place. Nursing student and TikTok user, Adriel Rebancos, says that he believes that “it is not a good use of the legislative branch’s time and efforts. There are many more issues occurring in the world that need our attention and action.” Even student Yasly Nunez, who has been off of TikTok for some time now says “I think that it’s important to hold them accountable for other main issues that need to be solved and advocated for.” Another statement came from student Sofia Aseron, who also has stopped using TikTok, and said “I think [the ban] is really an invasion of privacy issue as well power in a way.” Aseron also noted that “I don’t think the ban will be as effective as they’d hope, since I do not doubt the emergence of another app that is similar to tik tok. Instagram has reels and even Snapchat developed a TikTok algorithm type thing… if TikTok goes away, another app will just take its place.”

However, more than anything, students are aware of the positive impact that the ban can have on young people and their mental health. Nunez explained, “It’s caused more problems than solutions, and has made people chronically online, meaning they don’t think for themselves. I had to delete TikTok because it got to the point where I was just scrolling to scroll and it wasn’t adding any positives to my life. Instead it was adding to insecurities and the fear of missing out. Ever since I deleted it, it’s been freeing and has helped me put all my energy in the things and the people that I love.” Nunez feels the TikTok ban is progress in terms of mental health legislation for young people, but added that she believes that while the government’s ban is not necessarily an effective use of their time. Rebancos shared similar ideas, “The only effectiveness I can see with the ban is the positive impact that it would bring to the productiveness and mental health of today’s youth.”

Aside from the positives and the negatives of the ban, TikTok’s fate remains unknown. Over the next few months we will see how the US government treats this bill and then, if it gets to it, how ByteDance responds to the potential American ban. There’s no way to predict the outcome of the bill, but there are ways for the people to sway the decision of the government. If you want to take action for the future of the app, you can call your senators and share your support for or opposition to the ban. At the end of the day, though, it is in the hands of the Senate to decide the path of the TikTok bill.