A month after the House of Representatives passed a bill effectively outlawing TikTok from the United States, the proposed ban is only gaining momentum. As senators from all around America gear up for the inevitable legal battle against TikTok, the ban has received a heart and a like from one, very important person: President Joe Biden. When questioned by reporters regarding the TikTok legislation, the President replied, “If they pass it, I’ll sign it,” further legitimizing a plan guaranteed to shake American social media usage. So, why exactly was this bill brought to court in the first place?
During a congressional hearing of Shou Zi Chew, the CEO of Tik Tok, the main concern brought up multiple times was whether the Chinese government had used TikTok to steal the private data of American citizens. This concern is not as crazy as it may seem. TikTok is a firm owned by a larger corporation, ByteDance, both of which are based in China. According to a recent law passed by President Xi Jinping, the Chinese authorities have the power to seize any data—even private, American data—from all tech companies based in China. American lawmakers have argued that the chances of China not seizing advantage of all that U.S information via TikTok are very, very slim. Polls have shown that many Americans feel the same way. According to Pew Research Center, six in ten Americans view TikTok as a minor or major threat to the national security of the United States.
China’s reaction to this bill has been anything but happy. In a press conference with several newspapers, a Chinese representative stated that “[This ban] will inevitably come back to bite the United States itself.” He went on to describe the bill as “bullying behavior” that “cannot be tolerated.” So why is China, a country that banned TikTok from its own citizens, condemning a similar banning in the United States? That remains to be seen as TikTok has been, and still is, steadily denying any involvement with the Chinese government.
In any case, the fate of Tik Tok and its 150 million users will remain undecided for the next couple of months, as the bill will have to pass the Senate before making its way to Biden’s desk for signing. If the ban is successful, Americans will have to wonder how this will affect the social media network as a whole and whether another online platform is next on the chopping block.
