Debates continue about whether a nationwide TikTok ban would be necessary for national security or a violation of freedom of speech.
The social media platform, TikTok, allows users to post and interact with short 15 second to 3 minute video content. Back in September of 2021, the application hit 1 billion users, according to their newsroom website. As of January 2023, 113.3 million of these active TikTok users are at least 18 years old and from the United States, says Data Reportal. Concerns about the use of TikTok in the United States, among other countries, grow since TikTok is a Chinese-owned application. The United States government worries about “the potential use or misuse of the private information that it gathers about its users,” as reported by Investopedia.
On February 27, 2023, the White House ordered that TikTok be deleted off of government devices within 30 days. This announcement comes after a time of suspected espionage in the case of the February “Chinese Spy Balloons.”
The Biden Administration has the ability to ban TikTok nationwide. Reuters reported, “The U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee voted on Wednesday [March 1, 2023] along party lines to give President Joe Biden the power to ban Chinese-owned TikTok.” The report continued to say that Republican Representative, Michael McCaul, called the app a “‘national security threat,’” while some democrats thought the bill was rushed.
White House Press Secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, expressed the White House’s concerns about TikTok on March 2, 2023. She said in a press conference that the White House is considering the way China may use user-collected data for harm, according to USA Today.
The potential ban of TikTok in the United States has raised arguments about violations of the first amendment. The American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to the House Foreign Affairs Committees on Monday, February 27, saying, “This vague and overbroad legislation [HR 1153] would violate the First Amendment rights of millions of Americans who use TikTok to communicate, gather information, and express themselves daily.”
The Center for Strategic and International Studies said TikTok videos are forms of speech. They continued, “The United States could use the International Economic Emergency Powers Act (IEEPA), which gives the president broad discretion over foreign entities, but IEEPA does not give him authority to suspend the constitution,” back in November of 2022.
This is not the first time the United States government has condemned the use of TikTok. In the summer of 2020, former President Donald Trump’s administration threatened a ban of the application “on the grounds that the Chinese Communist Party could use data gathered on its users to spy on U.S. citizens,” according to Investopedia.
There may be more common ground between the two major US political parties than many people think, as we see the Democratic Biden administration and former Republican President Trump’s administration having the same concerns about Chinese-owned TikTok.
As tension between the United States and China continues, what side of the potential TikTok ban debate will prevail: national security or freedom of speech?
