TikTok is the most popular app in the United States, with over 150 million American users. The app has been proven to help countless businesses take off and has greatly benefited the economy overall.
If that is true, why would the United States want to ban TikTok?
People in this country fear that TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, has to comply with the Chinese Communist Party. Although TikTok has tried to distance itself from ByteDance, the United States government is worried that the Chinese government will use TikTok to gather American users’ data to spy on America or spread pro-Chinese government propaganda.
Are the trials against TikTok because of Xenophobia?
Some people think the trials against TikTok are because of Xenophobia, and a racial bias against China. Zhengyu Huang, president of the Committee of 100 argues, “We are afraid that, more and more, the actions and the language of the government is premised on the assumption that just because we are Chinese or have cultural ties to China that we could be disloyal, or be spies, or be under the influence of a foreign government.” Representative Jamaal Bowman also argued, “This is xenophobic… And it’s part of another Red Scare…The targeting of TikTok feels to me, and reeks to me, as part of this overall culture war thing we see coming from the Republican Party…Unfortunately, some Democratic lawmakers are buying into it as well.”
In contrast, the Independent Women's Forum states, “The proposal to ban the popular social media platform has nothing to do with the Chinese population; there is nothing xenophobic about it”, saying the trials against TikTok are because TikTok is, “a grave national security threat to the kids and younger generations of America.”
What do Léman Manhattan students think?
Several middle school students were interviewed on their thoughts. Firstly, not everyone thinks TikTok is going to be banned because there have been rumors of it being banned in the past. When asked about what information she has heard about the TikTok ban, Ionnie Small, an eighth-grade student said, “I’ve heard about it [the TikTok ban] once”, but added, “I don’t think they’re going to do it.”
Many people also said they support the U.S. banning TikTok if it’s a threat to American safety. Noemi Fox, a seventh-grade student, said she would want TikTok to be banned, “If it’s detrimental to our everyday life and the US’s national security.” However, Shannon Walsh, another eighth-grade student said she doesn’t think the United States should ban TikTok because “It would be a big loss for a lot of kids that spend a lot of their time on it.”