TikTok To Be Banned in 2024?

By Amy Xiao

TikTok, something between a digital utopia of connection and a prime realization of Ray Bradbury’s technological dystopia, has come under fire. More accurately, TikTok and its parent company ByteDance have been under fire by the Trump administration since 2020 for “allow[ing] the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans' personal and proprietary information potentially allowing China to track the locations of Federal employees and contractors, build dossiers of personal information for blackmail, and conduct corporate espionage,” as stated in Executive Order 13492 This executive order had been one of the 210 public actions taken against China by the Trump Administration in 2020, although it was ultimately overruled by multiple federal judges. Users may recall this event from the frenzy of content creators tearfully bidding their last goodbyes before realizing that there was no goodbye. However, action is rising again: On May 17th, Montana’s governor signed legislation banning TikTok's appearance worddd on app stores in 2024 This ban is part of a larger conglomerate of US anti-TikTok actions, like the federal government’s ban of TikTok on government-related devices and the Biden Administration’s potential national ban. TikTok responded by arguing that this ban was an infringement on users’ First Amendment rights. Social media allies of TikTok like Google, Facebook, and NetChoice have come out to back TikTok, agreeing that the ban was “blocking Americans from accessing constitutionally protected speech online via websites or apps”.

Past Charges

TikTok was fined $5.7 million in 2019 for the collection of children’s data

The company had admitted to being aware of children using their app, yet still failed to secure parental consent before collecting personal information

TikTok has also been accused of illegally processing data of 1 4 million children under 13 in Britain. However, compared to the charges other social media companies face, TikTok’s orddd charges are not particularly special. Last year, Instagram was fined $402 million in the EU for violating data protection laws. It was criticized for mishandling children’s data, similar to accusations against TikTok, except on a larger scale In general, social media companies are not particularly well-known for being bastions of social justice Their very model for profit relies on the extensive collection of minuscule user habits, from customer location to the amount of time spent on posts, to predict future actions and sell attention.

Popular response

Popular response varies. One New York Times commenter claims it is “the right decision” since “China has banned numerous American apps for the exact same reason”, and as a communist country, it will not follow foreign regulations The South China Morning Post claims the ban is more of a reflection of anti-Asian sentiment, and that “TikTok is [being] targeted in the US for being Chinese, not for what it word has or has not done”. TikTok creators have protested the ban outside of Congress, claiming it would diminish the power of word small businesses, communities, and educators. One content creator, Nathalie Atkins, claims "it’s about old people who don’t word know anything about technology trying to restrict it.”