Devoted American users of one of the most widely used social media platforms, TikTok, were unfortunate to find their feed interrupted by a pop-up stating that the app was unavailable. On Jan. 18, 2025, just a few hours before its originally scheduled ban, Jan. 19, TikTok completely shut down for all United States residents. An online revolt proceeded, in which many citizens spouted complaints of political propaganda and a restriction on their free speech.
In April 2024, former President Joe Biden signed legislation that instructed TikTok’s owner, a Chinese tech giant called ByteDance, to either sell the app to a U.S owner, or face the consequences for not doing so: a nationwide ban, that is. Dissatisfied with their lose-lose situation, ByteDance sued the American government, calling the law “unconstitutional.”
The idea of banning an app as widely used as TikTok comes with its controversies, especially among those who rely on the platform not just for entertainment, but also for marketing, inspiration, and even gathering information on current events. One of the opponents of the ban, senior Montana Lopez-Brown, finds the app’s shut down unnecessary, questioning the government’s intentions.
“There are so many small businesses that have to get their income from [marketing] on TikTok. It’s one of the best apps to promote because A, it’s free, and B, it’s easily accessible.” Lopez-Brown said.
“I think [the U.S government] wanted to ban the app because it’s this big Chinese app that’s dominating the American government and also, they can’t control what’s on the app,” Lopez-Brown said.
There is some fact present in Lopez-Brown’s concerns. TikTok is one of the only large social media apps in the nation that is owned and moderated by an international company, as apps like Instagram, Facebook and X are all owned by American parent companies. Further emphasizing the domination of TikTok in the social media market, Fortune.com estimated the app to be worth up to $200 billion. Considering such a statistic, it’s justifiable that people like Lopez-Brown speculate that there is a governmental concern over a foreign business controlling a typically American market.
Along with the possible political drive behind the ban, TikTok’s addictive mechanism often comes up in the conversation of influencing internet addiction and mental health problems among the youth. The AP reports that teens spend around 108.5 minutes per day on the app, something that the owners of TikTok are very much aware of. This led to the platform placing a tool that would limit screen time, one that ultimately proved to be unhelpful as teens’ usage only lowered to 107 minutes per day. On an even more conspicuous level, documents were discovered in which the screen time limits were mainly instilled so that the public’s trust in TikTok would be uplifted, amplifying the animosity of the app.
Sophomore Jacob Banks had expressed issues with his relationship to the addictive nature of TikTok.
“I spend a little too much time with TikTok, like seven hours a day. TikTok has a better algorithm at recommending what kind of videos you want to watch,” Banks said.
Though the TikTok ban could potentially limit the number of hours Banks spends on his phone, he finds it a bit of an ineffective strategy, as other apps, like Instagram and YouTube, for example, have recently adapted an endless scrolling mechanism on their platforms as well.
“Banning TikTok is making me personally move to other apps, but I feel like [the ban] would still lower my screen time,” Banks said.
For reasons such as the ones that Banks had mentioned, senior Carter Berg actively avoids all social media with an addictive feed, especially TikTok.
“I don’t trust myself to not be addicted to [TikTok]. I see a lot of people with terrible screen times and stuff,” Berg said.
Internet addiction is considered a dire problem in today’s world. The National Library of Medicine found that excessive time spent online by adolescents is linked to symptoms of “withdrawal and tolerance,” often correlating to the type of environment a child grew up in. However, this is not the only factor behind why Berg refuses to download the app. In fact, Berg’s main concern is the nation’s security.
“You have all of our information [from the app] owned by this Chinese company, ByteDance, and you can’t trust that [The Chinese Communist Party] won’t take our information.” Berg said. “I think concerns over freedom of speech and small business promotion on the app are valid, but I think that when it comes to national security, that supersedes any other issue.”
There have been some government documents released to the public that supposedly prove ByteDance is partly moderated by the CCP. Yet, TikTok’s owners have repeatedly stated that they do not share consumer data with ByteDance. Regardless, Berg believes it necessary that our government bans the app to avoid any possible risks that would occur given a worst-case-scenario. Additionally, Berg believes that a singular app being banned, rather than social media entirely, proves that our citizens’ best interests are still kept in mind.
Berg’s values align closely with senator Eric Schmitt who, in response to Missourians’ concerns over the ban, sent a letter assuring them that the government is keeping their best interests in mind.
“…TikTok under the guise as a social media app has been used as a weapon by the Communist Party of China. It is a weapon aimed directly at America’s youth, and we need to take it seriously,” said Schmitt.
“TikTok is subject to surrendering any data on the platform to the CCP at any moment. As an extension of the CCP and its malign activities across the globe, the app has been used to stalk American journalists, silence American’s free speech criticizing the Chinese government, promote anti-American thoughts and principals, and harvest user data for a variety of ill-intended purposes. As highlighted by the legislative activity in the Senate related to TikTok, there is broad consensus of the dangers that TikTok presents to our national security and individual Americans.”
In regards to statements made by government officials such as Schmitt, Lopez-Brown finds fault in their defense.
“Our data gets stolen all the time by our own American companies like Meta, who are known to be in lawsuits over stealing their consumer’s data.” Lopez-Brown said.
“Let’s say that TikTok did get permanently banned. The fault would be entirely on [President Trump]. Him coming in and being the superhero of it all is kind of ironic, because he was the same person banning it in the first place.”
The dispute over TikTok’s ban has two overarching arguments: one being that the security of the nation is under threat, and the other considering if it’s a stunt to increase governmental control over content. With each side having its own justifications, it appears that there is a common implication among them: values stemming from bipartisan ideology — along with worries over social welfare — continue to insert themselves in every conversation as political polarization rises significantly among the American people.
