Since the dawn of the internet, Social media has played an ever-increasing role in our society. From spreading news, recipes,” memes” and more, social media has become a staple in our culture of sharing. However, with the creation of Social media, government moderation and oversight have grown, culminating with many governments banning apps

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Mario Lara ‘27 is a freshman at Good Counsel. He is a staff writer for the Talon, and in his free time he enjoys running, learning about history, and attending lunch masses at school.

Today, no such app has reached the fame and notoriety as TikTok and its possible ban. The Congressional bill banning TikTok was bundled with foreign aid packages for Ukraine and Israel to force a senate vote and amplify its chances of passing into law.

Introduced into law by House Republicans and signed by President Biden, Congressional bill “H. R. 7521” opts to ban TikTok from the United States. 

Cited by both Republican lawmakers and President Biden, this bill was implemented due to concerns over national security data collection (no evidence is present that the Chinese Government collects such user data through TikTok), TikTok’s addiction, and the presence of Chinese influence in the United States). Although this bill may come as a shock, this is the second piece of legislation passed by the U.S. government that restricts TikTok’s access to devices in the United States. The first came in the form of Congressional bill “S.3455-No TikTok on Governmental Devices Act“. Additionally,” H. R. 7521” is the 3rd bill introduced by Lawmakers, as the first bill was introduced in 2023 by the state of Montana. Although unsuccessful (overruled by a Judge who believed Montana’s legislation overstepped state power), three bills related to a partial or total ban of TikTok present a common trend of negativity among U.S. lawmakers against TikTok. 

The effects of TikTok would mean the complete elimination of TikTok from all U.S. app stores and internet services in the U.S. by mid-January 2025. However, the removal of TikTok could be prevented if ByteDance sells TikTok within 270 days. Unfortunately for TikTok, even if efforts to sell the company are successful, ByteDance could be prevented under Chinese law from selling TikTok. However, ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, has threatened legal action against the U.S., which could delay TikTok’s ban. Additionally, possible legal action against the United States by Byte Dance would be based on First Amendment rights under the Constitution, allowing freedom of speech and press. 

Although the banning of an app is uncommon in the U.S., governments globally (Russia, Iran, India, France, and Canada) have blocked content to shield children from obscene content, prevent access to copyright-infringing material or confusingly named domains, and (in TikTok’s Case) under the guise of national security. Also, governments may ban content because of cultural norms, political considerations, political opposition, access to information regarding human rights, and restrictions on independent media. Additionally, opponents  against banning internet content cite Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which grants Humans the right “to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers.” 

To ban an app, governments can block or tamper with domain names, filter and block specific keywords, block IP addresses, or pressure online content providers to remove content/search results. These efforts are typically accomplished through publicly available software and tools; these tools and programs can raise concerns over human rights and pressure corporations to implement these tools responsibly to preserve these human rights. Countries like China may use a combination of the technologies mentioned above. At the same time, other countries, namely Morocco and Egypt, may take a lighter approach by blocking content through URL filtration.

Although TikTok’s ban presents itself as a mildly significant political issue among hot topics such as the Israel-Hamas and Russo-Ukrainian conflicts, its ban could usher in a new era for social media. Ultimately, this era places social media in the foreground for global competition between global powers, which pushes governments to exert greater control and oversight upon social media in an effort to gain the upper hand against their competitors. 

Sources:

Fung, Brian. “Biden just signed a potential TikTok ban into law. Here’s what happens next.” CNN, https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/23/tech/congress-tiktok-ban-what-next/index.html 

Leffer, Lauren. “Banning TikTok Would Do Basically Nothing to Protect Your Data.” Scientific American, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/tiktok-ban-data-privacy-security/ 

Proulx, Natalie. “Should the United States Ban TikTok?” The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/03/learning/should-the-united-states-ban-tiktok.html. 

“What Students Are Saying About Banning TikTok.” The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/13/learning/what-students-are-saying-about-banning-tiktok.html