Joseph Biden, the 46th president of the United States, signed a bill passed by the senate announcing that TikTok had one year to be sold to an American company; otherwise, it would be banned on April 24, 2022.
TikTok is a social media application owned by Bytedance, a Chinese internet company. Every day, millions of videos are uploaded to the platform, ranging from comedy to stories, news and informative content.
Being owned by a Chinese company, plenty of Americans began to see TikTok’s huge presence in American culture as a threat to the nation’s national security, due to China being a geopolitical adversary of the USA.
Freshman Miles Garret sees only positives for the ban.
“The TikTok ban is beneficial to national security,” Garret said. “It will also have social benefits.”
The bill, dubbed the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,” was wrapped into a bill providing foreign aid to the American allies of Ukraine, Israel and notably Taiwan, which is a direct adversary of China. The bill is set to take effect on January 19, 2025; however, there is a possibility that TikTok is not going to be banned.
President-elect Donald Trump, formerly 45th president of the United States and the main advocate for a TikTok ban, switched sides when Biden agreed that the app should be banned, now becoming an advocate for the app to remain. He has urged the Supreme Court to delay the ban, and with him taking the powers of President on Jan. 20, if the Supreme Court does choose to delay, he might have the ability to prevent the app’s banning.
There is a fierce debate online on if TikTok should be getting banned. One side believes that TikTok shouldn’t be banned, citing the fact that it provides entertainment to millions of Americans and gives a living to several creators. On the other side, people believe that TikTok should be banned, citing that it is a security risk being owned by a company from a country in which the U.S. has tense relations with, believing that TikTok content is a net negative for society.
Voice your stance via the Courier’s poll at shscourier.com.
