*CONTENT WARNING-DISCUSSION OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT, GROOMING, HATE SPEECH*
On Friday, July 31st, Donald Trump declared that he was going to ban TikTok. This announcement comes after months of speculation on whether or not the Chinese-owned brand was a threat to security and during a tumultuous time for USA-China relations. TikTok exploded onto the scene, originally marketed as a fill-in for Vine, has quickly grown to be one of the most popular social media platforms today. TikTok has over 1 billion downloads worldwide and has become a massive part of everyday life for Gen Z and Millenials. This ban is nothing new to Trump, as he recently attempted to shut down Twitter because they censored one of his posts. Trump believed that this censorship infringed upon his right to free speech, which poses a great deal of hypocrisy when it comes to the TikTok ban.
The TikTok ban is justified by stating that TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, has been placing personal information of Americans into the hands of the Chinese government. TikTok has been subject to a whole range of privacy violation accusations, so this comes at no surprise. Ithas also been known to surreptitiously share user videos and has even gone to court several times. A class action lawsuit filed by Misty Hong accused ByteDance of amassing personal data from TikTok and sharing the data nonconsensually amongst ByteDance’s subsidiary companies. Lawsuits have also claimed that TikTok violated privacy laws. These lawsuits are all indicative of malfeasant business practices. However, other platforms like Instagram and Facebook accused of comparable practices haven’t been banned, so why is TikTok different? It’s clear that the ban doesn’t have to do with the phantasmagoric threat that it poses to national security.
TikTok falls into a tricky ethical grey area has triggered a complex and nuanced discussion surrounding free speech. TikTok has had a ‘hands-off’ approach to regulating the content posted on the platform, which has forced us to discuss the limits of freedom of speech. The platform has been privy to all sorts of misuse, which manifests itself as grooming, inappropriate videos or comments, and downright hate speech. According to Vice, users have complained about being repeatedly sexually harassed. Hate speech has also worked its way onto TikTok, creating an environment described by writer John Hermann as “safe spaces to mock safe spaces”, hateful rhetoric has been allowed to be wholly masked by the guise of anonymity.
However, TikTok has given a platform to billions who don’t use the app to push their hateful or inappropriate agenda. It has long been known that social media can be a vital tool in orchestrating political movements: the Arab Spring Was organized entirely online. The Black Lives Matter movement has largely been run on TikTok, and millions of activists use it as a way to reach others. Removing TikTok would completely strip millions of their right to free speech. This sheds light on another major reason as to why the ban is so confusing-hypocrisy. Trump recently tried to ban Twitter for censoring his tweets, stating that it infringes upon free speech, but then attempts to ban a platform that grants people freedom of speech. The entire ethos behind Trump’s spontaneous attempts to ban platforms is centered on self-preservation: Twitter silenced him, he wants to silence Twitter. TikTok is voicing dissent, and Trump wants to silence those dissidents.
The ban of TikTok is rooted in some genuine fears of misuse and unsafe practices, but is mired in hypocrisy. Social media platforms are notorious for shady data collection and obfuscated privacy policies, and TikTok is no different. If the TikTok ban is on the pretext of public safety, privacy, or national security, then all other social media platforms would have been banned, too. TikTok is used by millions as a platform for self expression, activism, and free speech, and protecting the platform through which those are explored is not just important, it's imperative.