With over 170 million subscribers in the US, TikTok is an extremely popular app. It’s the Gen Z’s social media app of choice. TikTok has been under attack since former President Trump was in office and he signed an executive order banning it, but it was later challenged in federal court. Congress has now decided to give the same ban another chance. Just like in Trump’s executive order, the current bill that just passed the House of Representatives states that ByteDance, which owns TikTok, must sell their company to a US-based company or the government will order the app be removed from downloading services.
TikTok has all of its servers in the US and managed by their US Data Security team. There is also no evidence that TikTok has given the Chinese government any user information or that the Chinese government has ever asked.
This is all hypothetical.
This ban on TikTok is based on hypothetical concerns.
What is disappointing to say the least, is that there are pressing issues that Americans need addressed from Congress but they are choosing to attack a hypothetical situation when the US could be ending multiple wars and genocides, protecting LGBTQ+ rights, enshrining pregnant people’s access to abortion, providing drinkable water for all communities, increasing school funding, shaping healthcare reform, enacting gun bans, and so many other issues that Congress could be progressing, but they choose a hypothetical that strips away a civil liberty and violates the Constitution.
Why has the US government pushed for a TikTok ban for years? What is it about this social media app that threatens the US government? Under Trump, he did not like the majority of users being much more to the left than his ultra-conservative agenda. Under Biden, he does not like the majority of users being much more to the left than his conservative agenda. Both presidents use the guise that data could be given to the Chinese government.
Never have US users data been given to the Chinese government, so it is paranoia that the government wants to sow in order to dismantle TikTok which is a very left leaning social media app in which users can mobilize and take action on issues. The US government also does not like the fact that a Chinese company is doing so exceedingly well over all the US social media companies. The greater threat is that information can be so easily and quickly disseminated, and that users often take action regarding the issues they learn about on TikTok. Gaza and the genocide of Palestinians is one of those major issues.
An election is coming up and the Biden and Trump nominations are unappealing to a lot of voters and they’re voicing their discontent with two parties and the failures of the US democratic system. This is a major threat to both parties. They don’t want American voters uniting against them and opting for drastic changes because it threatens their power.
It’s amazing that Congress could so quickly unite together in the name of fascism to dictate to a company who has done no wrong, has safeguards in place, and force them to sell their company because they are scared of its power to spread information. This is all part of the fascist playbook. When they are threatened, restrict the ability of free speech.
Fascism unites the US government, not protecting American’s rights. This democracy is so broken.
China has weighed in on this bill and called the US a bully. China is right, the US is a bully and the US government is undermining international trade with such actions of dismantling a foreign company that has done no wrong.
One of the most damning aspects of this restrictive agenda is that the US government is claiming to be protecting Americans from our data being used by a foreign government, but the US government is not doing anything to protect that data of Americans from companies across the world from using our data and selling it. Every article read through a search engine, or news outlet requires our cookies, which they then sell. Almost every website accesses our cookies, which they then sell (minus this blog and a few other resources).
If the US government wants to protect Americans personal data, write a bill that makes the sale of our cookies and history illegal. That is protecting Americans, but the US Congress doesn’t actually want to protect Americans if there is a profit to be made.
The Biden administration called members of Congress into a meeting about the “security threats” that TIkTok supposedly poses, but some representatives that attended said that there was no smoking gun provided and that what they saw is how all social media companies operate and handle data. There is nothing that sets TikTok apart from any other social media app, but it is being singled out and shut down.
If the bill passes the Senate, can ByteDance sell TikTok in time for it to continue running? They could but it would be extremely hard with the US antitrust laws that take time to navigate properly for a sale to occur. This is an incredibly important aspect because this bill is setting TikTok up for a complete shutdown.
Millions of people will not know the less publicized news from around the world that needs to be shared. Millions of people will not be able to access stories and news about marginalized people who need their stories to be shared. Millions of people will lose the ability to mobilize and share ways to be heard and advocate for changes that need to be shared. It will silence millions of voices that need to be shared.
In a previous post I wrote about the increasing attacks on free speech by the US government because they are fascist autocrats. Fascist autocrats will strip away civil liberties and human rights, but they will try to destroy and restrain all aspects of free speech when they feel their control threatened.
Will the Senate pass the TikTok ban? It looks likely based on the responses from leading Democratic and Republican Senators. The fact that the Biden administration has been lobbying for this ban for a year and are pushing Congress to pass the ban is another reason why this bill will probably become law, unfortunately.
What the US government is missing are the huge amount of US voters who will take action in response to this ban. This might push a large number of voters to opt for third-party candidates and to further dismantle the broken democracy that is not protecting civil liberties but attacking them.
Fight for your voice to be heard.
Vote them all out.
Protest
Disrupt everything
Vote 3rd party
BE UNGOVERNABLE
Boycott
Demand sanctions and embargoes for Israel, US, UK, France, Germany, Canada, Australia, UAE, Russia, and Rwanda.
Please extend your energy to countries and people facing genocide and atrocities in Palestine, Sudan, Congo, West Papua, the Rohingyas, Armenians, and the Uyghurs.
Articles for reference. Please read and share.
AP: House passes TikTok ban bill, but its Senate path unclear
CNN: Live updates: House passes bill that could lead to US ban of TikTok
CNN: Hear Chinese official react to potential TikTok ban
ABC: No evidence of TikTok national security threat but reason for concern, experts say *this title is disingenuous because it never explains the reason for concern but it does assert that there is no evidence of a national security threat