Should TikTok be banned?

[Cam]

In recent months, lawmakers in the United States, Europe and Canada have escalated efforts to restrict access to TikTok, the massively popular short-form video app that is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, citing security threats.

The White House told federal agencies on Feb. 27 that they had 30 days to delete the app from government devices, and various cities, including New York, have barred government workers from downloading it as well.

On March 1, a House committee backed an even more extreme step, voting to advance legislation that would allow President Biden to ban TikTok from all devices nationwide. On March 23, TikTok’s chief executive, Shou Chew, was grilled about the app’s relationship to its parent company and China’s potential influence over the platform in roughly five hours of testimony before a House committee.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/article/tiktok-ban.html

Welp, here in the US, it's been discussed at every single Presidential Debate so far. Should TikTok be banned? In this debate, nominees appear to be in favor of either banning it or forcing the company to sell the website, referencing their algorithm that exposed Americans to lots of pro-Palestinian content.

What do you think?

 

[Dismal_Bliss]

No, I think the whole ban Tiktok thing is silly.

 

[Cam]

No, I think the whole ban Tiktok thing is silly

It seems more and more likely, especially when there's an inevitable war involving China's claim of Taiwan.

 

[primrose]

It is banned in most US states already but banning it entirely will put some people out of income. No one thinks about that though.

 

[Page]

Yes it should be banned. Tiktok gives the CCP direct access to easily influence the minds of tens of millions of Americans. If we were to get into an actual war with them, they could have ByteDance push anti-America/pro-China propaganda to all users. The data privacy issue is the least of my concerns about Tiktok.

 

[KyngzIndeyen]

Well, I acknowledge the CCP security issues (and thus, I agree with it being banned for public-sector workers) - but, I don't like the idea of banning it entirely, and I'd consider that to be a last resort.

It's a pity the planned sale to Microsoft fell through... that way, this would have been much less of an issue!

 

[MrDawn]

It seems more and more likely, especially when there's an inevitable war involving China's claim of Taiwan.

Even if Tiktok was taken offline, someone somewhere would make an Americanized version. There's money in it. Just like when Napster was taken offline, there were multiple platforms made in the attempt to replace it. People want what they want and if they can't have it, they'll search for alternatives.

 

[Katrina]

Even if Tiktok was taken offline, someone somewhere would make an Americanized version. There's money in it. Just like when Napster was taken offline, there were multiple platforms made in the attempt to replace it. People want what they want and if they can't have it, they'll search for alternatives.

It would be much better if an American company had their own version.

The company where my husband works wanted those who use their phone for work to remove the app for security purposes. They deal with contracts with NASA and other US government projects.

 

[Shortie_]

TikTok as much as it does get bad press sometimes is a great platform and it has helped so many people succeed and do what they enjoy doing which is entertain to make a living.

There are some bad apples on there but for the most part, I notice that there are a lot of talented people on there just waiting to be found.

The whole ban TikTok discussion is something I feel is just talk and will not go beyond that.

 

[zappaDPJ]

I've never used it and don't really know enough about it to have much of an opinion but... I would certainly be a little concerned about potential privacy/security issues given its country of origin. I've also read that moderation on the platform is pretty hit and miss plus some of the content appears to encourage stupid behaviour.

I wouldn't use it but I don't think I'd agree to a ban.

 

[Kirubel]

I think most countries want to ban tiktok because of its owner. Since the platform is owned by China, other developed countries don't feel safe when their citizens use tiktok. But for those developing countries, the reason for banning tiktok is that it causes people to share unwelcome contents and also that people spend a lot of time on the app.

 

[King Belieal]

I don't trust America when they persecute a tech company. I don't see any justifiable reason they have want to ban TikTok. It seems anything that promotes freedom of speech is a threat to the government.

 

[UniqueGrace]

TikTok as much as it does get bad press sometimes is a great platform and it has helped so many people succeed and do what they enjoy doing which is entertain to make a living.

There are some bad apples on there but for the most part, I notice that there are a lot of talented people on there just waiting to be found.

The whole ban TikTok discussion is something I feel is just talk and will not go beyond that.

I don't know what reason/s they find it deem to ban it. A lot of people are really surviving because of Tiktok either making money, showing out their or laughing out their sorrows out. Some also get help from there too.

I hope the whole ban issue is just a mere talk.

 

[KensonPlays]

I don't know what reason/s they find it deem to ban it. A lot of people are really surviving because of Tiktok either making money, showing out their or laughing out their sorrows out. Some also get help from there too.

I hope the whole ban issue is just a mere talk.

It's more than just mere talk, I believe it's passed through a couple 'layers' of the government passing. Its close to a ban, iirc.

I'm completely fine with it getting banned. I don't use it myself, and don't care for the site. If it gets banned, it gets banned, if not, it doesn't. I'm ok either way, tbh.

Though, it is ruining attention spans, and it seems people stop watching long-form YT videos if they're not like 1-2 minutes at most haha.

 

[UniqueGrace]

It's more than just mere talk, I believe it's passed through a couple 'layers' of the government passing. Its close to a ban, iirc.

I'm completely fine with it getting banned. I don't use it myself, and don't care for the site. If it gets banned, it gets banned, if not, it doesn't. I'm ok either way, tbh.

Though, it is ruining attention spans, and it seems people stop watching long-form YT videos if they're not like 1-2 minutes at most haha.

I get your point though but I hope they don't ban it because of the positive sides of it.

 

[TechWiz18]

It's more than just mere talk, I believe it's passed through a couple 'layers' of the government passing. Its close to a ban, iirc.

I'm completely fine with it getting banned. I don't use it myself, and don't care for the site. If it gets banned, it gets banned, if not, it doesn't. I'm ok either way, tbh.

Though, it is ruining attention spans, and it seems people stop watching long-form YT videos if they're not like 1-2 minutes at most haha.

I understand the point about it ruining attention span's, we were doing that far before TikTok came about, Vine was all very short form. Heck tiktok now has 10+ minute video's if I'm not mistaken. Also, TikTok going away isn't going to make this go away. TikTok has triggered an affect with Meta & YouTube to create their own versions because all of a sudden, these companies saw that there was a strong market for this short form content.

It has successfully passed the house and the senate under the disguise for Ukraine aid. I despise how our government can't seem to only push one issue through in a bill they have to bundle everything.

Also to other points in this thread, the CCP probably already has more data on us than we realize even prior to TikTok. Not to mention how much we support their economy by importing all of their products and American companies shipping jobs over there.

The whole China thing is a much bigger problem than TikTok.

 

[KensonPlays]

I never used Vine. Never even knew it existed until after it shut down. I run a modded YouTube app on my phone to hide Shorts, and don't even have tiktok on my phone. Never understood the appeal.

 

[zappaDPJ]

plus some of the content appears to encourage stupid behaviour.

It's probably bad form to quote yourself but I've noticed more recently that the majority of press reporting on TikTok users makes me wonder exactly what the primary focus of the app is all about.

Based on what I read it seems to be to encourage all manner of illegal behaviour and stupidity. I do realise that the press in general is going to focus on the negative but I don't see member content on other apps being reported in a similar fashion.

 

[Min George]

The Chinese laws mandates that any Chinese organisation must cooperate with the government on gathering intelligence. That's to say no one is safe with their private info on Tiktok. It should not be banned though. It should be sold to local entities worldwide like it happened in America.