When President Joe Biden signed a US$ 95 billion international aid bill into law on April 24, 2024, it started the time on a nine- quarter windows for TikTok’s China- based parent company, ByteDance, to promote the app. The president has three times to extend the deadline, and TikTok has indicated that it intends to issue the law in jury.
Any US app store or web hosting service will no longer accept TikTok if the law is in effect and the business does n’t sell the app. This would affect TikTok’s over 170 million US users, including 62 % of Americans ages 18 to 29.
Additionally, it may change the landscape of information and news. In contrast to its rivals, TikTok has been growing annually in the number of people who use the software frequently. Almost one-third of Americans under the age of 30 use Twitter as their media source.
The main objections to TikTok under the control of ByteDance include the fact that it encourages bad behavior among adolescents, encourages foreign influence in American public opinion, and undermines American ‘ data privacy.
However, none of these problems is fresh or special to TikTok among social media platforms.
International influence and advertising
Politicians have expressed concern that TikTok users ‘ views on the material the Chinese government may impact the country’s political discourse.
Representative Mike Gallagher, a Republican from Wisconsin who co-sponsored the House act on TikTok, warned that allowing TikTok to take over as the world’s main news source may result in the Chinese Communist Party and ByteDance losing control of the information.
Senator Dan Sullivan, a Republican from Alaska, referred to TikTok’s position in the controversy surrounding ConocoPhillips ‘ Holly oil drilling project as a potential Chinese-led activity intended to undermine US power supremacy.
However, a number of international institutions, including China, and their proxy who use US-based social media platforms in an effort to influence public opinion have been and continue to be used them.
Russian intelligence began using platforms like Facebook and X, the app formerly known as Twitter, to these ends beginning with its attempts to ingrain the 2016 presidential election. For almost a decade, it has been using these systems.
These cross-platform systems are coordinated and maintained through these impact campaigns. Experts assert that Instagram, Instagram, X and YouTube refuse to give access to the data that would be needed to monitor or prevent for activities.
Dangerous to minors
Some politicians also warn against TikTok’s information being distributed to kids in connection with risky behaviors like self-harm and eating disorders. Nevertheless, all social media may cause these risks.
For instance, a whistleblower‘s leaked internal documents revealed that Meta has known since 2019 that its systems are likely to harm US adolescents ‘ emotional well-being and well-being. According to the company’s internal study, the platform exposed teenagers to another dangerous behaviors, such as abuse, medication abuse, and self-harm, and caused body image issues and eating disorders in teenaged girls.
41 US state and the District of Columbia are already suing Meta for the harm that allegedly occurred to minors. In a speech addressed to the US Senate in 2021, journalist Catherine Haugen discussed the risks posed by Meta’s platforms.
There has n’t been much controversy over how young people’s exposure to hate-based content is increased through social media, or how platforms like YouTube funnel users into radicalization pipelines.
Data security and privacy
The TikTok sale-or-ban law’s supporters also claim that the software poses an unacceptable risk to data protection. Gallagher claimed that TikTok could be used by the Chinese government to “find Americans, exfiltrate files, and track the location of journalists” for spying.
However, there is little reason to believe Americans ‘ information is safer with US- based firms. There have been a number privacy-tracking/facebook-fuels-broad-privacy-debate-by-tracking-non-users-idUSKBN1HM0DR/”>of data protection crises at Meta. Leaked documents from last year revealed that even Meta specialists have little control over how women’s data is used.
Official Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Democrat from Illinois who co-sponsored the House expenses on TikTok, used a Grindr case as a powerful precedent to compel ByteDance to sell TikTok. Following safety concerns comparable to those relating to TikTok, the Chinese company that owns Grindr sold the application to a U.S. company in 2020.
However, a border Catholic organization in Denver purchased area and use information from Grindr and additional dating apps just last month.
Also, TikTok’s control of TikTok is not necessary for the Chinese government to access the data that Americans use to download apps, devices, and smart devices. A large proportion of these files can be purchased, totally legally, from industrial data brokers, regardless of who’s the user.
The area data for visitors to Planned Parenthood and portable device location beeps that can be deanonymized to disclose the whereabouts of the president of the United States have been shown to be included in the free and open market data that can be purchased.
The need for legislation
Worries about TikTok are not false, but they are also not exclusive. Every danger that TikTok poses has been addressed by US-based social advertising for more than ten years. I think lawmakers should take action to stop harms caused by US businesses seeking gain as well as by international businesses engaging in espionage.
It is impossible to protect American by banning just one software. To really protect their electorate, lawmakers would need to enact wide, significantly- reaching regulation.
At Arizona State University, Sarah Florini is an associate teacher of video and media reports.
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