TikTok faces threat of 'nation-wide ban'
Tensions over the future of TikTok reached an all-time high on March 15, 2023 after the Biden Administration threatened the app with a nation-wide ban if the Chinese parent company, ByteDance, refused to sell the platform to U.S. buyers.
TikTok has been under scrutiny for security threats since July 7, 2020 when former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the government was considering banning the app from all government devices. Since the app's launch in 2016, TikTok has grown in popularity, amassing 150 million American users as of March 21, leading to concerns from U.S. Federal officials that the Chinese Communist party could have unlimited access to sensitive data of American citizens, and filter what their users see on the app.
“The biggest issue is that users are largely unaware of the true risks of foreign governments using their user data,” stated Anton Dahbura, executive director of Johns Hopkins University Information Security Institute to Time magazine. “People would be shocked about how our trails of breadcrumbs from our mobile devices and other platforms can be used in different ways that can be a threat to national security.”
This suspicion was later intensified by the revelation that TikTok was using its platform to track the physical location of two journalists in an attempt to discover their sources around Dec. 23, 2022. The journalists targeted were Financial Times reporter Christina Criddle and former Buzzfeed reporter Emily-Baker White. Leader of the operation and ByteDance’s chief internal auditor, Chris Lepitak, was fired, while his manager, Song Ye, resigned of his own accord. ByteDance chief executive Rubo Liang, the direct manager of Song Ye, stated he was “deeply disappointed” in an internal email published by Forbes.
“The public trust that we have spent huge efforts building is going to be significantly undermined by the misconduct of a few individuals,” Liang stated. “I believe this situation will serve as a lesson to us all."
TikTok was officially banned from all government devices on Dec. 28, 2022. the Biden Administration’s progress, users of the app don’t appear worried about the potential ban.
“They tried to ban TikTok before and failed,” said TikTok user Natalie Eyestone, a sophomore attending David Douglas. “It’s humorous that they’re trying again.”
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew was invited to testify before Congress on March 3, 2023, in order to defend the app amidst these national security concerns, the main one being the possibility of the app being used to promote propaganda and misinformation, swaying American users in favor of Chinese political beliefs. In the span of roughly five hours, Chew attempted to persuade lawmakers that the app was not misusing U.S. data, emphasizing the popularity TikTok has with American citizens in order to avoid the sale or national ban of the app. However, this method only succeeded in solidifying the concerns of lawmakers regarding TikTok’s influence on its user base.
Following the trial, government representatives claimed that Chew’s responses were indirect and avoidant.
“You have been one of the few people to unite this committee,” Democratic Representative Tony Cárdenas told Chew. “You remind me a lot of Mark Zuckerberg. When he came here, I said to my staff, ‘He reminds me of Fred Astaire — good dancer with words.’ And you are doing the same today. A lot of your answers are a bit nebulous; they’re not yes or no.”
In contrast, TikTok allies claimed that Congress was decided before Chew had a chance.
“Shou came prepared to answer questions from Congress,” TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter stated to CNN. “But, unfortunately, the day was dominated by political grandstanding that failed to acknowledge the real solutions already underway.”
Chew’s failure to alleviate lawmakers’ concerns has convinced witnesses of the hearing that the future of TikTok will be even more heavily debated than before, and has left the public in the dark.
“So far, this has certainly been a difficult outing for TikTok and the fallout may be louder calls for a ban or forced sale of the app,” said New York Times reporter David McCabe. “But I keep coming back to three crucial and unanswered questions: Can Congress actually manage to ban the app or empower the White House to do so? Will any actions lawmakers or the president take to survive a court challenge? And, finally, how does China’s opposition to any sale translate into action?”