How might a TikTok ban effect North Alabama creators?
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HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — A TikTok ban has the potential to impact content creators across the state, following the passage of a bill in the U.S. House banning the app.
Currently, more than 145,000 videos are tagged with the Huntsville location on TikTok. Thousands more mention Decatur, Athens, and Florence.
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TikTok has grown in the past few years from a casual way to pass the time, to an information source. Dancing trends are joined by educational pieces, commentary, and videos that make us laugh.
“It would mean something to lose it,” said Taylor Bryd, a content creator based in North Alabama.
Byrd, better known as “Sweet T” on TikTok, joined the app in 2019. He said it began with dancing videos, but he started sharing his opinions on almost everything.
“I started talking trash,” Bryd said. “It’s a talent I have always possessed. It was passed down many generations.”
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His opinions resonated with millions of people.
“Once I became aware that the type of content I was producing was actually giving joy to people and not just something for me to post to post, it gave it purpose,” Byrd said.
Byrd currently has 2 million followers of the app, and he said his community has grown beyond the platform.
“I’ve made friends on that app that I’m going to be friends with until the day I die,” Bryd said. “It’s been a really cool way for me to meet people in my own city, and you can’t really put a price on that.”
Alabama lawmakers say some of the app’s content and the platform behind it is dangerous. Rep. Robert Aderholt, who voted for the ban, said in a statement Wednesday, he believes China is spying on Americans through TikTok.
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Americans should be free to use the apps they choose, but they should also be free from those apps spying on them on behalf of a foreign adversary. We were all upset with the Chinese spy balloon that flew over our nation last year. As long as ByteDance owns it, TikTok is 170 million spy balloons right in our phones.
Rep. Robert Aderholt, (R) Alabama
Rep. Dale Strong, who also supports the ban, said the app spreads anti-American propaganda.
The United States has a long history of preventing hostile foreign interest from investing in or setting a national narrative in our country. In China, the app shows educational and patriotic videos that promote social cohesion, yet in the United States, it promotes content to polarize and divide our nation.
We cannot allow the Chinese Communist Party to set an anti-American narrative in the United States. Every American should be concerned about a foreign media company who pushed propaganda videos from Osama bin Laden to tens of millions of young Americans, or who promotes an anti-Israel message following the brutal terrorist attack on October 7th.
Our constitution prevents the federal government from having the power to censor speech or surveil American citizens. This bill is not about censorship. It allows TikTok to continue its operations but says that it must do so under a different owner.
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The Chinese Communist Party uses TikTok to place left-wing, anti-American propaganda on the phones of hundreds of millions of Americans. Simply put, this is about national security and the safety of the American people.
Rep. Dale Strong, (R) Alabama
It’s unclear at this time how the federal government might enforce a TikTok ban. The bill is headed to the Senate, but Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he hasn’t committed to a timeline for when the vote may happen.
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