TikTok Ban Would Restrict Access to News, Advocacy, Young People Say
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In a rare show of bipartisanship, the US Senate voted 79-18 on Tuesday to pass a bill which could lead to a national ban of the popular social media app TikTok. The day after the Senate passed the bill, President Joe Biden signed it into law, starting a clock which gives the Beijing-based parent company of TikTok, ByteDance, nine months to sell the company or face a US ban. Lawmakers have cited security concerns related to the Chinese government possibly accessing data belonging to the approximately 170 million US TikTok users, but for the young people who rely on the app for news, political updates, and entertainment, the potential ban seems misplaced and ridiculous.
Maria Arbeen, a 16-year-old high school student in Virginia, calls TikTok “the chat room space of Gen Z because you can see all these people from different niches.” Videos on TikTok have helped her become more politically aware, learn how to style her hair, and choose a makeup routine that flatters her face shape. She’s even met some of her best friends through the app.
Of all the issues facing Americans, Arbeen isn’t surprised that TikTok is the one lawmakers were able to come together on to pass legislation, but she is annoyed. “I wish we were tackling so many more issues instead,” she says. “There is a homelessness crisis. The drug crisis. The inflation issue. And our representatives are just babbling about TikTok. I think it’s the stupidest thing because TikTok is just a drop in the bucket.”
Arbeen, like other young people contacted for this story, wonders if the TikTok ban is an effort to control the information that young people are receiving. “I hate to say it, and it sounds like a conspiracy theory, but I do feel as though the US government is trying to snuff the people and their voice,” she says.
Two-thirds of Americans age 18-29 are on TikTok, according to the Pew Research Center. A late-2023 Pew survey found that around one-third of Americans in this demographic regularly get their news from the app.
Nia Nostos, a 25-year-old military veteran who has been using TikTok for years, doesn’t believe the justifications that are being given for the ban — specifically, that the platform's parent company being based in Beijing poses a national security issue. “I think the Chinese data theft is a smoke screen,” says Nostos. “TikTok has proven to be a very effective tool in educating and organizing activists, not just when it comes to [pro]-Palestinian advocacy, but in many ways that counter the narratives that are more comfortable to establishment politicians. Politicians are really just scared that they can’t control the narrative anymore.”
Elise Joshi, 21, the executive director of Gen Z for Change, echoes these concerns. While Congress has been mulling over a path to a TikTok ban for some time, activists have expressed dismay that lawmakers passed this legislation at the same time as the app is aflame with videos about the experiences of students across the country protesting in support of Palestine. (The potential TikTok ban was passed as part of a $95 billion package in military aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan.)
“I really believe if one can't garner support from a group, the next course of action for those in power seems to be stifling freedom of speech,” Joshi says, pointing to the gap between the support for a ceasefire among many young Americans and the Biden administration’s commitment to funding the Israeli military.
Some Gen Z voters who spoke to Teen Vogue say they may sit out the upcoming election, while others may choose to cast uncommitted votes as a form of protest against the Biden administration’s support for Israel. With only months to go before the 2024 election, Joshi questions the wisdom of signing a potential TikTok ban into law when Biden is sure to be counting on the support of young voters to push him over the finish line to victory, as was the case in 2020.
“If you want young people to show up in November, you can’t sideline us,” Joshi says. “Instead of stifling our freedom of speech, which is what he’s doing [with the TikTok ban], call for a ceasefire. Align with your party, align with the Americans that you represent, and we will show up for you in November. If you don’t do that, then don’t blame me.”
The New York Times reported that the issue of TikTok’s ownership could take “months or even years to settle, during which the app would probably continue to function for US consumers.”
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Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue
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