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TikTok‘s days might be numbered if Uncle Sam gets his way, but many Americans are scratching their heads, wondering how a video-sharing app is suddenly Public Enemy No. 1 — especially when there’s a far bigger threat looming? Yes, the rapidly approaching future where the orange-hued, self-imploding former president makes a return to the White House is far more alarming.
On April 24, 2024, President Biden signed a sweeping legislation requiring TikTok to sever its ties with ByteDance, its China-based parent company, or face an outright ban in the U.S. This move set a hard deadline of Jan. 19, 2025, for the divestiture. Should ByteDance fail to comply, TikTok would vanish from American smartphones.
The rationale behind this decision stems from deep-seated fears among U.S. lawmakers that TikTok could become a puppet of the Chinese government, forced to hand over vast amounts of sensitive user data. There’s anxiety over the potential for manipulated content that could sway public opinion during crucial times, like elections. This concern has united voices across the political spectrum in Congress, leading to rare bipartisan agreement on the matter.
However, TikTok did not remain silent. On May 7, 2024, the company filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government, decrying the ban as unconstitutional and a violation of free speech. They argued that the law unfairly targets TikTok, isolating it from the American digital ecosystem and stripping away a cultural junction that connects over a billion people globally.
As the legal battle unfolds, many Americans are questioning the government’s priorities. Social media users pointed out that banning TikTok over national security concerns seems rather ironic when the incoming president himself is widely regarded as a walking, talking national security risk. As one exasperated user put it:
Others have pointed to the insidious influence of platforms like Fox News, that veritable factory of falsehoods, whose lies and deceit have poisoned the well of public discourse and eroded the very foundations of our electoral process. Meanwhile, Meta recently announced plans to remove its fact-checking system, potentially allowing misinformation to run rampant on its platform.
It’s hard to ignore the glaring double standard at play here. While TikTok faces the chopping block, other platforms that have arguably caused more harm to American democracy continue to operate with impunity.
Add to that, the impending return of Donald Trump to the White House has many Americans quaking in their boots, and for good reason. Here is a man who has elevated the art of disinformation to new heights, who has weaponized social media to sow division and discord, and who has demonstrated a disturbing affinity for the very foreign adversaries we are supposed to be guarding against. Meanwhile, billionaires like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg seem all too eager to welcome Trump back with open arms, no doubt seeing dollar signs in the chaos he brings. It’s a surreal and deeply troubling state of affairs.