Banning TikTok Isn't the Solution We Need
With 170 million monthly users in the U.S. alone, TikTok is a modern-day cultural phenomenon, turning heads with content from viral dance challenges and lip-syncing videos to flat-out slander and internet sleuthing. However, a bill signed into law by President Biden on April 24, 2024, puts the app on track to being banned. Titled the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA), this law will prohibit TikTok from operating in the U.S. unless it divests from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance. Legislators are largely concerned about threats from the Chinese government, citing data privacy risks and algorithm manipulation as their reason for a TikTok ban.
By Caroline Su
April 6, 2023