Member-only story

Should TikTok Be Banned in the United States?

What I discovered when I explored both sides of the equation

Julia A. Keirns
Read or Die!

--

Photo by Solen Feyissa on Unsplash

I turned on the news this morning to see what was going on in the world, and they were talking about how TikTok is set to be banned here in the US by Sunday after the Supreme Court rejected an appeal in the case. I just don’t know how I feel about that so I tried to do some research and asked Google some questions. I wanted to figure out for myself which side I was on. I thought I would share the pros and cons with you to help others like me who aren’t sure what side of the equation they are on make a better-informed decision for themselves.

The main arguments for the ban are national security concerns, personal data privacy, the spreading of misinformation, and negative impacts on youth.

National Security Concerns — Just because TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is based in China, does that really mean they’re spying on all of us and sharing our information with the Chinese government? It almost feels like something out of a spy movie, doesn’t it? Do governments really spend so much time spying on each other's people? Honestly, I think each government should focus more on addressing issues within their own borders rather than worrying about what’s happening elsewhere in the world.

--

--

Responses (7)