Why does US want to ban TikTok? Lawmakers cite national security concerns 

On Tuesday, December 13, a bipartisan lawmaker group in the U.S. proposed a new bill in Congress to ban the widely popular social media platform TikTok.

TikTok is no longer just a social networking app. It has transformed into a source of income for many content creators. But the U.S. government has long expressed its incredulity about the app’s security and letting citizens use it.

A pair of bipartisan congressmen from the White House and Republican Senator Marco Rubio introduced the bill, which is based on the doubts U.S. policymakers have regarding TikTok’s data protection ability from the Chinese government. Lawmakers have cited the risk of the Chinese government spying on Americans through the app.

In a prepared statement about the proposed Senate bill, Rubio said:

“This isn’t about creative videos — this is about an app that is collecting data on tens of millions of American children and adults every day. We know it’s used to manipulate feeds and influence elections. We know it answers to the People’s Republic of China. There is no more time to waste on meaningless negotiations with a CCP-puppet company. It is time to ban Beijing-controlled TikTok for good."

---

TikTok spokesperson responds to new bill aiming to ban the app in the U.S.

What we know about the bill

The proposed legislation by Senator Rubio is titled the ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act. It would prohibit access to any social media platform based in China, North Korea, Russia, Cuba, Iran, and Venezuela. The bill demands the U.S. President’s attention so that he can exercise his powers under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to execute the aim of the legislation.

A companion piece of legislation to this has been introduced in the United States House of Representatives by rep. Mike Gallagher and Raja Krishnamoorthi. Gallagher accused the app of not only collecting piles of user data from U.S. citizens, but also censoring news.

Gallagher further compared allowing the app to continue operations in the U.S. with allowing major broadcast networks to be bought by the U.S.S.R. during the Cold War.

TikTok is owned by a China-based internet technology company called ByteDance. For years, both the Trump and Biden administrations have been concerned about the Chinese government’s potential influence on the company. If this new bill is passed, the app will be officially banned in the U.S.

On Rubio’s official website, a press release alleged that ByteDance is required by Chinese law to allow access to the app’s data to the Communist Party in China.

---

"Troubling rather than encouraging": TikTok responds to Senate bill

In light of recent developments, TikTok’s Head of Communications, Hilary McQuaide said:

“It’s troubling that rather than encouraging the [Biden] administration to conclude its national security review of TikTok, some members of Congress have decided to push for a politically motivated ban that will do nothing to advance the national security of the United States.”

She added that millions of Americans love the app and use the platform to grow their business, learn from other creators, and connect and collab with them. As a whole, the app brings the creative community together and brings joy to the viewers. McQuaide continued:

“We will continue to brief members of Congress on the plans that have been developed under the oversight of our country’s top national security agencies — plans that we are well underway in implementing — to further secure our platform in the United States.”

---

Netizens react to the new bill proposed in the U.S. Congress

Most users of the app are definitely not happy with the possible banning of the app. Millions of creators who have grown their businesses on this platform are evidently agitated at the news. Some people are blaming the U.S. senators of using the Government of China's involvement in the app to spy on Americans as an excuse to maintain "US technology hegemony" only.

Another user noted that people will flock to YouTube if TikTok gets banned.

Here are a few other reactions:

However, this is not the first time TikTok has faced possible banning threats from American politicians.

An executive order issued by Donald Trump in his last few months in office threatened to do the same unless a controlling interest from the app's revenue is sold to American investors by the company ByteDance.

However, the federal courts in the U.S. blocked Trump’s order back then. In June 2021, President Biden officially revoked these executive orders.