On the afternoon of Jan. 19, the day TikTok was slated to be banned, users were greeted with a message praising President Donald Trump’s purported efforts to extend the ban deadline another 90 days. The Supreme Court ruled that TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, must sell its U.S. operations or face a ban in the United States. This decision was driven by mounting concerns over data privacy and national security, stemming from alleged ties between TikTok and the Chinese Communist Party. But with the ban, it has become evident that the 170 million Americans who use TikTok are less concerned about potential privacy risks and are more frustrated with the prospect of losing the app.
TikTok is a space for open conversation, creative expression and, for many users, a source of income. As the impending ban drew near, users began flocking to unaffected Chinese app Xiaohongshu — which translates to “Little Red Book” — and labeling themselves as “TikTok refugees.”
I downloaded Xiaohongshu and heedlessly agreed to its terms and conditions — entirely written in Mandarin. After signing away my human rights, the app populated my screen with videos from American and Chinese users, all seemingly unfazed by the platform’s more overt communist ties and privacy concerns.
Here’s the thing: most people don’t care whether some foreign entity spies on us. Xiaohongshu very quickly took the number one spot on Apple’s App Store, becoming the hot social media platform while TikTok was inaccessible. So long as a platform offers a medium for expressing oneself, people will use it. The interactions on Xiaohongshu — from Chinese users giving Mandarin names to American users to exchanges of esoteric lingo between cultures — are a testament to this.
But TikTok is special. Its algorithm works like magic, giving everybody an opportunity to connect within and build communities. No other platform achieves this as well as TikTok; so, of course, we are fed up with how the U.S. has handled this particular matter.
The issue here is barely about national security or privacy, but rather about geopolitical posturing and leverage. TikTok, which apparently spies on users enough to warrant condemnation, would be allowed to continue its operations in the U.S. as long as the spying were conducted by a domestic company. But many have contempt for American platforms too, citing concerns over speech suppression, privacy and data security. Some users have even stated they would stop using TikTok entirely if it were sold to Meta.
Companies like Meta and Google have repeatedly come under fire for violating user privacy, yet Instagram and Gmail remain staples in everyday life. If our government had our best interest in mind, instead of simply banning foreign apps it would pass a sweeping user data protection bill that applies to all platforms equally, regardless of where they’re based.
The real concern here should be user protection across all platforms; but instead, politicians are bickering over ownership and control while the average American user simply wants to continue doomscrolling.
When TikTok CEO Shou Chew appeared before Congress to address the app’s privacy concerns, he was met with measured questions like, “Does TikTok access the home WiFi network?” — a brilliant inquiry courtesy of North Carolina’s own Republican Representative Richard Hudson. And then there’s Trump, who in 2020 originated TikTok’s ban and has now positioned himself as the platform’s savior. With an average age almost over 60, our government’s outdated leadership is woefully ill-equipped to address the realities of modern technology.
