Ban on TikTok?  US working on a Bill to outlaw the Chinese App

By Dana Malcolm 

Staff Writer 

#USA, December 14, 2022 – The United States is seeking to ban uber popular social networking app TikTok in a new bipartisan bill.  Republican Senator Marco Rubio is at the head of the new bill which would see more than 80 million US users lose access to their platforms.

The app which skyrocketed to popularity in 2018 after merging with Music.ly is owned by Chinese media giant ByteDance.

There have been several accusations laid against TikTok in the past including a recurring theme that it is ‘spying on Americans’.   According to Rubio’s press office, the ‘Averting the National Threat of Internet Surveillance, Oppressive Censorship and Influence, and Algorithmic Learning by the Chinese Communist Party Act’ (ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act) would ‘protect Americans by blocking and prohibiting all transactions from any social media company in, or under the influence of, China, Russia, and several other foreign countries of concern.’

Describing the social media app as a ‘threat’, 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.”

Facebook and Twitter have come under similar scrutiny.  Facebook accused of facilitating espionage and international interference in US Elections.  Twitter is alleged to have employed foreign spies.  Most US social media, especially those created and controlled by giant META, are banned in China.

Any ban on TikTok will be a huge boon for META as one of its most popular apps Instagram, a photo based app, has repeatedly tried to rebrand with more TikTok-esque interfaces.  It has been unsuccessful, and several updates have been rolled back after widespread complaints.

It is unclear whether the bill will be debated this year or reintroduced early next year.  The US House is under Republican control but the Senate is under Democratic control which could determine whether or not the bill is passed.