SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC NEWS) – The House of Representatives passed a bill that laid the groundwork to ban the popular dance app, TikTok, on Mar. 13.
According to the Associated Press, censorship and the current ownership structure resulted in the House coming to the conclusion that TikTok is a national emergency. Politicians are worried that anything the Chinese government does not want shown can be censored even if it is important for Americans to know about.
Syracuse University sophomore Kendall Johnson creates content for the school’s official social media accounts. The job requires her make TikTok videos to connect with current and future students. Thoughts of the ban cross her mind more often every time she uses the app.
“Now, TikTok is a part of my job and it’s something that I have to use everyday, I do think about the ban more and more because it’s concerning when it’s one of the social media platforms that we use for admissions purposes,” said Johnson. “So, it’s become very prevalent on my mind recently.”
Business Insider shows the younger generations in the United States spend multiple hours each day on TikTok seeing the latest trends, listening to music teases from their favorite artists and even consuming news about the United States and the world. The app being used for news purposes is a big part of the reason why Congress is concerned about national security as the country has no ability to regulate content.
“It’s the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) having control, potentially, having influence over a company that is responsible as the main source of political information for tens of millions of Americans,” said Syracuse political science professor Chris Faricy.
The legislation has yet to be voted upon by the Senate, and it would need the president’s signature if passed. If the bill does get approved by the Senate and signed by the president, ByteDance would have six months to find a potential buyer in the United States for the app. The owner would then have to be approved by the president.
If the app is banned, more creativity would be needed to create videos similar to the ones that are seen on TikTok.
“I just think it will be a little more difficult because TikTok does have so many little gadgets and ways to create short-form content that Instagram doesn’t usually have and you might have to use another editing app to create,” said Johnson.
The bill is currently awaiting a vote in the Senate, but the app can continue to be used.