As of Wednesday, April 24th, President Joe Biden signed a bill that might lead to the ban of TikTok across the entire United States.
The United States’ government and Bytedance, the parent company of TikTok, have been butting heads for a very long time. Originally, the idea of banning the app came from former President Donald Trump back in 2019. They believe that it is a threat to the United States because of how much information it has gathered about the people who have downloaded it.
TikTok has over 1 billion downloads globally, and has an interface that allows the user to watch videos that suit their interests. This is due to the information it tracks through your phone, such as your internet or searches on the web. Not only that, Bytedance, the parent company of TikTok, has ties with the Chinese Communist Party, and they have to sell the information they gather to them due to the legal ties they have with them.
Now in present day, on April 24, President Joe Biden signed a bill regarding TikTok and its stay in the USA. The bill states that Bytedance has 270 days to sell TikTok, or else it would be banned within the USA indefinitely. Their due date for a sale is January 19th, 2025, however Biden might give them a 90 day extension if they have made process towards a sale.
The CEO of TikTok, Shou Chew, said in a video on TikTok, “rest assured: we aren’t going anywhere,” and that he will continue to fight for the right to keep TikTok in the USA. He stated on the app that the ban was “unconstitutional”, and that this ban would devastate many people who are active users on it, whether they are business partners or just viewers.
Some voices at Wayne Hills High School spoke up about how they feel, and this is what they had to say:
“I do believe that it should be banned due to so many people are glued to their phones because of it, and it being gone will restore the long attention spans we need. However, for the people that are active business partners with TikTok, its really going to suck when their platform gets shut down,” said Ms. Pascale, a band teacher here at Wayne Hills.
“I personally don’t think it should get shut down, but knowing what they’re doing I probably won’t use it anymore,” says Mr. Paterno, the band director here at Wayne Hills.
“I really don’t care if TikTok gets banned because there are different things I can watch on, but it shouldn’t be as big of a deal as it is because there are things made in the U.S that steal our data just like TikTok,” said London Sreepada, a senior here at Wayne Hills.
Because of their political ties, TikTok is at risk of being removed from all technology here in the United States, but it’s really all up to Shou Chew to make the call on what happens to the app.
