OPINION: Why a TikTok ban should worry us all
We need direct action immediately.
Credit: Solen Feyissa, Flickr
On May 7, 2024, TikTok filed a lawsuit against the US government for censorship. This comes just a few weeks after Congress passed a bill banning TikTok unless TikTok is sold to an American company. However, according to NBC News, “Congress has not offered any evidence suggesting that TikTok poses the types of data security risks or foreign propaganda spread.”
So, why the ban?
There are many possibilities for governmental oversight. For one, TikTok has radicalized the youth through information sharing. Over 260.1 Million posts have utilized the hashtag “Free Palestine.” Due to this rapid information sharing on what’s happening in Palestine, some Jewish celebrities accused the app of spreading anti-semitism, the New York Times reported.
Yet, TikTok maintains that they are not spreading false information; the youth just supports Palestine instead of Israel. They have good reason to. Since October of last year, we have seen countless videos of Israel’s genocide, many of them shared through platforms like Twitter and TikTok.
These platforms are necessary for us to access the rest of the world. Moreover, TikTok democratizes content so that people can choose what information feeds their For You page. Algorithms are responsive, so what you see is what you’ve interacted with.
The real fear, I think, is that youth are interacting with this information organically; they are learning about Palestine through their For You page instead of through the media, which tends to be biased. As a result, Congress has become reactionary. But we’ve seen this before.
In the ’60s, it was the Red Scare and the threat of communism. Today, we still see that, but we also see a rise in Islamophobia that can be traced back to 9/11 and the ongoing Middle Eastern conflicts. To control the narrative and paint the US as a sanctuary instead of a hellscape, Congress has to eliminate the epicenter of information (that would be TikTok).
There are dangers to this, though. FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, a proponent of Red Scare tactics, “was quick to equate any kind of protest with communist subversion, including the civil rights demonstrations led by Martin Luther King Jr.,” according to History.com. This led to intimidation tactics including his sending Dr. King a letter telling him to commit suicide.
Sadly, it did not stop there. History.com wrote, “One of the pioneering efforts to investigate communist activities took place in the U.S. House of Representatives, where the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) was formed in 1938.” The HUAC was a committee that spied on people suspected of being “un-American.”
About This Rwebel
Javanna is a multifaceted professional with a rich background in writing, education, and media. She holds a Master of Science in Journalism and a Bachelor of Arts in English, which has fueled her passion for storytelling and communication. Javanna is the CEO and founder of Rwebel, where she produces books, articles, and multimedia videos about culture and difference.
