Last weekend, Americans were outraged and distraught to find that TikTok had been deactivated early despite newly elected Donald Trump’s inauguration not being for at least two more days. I myself was surprised that they had gone through with the total U.S. shutdown, as many stated that Donald Trump would not follow through and negotiate to have the Supreme Court ban renounced.
There has been discussion of banning TikTok since last year of April, the main concern of United States officials regarding national security and “user data stolen for Chinese spies.”
After a very uncomfortable U.S. senate hearing where representatives kept trying to accuse Singaporean Tiktok CEO Shou Zi Crew as a “Chinese spy”, the House of Representatives passed a bill stating that Tiktok must either be sold to a U.S. owner or be wiped off the face of the internet.
Although our leaders keep reaffirming that the TikTok ban is for “national security reasons”, there are many inconsistencies with their evidence that there is data being stolen anyways. However, there is plenty of evidence that Meta-based apps such as Facebook and Instagram share data and invade the privacy of it’s users, which makes the ban seem extremely hypocritical. “We as a government can steal your data and sell it to other countries, but no one else can” is the message that I and plenty of others online are receiving from this.
Another idea brought up by many is that the TikTok ban is an attempt to censor the U.S. funded war crimes in Gaza. Many Republican lawmakers such as Senator Mitt Romney and Representative Josh Harley argue that the app is trying to push anti-semitism and terroristic content. While there have been incidents of anti-semistism on the app amidst the Israel-Palestine conflict, many Zionists are known to claim the observance and protest of the Palestinean genocide as hate for Hebrews.
Ever since October, Gaza has been described by Palestineans as “hell on Earth.” Tiktok was one of few online platforms that did not censor or block their cries for help, unlike Instagram, where over 1,000 online takedowns of Palestinean content was documented by the Human Rights Watch organization.
Now, as of January 23rd, TikTok is back but with some not-so-unnoticable changes. Multiple TikTok users have reported that the phrase “Free Palestine” as now defined as hate speech and will be flagged by TikTok.
“… Imagine saying freedom to a country that’s been illegally occupied and undergoing full blown genocide, and being flagged as hate. TikTok is dead.” One X user says.
Many people such as myself rely on non-Meta apps like TikTok for uncensored, non-biased information about things beyond the Gaza genocide.
We also rely on it to connect with others with similar interests and hobbies. We rely on it for outfit inspiration and song discovery. We rely on it to learn new dances and create things from scratch.
TikTok is a whirlwind of all sorts of good and bad content. However, the people praise it for being authentic. A social media app where we can be our authentic selves is all anyone could ask for in this time.
