The TikTok Ban

BY ADAM TRINKLEIN Staff Reporter

such a thing,” physics teacher Jack West said. Some students felt like people were making a bigger deal out of bans. One explained that he thought concerns were exaggerated and not realistic.

“I honestly have no clue, I feel like it’s likely hyperbolized,” senior Raul Moreno Negrete said.

Others expressed views that it was a threat to freedom of speech. If it is possible for the government to silence an entire social platform, that removes the ability for millions of people to communicate and share ideas.

“I think that’s literally censorship, everyone deserves free speech,” junior Lou Jamotte said.

Immediately afterwards, Lou admitted to not knowing the full picture of the bans.

surrounded government devices specifically. According to the New York Times article, Why Countries Are Trying to Ban TikTok,

“More than two dozen states have banned TikTok on government-issued devices.” It is unclear how these bans will be enforced. Critics explain that people would be able to easily bypass bans by using virtual private networks (VPNs) to change their location. Many legislators and Americans wonder what will happen to devices that already have TikTok downloaded.

TikTok among many other social media apps has been the subject of privacy concerns since it has become popularized.This issue has been recently exacerbated by fears from the United States government that China could be given access to TikTok user data through ByteDance. ByteDance is the parent company of TikTok and is based in China. Lawmakers worry that the Chinese government could use sensitive data to spy on the United States.

Additionally, the Chinese government could influence the algorithm of TikTok, potentially spreading propaganda. The New York Times published an article by David McCabe saying, “The Montana House of Representatives on Friday [April 12th] approved a total ban on TikTok.” Some lawmakers think this a drastic step to address fears, while others think a national ban is the only solution .

Sequoia students who use TikTok recognized the dangers of the app but most had little to say about the security concerns relating to China.

“I know that a lot of people are using TikTok in class under the desk and it’s not the greatest thing because people aren’t really focusing on their academics,” senior Brian Cove said.

When asked specifically about the suggested TikTok ban, some Sequoia students couldn’t comment due to lack of knowledge on the issue.

“I don’t have the authority to comment on

“No I didn’t. Did [Montana] really?” Jamotte said when asked if they were aware of the ban. Many Sequoia students don’t follow the news regularly, or use news sources with less of an emphasis on politics and economics. This contributes to being unaware of some worldwide events. Other students were similarly uneducated on the bans.

“I was not aware of it until [now],” Cove said.

Montana’s statewide ban, as well as more specific bans across the country, has brought data security into question. Fears surround the idea that ByteDance could be sharing sensitive data with the Chinese government. If China has information about user location etc, military locations and sites could be pinpointed by tracking the movements of military officials for example. Hence, the majority of anti-TikTok legislation has

During national hearings in March, the CEO of TikTok, Shou Chew, appeared in front of congress to assuage the United States government’s fears. Proposals were made by congress to force ByteDance to divest ownership of TikTok by spinning out a subsidiary company in charge of handling American affairs. A few legislators found the focus on TikTok ironic when American social media companies have been caught abusing user data in ways much worse than TikTok has been shown to do.

“Almost all of the other social media platforms already steal your information so I don’t think fears that TikTok would give data to China are warranted,” Calderon said.

What has been shown by these hearings and threats to ban TikTok is how little legislature is in place to protect users from all social media. The spotlight might currently be on TikTok, but the way to achieve substantial change will be by addressing the problem of data security as a whole through robust, enforceable, legislation.

“The reason for a bill would be more for the US to control social media,” Calderon said.