As a whole, TikTok has become one of the most popular social media platforms globally. Launched in 2016, the app started 2025 with its reach of 955.3 million users. Known for its continuous flow of content, TikTok uses a recommender system to show short videos tailored to the viewers’ interests based on how they interact with the app.
The recent privacy concern involves the Chinese government’s possible ability to manipulate content and get a hold of sensitive data from the users. In many oral arguments, lawyers of TikTok said that speculation was not enough to justify this new law.
The main concern is over the probability that another country is collecting and using Americans’ information without the U.S. government’s knowledge.
The bill (Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act) introduced in April 2024, was pushed through the U.S. Congress after it was signed by President Joe Biden. The bill allows the federal government to crack down on foreign social media outlets.
The first app the government is targeting is TikTok. The ban will go into effect if TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, does not agree to sell the U.S. assets of TikTok by Jan. 19. Potential buyers include Elon Musk, Mr. Beast and Frank McCourt.
With the deadline almost upon the country, the potential ban is still awaiting a potential sale and/or the Supreme Court’s decision.
However, Massachusetts’ Senator Ed Markey introduced a follow up bill to extend the Jan. 19 deadline by 270 days. Markey is known for his national leadership on energy, environmental protection and introducing the Internet Freedom Preservation Act back in 2009.
If ByteDance were to change certain aspects of the app, the President could allow the app to continue operating in the U.S. Which doesn’t sound like a bad idea for the company, considering many Americans are choosing to gravitate towards different platforms with similar features as TikTok.
TikTok is only one app; Americans will find and have found similar platforms to help ease their doomscrolling needs. Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts could easily substitute for TikTok.
Americans have also started moving towards Xiaohongshu (“Little Red Book”), another Chinese operated app. Nicknamed “RedNote” by U.S. users, they have started posting their own videos with the hashtag “TikTok Refugee.”
“Red Note” has been compared to Instagram with its sharing features. However, the app has much wider restrictions, such as limiting and banning posts regarding sensitive topics. The app itself has wide cybersecurity concerns due to none of its user data being stored in the U.S. and is subject to censorship from the Chinese government.
The U.S. has one of the largest TikTok audiences with 170 million users interacting with the app for a good chunk of their day to simply pass time. That means that each person has supplied their own various sensitive information to TikTok, which provides limited remote access to the information they saved on Oracle Cloud to certain entities within their corporate group.
Each user account set up provides their name, age, username, password, language, email, phone number, social media account information and a profile image to the company. TikTok also automatically collects data including usage information, device information, location data, image and audio information, metadata and cookies.
Providing their information multiple times across each social media platform they use, many without fully understanding the content of the platform’s privacy policy and/or terms and conditions.
However, TikTok has gray areas within their privacy policy, much like every other app. The question is how each app chooses to use that data the user provides them.
TikTok states in their privacy policy, “We are not responsible for the privacy practices of our service providers and business partners, and the information practices of these service providers and business partners are not covered by this Privacy Policy.”
When discussing what TikTok does with the user’s consent, TikTok’s privacy policy states, “Depending on the permissions you grant, the third party may be able to obtain your account information and other information you choose to provide.”
These third parties include, but are not limited to, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Google, which each provide a quick sign-in feature and content-sharing experiences for their users. Which, yes, gives a shortcut to those that use these apps but also allows for their data, for example, public profile information, email and contact list, to be shared across parties.
The ban would impact app stores run by Apple and Google (U.S. owned companies) to not be allowed to update or distribute the app. The federal government could place civil penalties against them if they did not operate in this way. Both Apple and Google have not spoken regarding their plans for complying with the law.
Another downside to the ban is not allowing Americans to use or access the TikTok Shop, which allows millions of consumers to access products across many social commerce sites. The app has generated over $65 million in the U.S. from consumers indulging in the easy access shop embedded within the app.
However, many Americans are skeptical about making purchases on the app, with 27% of those surveyed responding that they did not trust TikTok with their credit/debit card number.
President-elect Donald Trump has picked Brendan Carr, commissioner of The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to serve as his FCC chair. Carr has publicly stated that he wants to limit Chinese tech companies even more during Trump’s second term in office. This would be in hopes to “Protect the United States from the Chinese Communist Party,” claiming that the TikTok platform poses a national security threat.
Trump had wanted to block TikTok back in 2020 but has since changed his view on the matter. There’s an ongoing possibility that Trump will try to rescue the app once he’s in office; he joined TikTok back in June of 2024. However, the law is to go into effect the day before his inauguration.
The main argument from American users is that the law would violate the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment by not allowing them access to posting or viewing any content on the platform, limiting them from sharing their own videos or responding to others.
With many changes coming up within the next few weeks, Americans need to be aware of everything going on around them. The ban could get placed into effect, affecting many Americans’ everyday social media routine. While the U.S. Government may be taking care of one current problem, Americans will continue to find other platforms that may also come with data safety concerns, causing the cycle to repeat itself.
