Social media app TikTok once again finds itself under fire as a United States senator from Missouri, Josh Hawley, has announced his intention to introduce a bill that would ban it from the country. This is not the first time that US politicians have called for a ban on TikTok, usually justifying such a move by accusing the app of essentially allowing a Chinese company to monitor and collect data on Americans.TikTok is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, a fact that has not sat well with US politicians. While all the other social media sites do what TikTok does in terms of collecting data on its users, TikTok's Chinese origins have seen it come under even more scrutiny than its competitors. TikTok's massive popularity and status as one of the absolute biggest social media outlets in the world has also made it a prime target for politicians.There are already plans in motion to ban TikTok on government devices, but Hawley's potential bill would extend the ban to citizens as well, effectively making the popular app in accessible in the US. Hawley accused TikTok of being "China's backdoor into Americans' lives" and said the app "threatens our children's privacy as well as their mental health." Hawley's bill has not actually been introduced at the time of this writing, and it's unlikely such a bill will be passed.
Hawley has proven to be one of the more controversial US politicians in recent years. He was one of the Republicans who denied the 2020 presidential election results, which ultimately fueled Donald Trump supporters to storm the capitol on January 6. His plan to introduce a bill that would ban TikTok will likely make Hawley an even more divisive figure, as TikTok is one of the most popular apps in the world among both sides of the political aisle.
This is not the first time that a US politician has tried to ban TikTok, and if previous attempts are any indication, the ban is unlikely to happen. In 2020, Donald Trump signed an executive order to ban TikTok that was never enforced, and other politicians have expressed the belief that TikTok should be banned because of its connections to China. While US politicians have not been successful in their attempts to ban TikTok, India managed to ban TikTok in 2020, citing similar concerns about China.
Source: Reuters