The Trouble with TikTok

I can’t shake the nagging feeling that we may have been deceived.

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Photo by Solen Feyissa on Unsplash

President Trump recently signed an executive order regarding TikTok, cementing a deal that he and Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Xi had discussed over a phone call. Trump claims that this agreement poses no national security risks, but I am not so sure.

Since 2020, I have been following TikTok’s rise to prominence, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic when many people felt isolated and bored due to lockdowns. The app quickly gained over 1 billion users globally, with a significant portion being young people aged 16-24. In the U.S. alone, about 80 million Americans engage with the app each month.

At first glance, TikTok appears harmless; it is a social media platform where users share very short videos. TikTok also offers a sense of democracy since, unlike traditional social media platforms such as X.com (formerly known as Twitter), which tend to promote more influential users with large followings, TikTok allows relatively unknown users to have their videos go viral. This gives even those with small followings the opportunity to find internet fame and monetize their content.

Yet, since its launch, TikTok has raised significant concerns, especially regarding privacy and data security.