Two Pieces About TikTok
No legislation can outlaw stupidity.
Some of you may have been following the ongoing situation regarding the fluctuating ban on TikTok, a Chinese app. I’ve been raising concerns about TikTok since it became popular in the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. My worries primarily revolve around data privacy and national security threats, which I elaborated on in my earliest article (here is a link to my earliest piece).
Last year, bipartisan legislation established a crucial deadline—Sunday, January 19, 2025—for TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to either divest its U.S. operations or face a ban in the United States. Recently, TikTok went offline for a few hours after losing its final appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court but reappeared following President Trump's intervention.
In a recent piece for The Federalist, I discussed what ByteDance has been doing since the legislation was enacted and why I believe it is unwise for Trump to expend his political capital on “saving” the app.
Moreover, in another piece published in The Federalist, I cautioned against American TikTok users migrating to another Chinese app, “Red Note.” I highlighted the potential risks and dangers associated with such a decision to ensure that the readers remain vigilant.
Please take the time to read and share these articles to stay informed.