Students consider the possibility of a TikTok ban

One Roosevelt student shared their weekly report of time spent on TikTok.

 

Congress approved a bill this month giving President Biden the authority to ban TikTok across the U.S. because they think the Chinese-owned app is storing user data and manipulating content to influence Americans. Many states and the federal government have already banned it from government-owned devices. 

This is not the first time the U.S. government has wanted to ban TikTok. In June 2020, TikTok users reserved tickets to Trump’s Tulsa campaign rally with no intentions of showing up in order to humiliate Trump with an empty arena. Two days later, Secretary of the State Mike Pompeo announced that the United States is considering banning TikTok due to security and privacy concerns.  

Tik Tok defended its operations, and then it sued the Trump administration. Eventually federal judges said that the President did not have the authority to ban the app for all U.S. users 

Within the school there are mixed feelings about the TikTok app.  

“I do not think it is necessary,” says sophomore Samuel Hagos. And what if it were banned? “I feel like people will socialize more and interact with each other’s instead of being on the phone like today.”  

Most students think that TikTok should not be banned because it is so entertaining. Teachers and staff are a part of a generation that thinks differently. 

“I feel like another app would take the place of TikTok, like when TikTok took the place of that Vine app,” math teacher Kourtney Shermeon said. “If no app took its place, then students would focus more, because it is a major distraction.” 

It’s hard to know where this story will end because it is changing every day. At this writing, the Biden Administration is pushing a plan that would require TikTok’s Chinese owners to divest from TikTok.