With growing cybersecurity concerns, the extremely popular video-sharing app TikTok has become a topic of discussion in the U.S. House of Representatives. The U.S. government is concerned about this Chinese-based social media platform, as it may be a way to feed propaganda to the American public or to spy on the American people. However, no evidence of interference from the Chinese Communist Party has been provided.
But with the huge user base of around 1 billion people, information is bound to be collected and sold by the app. That’s ultimately what social media apps are made for. If the product is free, you are the product. Apps get their money from selling users’ information to advertisers. But, this information isn’t just what you like to look at.
Banning TikTok would be a very controversial decision, but attempts to regulate the platform have been done before. With the company being based in Beijing, China, U.S. laws don’t really affect the company. So, The House of Representatives is giving ByteDance, TikTok’s owners, two choices: Sell the social media platform, or the app will be removed from app stores in the United States. The removal of TikTok from U.S.-centered app stores would lead to an extreme decline in its user base, causing ByteDance to lose possibly billions of dollars. If the app is to be sold, it could go for billions, which is a steep price few other companies can afford. The popularity and possible revenue of the app is a huge selling point.
The future of TikTok is very up in the air. The U.S. Senate has yet to vote on the issue, and until then, a complete ban is more than possible.