The worldwide social media platform TikTok is on its last leg. Previously popular app ‘Musical.ly’ TikTok was purchased by a Chinese company, ByteDance, on November 10, 2017, and a year later became TikTok on August 2, 2018. Issues grew when United States legislators became cornered that TikTok may be secretly controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. This concern put both ByteDance and the popular social media app on the chopping block; Congress versus TikTokChina.
World affairs are on display like never before. Each corner of the world on social media has some type of impact. Celebrities use it, activists use it, and a wide range of professions gravitate toward any audience they can grab onto. When US citizens became vocal during election time (2020 and some of 2024), US legislators reportedly observed what?
Cutting ties, Joe Biden has decided to say adieu, but not really. Adam Sarsfield, editor and fellow writer in The Shield, wrote about the topic in his article “Is TikTok’s Time Up?” Now, there are updates. Since the embarrassing court hearings in mid-2023 featuring knowledgeable CEO Shou Zi Chew and an uneducated, outdated Senator Tom Cotton (among others), nothing new has really been found out about TikTok. The case recordings clearly show that the senators do not know what the app is or how it truly works; they seem to not even know how to work a phone? While it is evident that the platform provides a space of somewhat “free speech,” other countries such as China and Russia have sent out propaganda to sway our country’s elections. While small it is a fair concern, especially with all the dysfunction in leadership and power our country has gone through the past few years. As of April 24, 2024, Joe Biden signed the new law stating that TikTok has nine months to sell their company to a non-Chinese buyer (a year if the President gives the extension) before it is banned in the country. While this seems dramatic, or as though the company will be losing a lot of its user base, in reality, the US makes up little of the total number of users. With over 1 billion users, only 150 million are US citizens. A measly 155 will not affect the platform that greatly. Although many trends stem from US users, there is an entire side of TikTok that we do not see because the platform is curated to each country, as well as the users’ interests and language preferences.
It’s sad to think TikTok will be gone, but it opens up a new avenue. While people look for a new place to post connect (whether Instagram reels [where does this take Meta?]) or a new platform…?), it launches a potential new era of social media in the US.