TikTok
According to Encyclopædia Britannica, TikTok is a “social media platform designed for creating, editing, and sharing short videos between 15 seconds and three minutes in length. TikTok provides songs and sounds as well as filters and special effects that users can add to their videos.” The app, launched in 2018, is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, and as of 2025, it was the most downloaded app in the world (followed by Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp). [1][152]
As noted by Britannica, “Regulators around the world have expressed privacy, safety, and security concerns about TikTok.” Specifically, there are concerns that the company could share sensitive user data with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), track the videos watched by Americans, and even manipulate the information seen by Americans to sway public opinion about China and influence American elections—serving, in a sense, as a propaganda and spying arm of the CCP. Some observers see this mission as part of China’s “Digital Silk Road” initiative, launched in 2015, which the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations defines as “a subset of [China’s] Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to enhance digital connectivity abroad, extend [the country’s] influence, and further China’s ascendance as a technological superpower.”
The initiative was named after the historic Silk Road, a network of ancient trade routes, mostly land but also sea-based, that began in China about 130 BCE and stretched some 4,000 miles, running to Korea and Japan in the east, India in the south, and Turkey and Europe in the west. For some 1,500 years it facilitated the exchange of merchandise (such as silk), culture, and ideas, as well as disease, between East and West; it ended in 1453, when the Ottoman Empire shut down the trade routes. TikTok is seen as part of the new digital version of the Silk Road, facilitating the exchange of ideas and goods worldwide.
However, adds the Council, “While China’s Digital Silk Road has the potential to enhance digital connectivity in developing economies, it simultaneously has the capacity to spread authoritarianism, curtail democracy, and curb fundamental human rights.” [125]These concerns have led to debates, in the U.S. and around the world, about whether to ban the app. [1][2]
The U.S. government banned the app on government devices in 2022 and on any device used by a government official in 2023. Both the Trump and Biden administrations have also tried to force ByteDance to sell TikTok or to sell TikTok’s American operations. Thus far, ByteDance has refused to do so, though TikTok has reportedly taken steps to protect American data on servers in the United States. [7]
Concerns about the app intensified in March 2023 when reports emerged that the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) were investigating TikTok for allegations that its employees had inappropriately accessed American journalists’ data. Many observers worried that the app was spying on journalists for the Chinese government. As a result, President Biden signed the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,” dubbed the “TikTok bill” and “sale-or-ban act,” on April 24, 2024, which gave TikTok’s owners 270 days to sell the app.[8][57]
Following the federal lead, a majority of states have also banned TikTok on government devices and networks. Only 12 states and D.C. did not have a statewide ban of TikTok on government devices as of December 16, 2024. To the dismay of many students, some 20 college campuses have also banned TikTok from college Wi-Fi networks or on college-owned devices (many colleges are state-run, meaning college Wi-Fi networks and devices are state-owned).[15]
Beyond U.S. borders, TikTok was banned on NATO-issued devices on March 31, 2023. Australia, Canada, Denmark, the European Union, France, Latvia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, and Taiwan have also banned TikTok from government devices. Bangladesh, Belgium, Indonesia, and Pakistan have temporarily banned the social media app, while Afghanistan (2022) and India (2020) have banned the platform altogether. China has retaliated by prohibiting the U.S. version of TikTok and all other American social media apps. [16][17][18][19]
According to a March 31, 2023, poll by the Pew Research Center, some 50 percent of Americans supported a TikTok ban by the U.S. government, with 22% opposed and 28% unsure. However, only 19% of TikTok users supported a ban, with 56% opposed and 24% unsure. [20]
On the morning of January 19, 2025, TikTok was officially shut down in the United States as the sale-or-ban law went into effect. President Trump then promised to “save” the app, which satisfied TikTok enough to begin restoring service later in the day. On January 20, on day one of his second term of office, President Trump signed an executive order to delay the TikTok ban for 75 days, so an American buyer of the app could perhaps be found or a joint venture established with the U.S. government for managing it. The order, retroactive to January 19, directs the attorney general to not enforce the ban. The app faced an April 5, 2025, deadline for sale. [142] [143][144][145][146]
On April 4, 2025, one day before the extended sale or ban deadline, Trump extended the deadline for another 75 days via executive order. [153]
So, with more than 1 billion monthly users of TikTok worldwide, and some 170 million monthly users in the United States, should the U.S. government or state governments still ban TikTok?[21]
For the latest news on TikTok, see ProCon’s historical timeline.
Pros and Cons at a Glance
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| Pro 1: TikTok poses a threat to U.S. national security, serving as a propaganda arm of the Chinese Communist Party and suppressing anti-Chinese content. Read More. | Con 1: TikTok is no more a threat than American-owned social media sites that also collect and sell user data. Read More. |
| Pro 2: TikTok is rife with dangerous misinformation that the government can and should rightly ban. Read More. | Con 2: Banning TikTok is discriminatory, undemocratic, and un-American. Read More. |
| Pro 3: A “tough on China” approach is needed to safeguard the United States and its citizens. Read More. | Con 3: Singling out China and TikTok for recriminations is xenophobic and rank political theater. Read More. |
Pro Arguments
(Go to Con Arguments)Pro 1: TikTok poses a threat to U.S. national security, serving as a propaganda arm of the Chinese Communist Party and suppressing anti-Chinese content.
While TikTok may seem filled with innocuous cat videos and dance challenges, Chinese law requires that Chinese companies share information they gather with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), including users’ private data. “The CCP’s laws require Chinese companies like ByteDance to spy on their behalf. That means any Chinese company must grant the CCP access and manipulation capabilities as a design feature,” explained U.S. Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA). [2][22]
Should Chinese government officials gain access to TikTok user data, intelligence opportunities could be uncovered to recruit a spy, blackmail a target, or otherwise influence American culture to its benefit. The issue is not that the site collects personal data—many online sites do that—but that the country widely perceived as a competitor if not an enemy of the United States could see the information if not also manipulate content for nefarious political purposes. [23]
Furthermore, the Chinese government could manipulate TikTok’s algorithm or other operations to expose Americans to communist propaganda, which could be used to influence elections, domestic and international policy, and other political processes. [23]
“The U.S. government cannot ignore TikTok as a potential national security threat, even if efforts to crack down on the company alienate a generation of future voters….Republicans [and] Democrats agreed this is a threat….We have to deal with it before it’s too late,” implored then-U.S. Representative Mike Gallagher (R-WI). [24]
TikTok has also openly suppressed free speech and content critical of China, including topics tied to anti-government protests, China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims, the Cambodian genocide, the Tiananmen Square protests and deaths, and its suppression of Tibet and followers of Falun Gong.[151]
Pro 2: TikTok is rife with dangerous misinformation that the government can and should rightly ban.
“TikTok is a misinformation minefield,” said journalist Queenie Wong. [25]
19.4% of TikTok videos contained misinformation, according to a September 2022 report. From “tutorials” to make dangerous drugs at home to extremists’ false political claims to misleading clips of speeches to deepfake videos, TikTok not only contained but promoted dangerous, inaccurate, and inappropriate information. [26]
While misinformation is a problem in and of itself, the concern is magnified significantly because, according to Google data, TikTok is being used as the primary search engine of Gen Z, so much so that The Wall Street Journal called the app the “new Google” in 2022. [26]
Researchers from the University of Regina noted that TikTok is an especially difficult case because the platform only hosts videos: “Misinformation videos may pose a uniquely difficult target for debunking attempts because they often appear highly immersive, authentic, and relatable, which might cause people to process videos more superficially and believe them more readily.” [27]
“We shouldn’t be playing Whac-a-Mole with every individual piece of content, because it feels like we’re playing a losing game and there are much bigger battles to fight. But this stuff is really dangerous, even though it feels like a fact checker or reverse image search would debunk it in two seconds. It’s fundamentally feeding into this constant drip, drip, drip of stuff that’s reinforcing your worldview,” said Claire Wardle, codirector of the Information Futures Lab at Brown University. Banning TikTok is much more effective than the “Whac-a-Mole” approach to misinformation. [28]
Furthermore, TikTok is unique in promoting challenges that are dangerous and deadly. The “Tide Pod challenge” put TikTok on the radar in 2018 with an increase in calls to poison control centers. The dangerous and deadly challenge asked users to bite down on a laundry detergent packet, which led to the consumption of toxic chemicals that seriously burn the mouth, esophagus and respiratory tract. [29][30]
Despite at least six deaths from the laundry pod challenge, TikTok persisted in promoting dangerous challenges, from daring people to shave down their teeth with nail files to the “Coronavirus challenge,” in which users licked public toilet seats and subway hand grips to see who could contract COVID-19 first (not to mention any number of other communicable diseases). [29][30][31]
The “Borg challenge” called for mixing alcohol with caffeine, electrolytes, and water and led to the hospitalization of many college students. The “Blackout challenge” dared kids to choke each other to the point of unconsciousness and resulted in at least 20 deaths. The “Beezin’ challenge” asked young people to put menthol or peppermint lip balm on their eyelids under the mistaken impression that doing so would increase their alcohol or drug “buzz,” though the act could also cause blindness. And in 2024 a teen’s death was confirmed to be caused by participation in the “One Chip challenge,” which asks people to eat a “Paqui brand chip…dusted with the extremely hot Carolina Reaper and Naga Viper peppers.” [32][60]
No matter how many fact-checking and safety notices companies release to consumers, click-hungry and impressionable people will be misinformed and endanger themselves on TikTok. Taking away the platform is the only answer, and the American government has the authority to ban platforms linked to foreign adversaries. [33]
Pro 3: A “tough on China” approach is needed to safeguard the United States and its citizens.
China is a growing national security concern for the United States. The FBI cautions that the “counterintelligence and economic espionage efforts emanating from the government of China and the Chinese Communist Party are a grave threat to the economic well-being and democratic values of the United States.” [34]
U.S. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT), who sponsored the Bipartisan RESTRICT Act, explains, “Congress has recognized that the Chinese Communist Party is not our dear friend. Any question about what China intends to do and what authoritarians intend to do is able to be seen by their treatment of the people in Hong Kong, the Uyghur people in China. You can see what authoritarians want to do [by] watching what Russia is doing in Ukraine. We have to recognize that we face geopolitical adversaries that are serious and threaten our security, our prosperity, and even the peace and freedom that we enjoy.” [35]
“One thing that is a lot worse than having our government infringe on our privacy “is having the Chinese Communist Party infringe on our privacy and be able to track us and follow us. Whether it is with social media or other technologies—communication technologies or the hardware that they devise over the coming years—we have to make sure we have the resources in place and the authorities in place to stop those things before they endanger us,” concluded Romney.[35]
While the threat may seem abstract to those who just want to participate in the #booktok or #musictok communities, China has been amping up espionage activities. A Chinese spy balloon operated over the United States from January 28 to February 4, 2023, collecting “intelligence from several sensitive American military sites,” including electronic signals from weapons systems and communications from those on the military sites. And two New York residents were arrested for operating an “illegal overseas police station…for a provincial branch of the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC)” in April 2023. [36][37]
Banning TikTok is but one crucial piece to a tough stance on China.
Con Arguments
(Go to Pro Arguments)Con 1: TikTok is no more a threat than American-owned social media sites that also collect and sell user data.
The Washington Post and Pellaeon Lin, researcher at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab, both examined TikTok independently and came to the conclusion that TikTok “does not appear to collect any more data than your typical mainstream social network.” In fact, Facebook and Google both collect more personal data from users than TikTok does. [23][38]
As Lin argued, “Governments around the world are ignoring their duty to protect citizens’ private information, allowing big tech companies to exploit user information for gain. Governments should try to better protect user information, instead of focusing on one particular app without good evidence….What I would call for is more evidence-based policy.” [23]
Furthermore, as investigative journalist Julia Angwin pointed out, data security issues are endemic to the industry: “At Twitter [now called X], internal controls were so lax that an ex-employee was convicted of using his access to spy on Saudi dissidents, and a whistleblower said that the company had hired an employee in India who had used his access to spy on Indian dissidents.” [52]
“For the average user, TikTok appears no more risky than Facebook. That’s not entirely a compliment,” explains technology columnist Geoffrey Fowler. [38]
Rather than make TikTok a scapegoat for the social media industry, the U.S. government should better regulate the industry as a whole. [52]
Con 2: Banning TikTok is discriminatory, undemocratic, and un-American.
“No government, as far as we know, has ever told Americans what they can or can’t download from an app store or access on the web,” TikTok states in a response to Montana’s ban.[39]
“Do we really want to emulate Chinese speech bans? We don’t ban things that are unpopular in this country,” states Senator Rand Paul (R-KY. [22]
Furthermore, banning TikTok amounts to the government criminalizing specific businesses without evidence of wrongdoing. Not only will TikTok itself suffer, but the many businesses that use the platform will also be decimated. TikTok estimates that “nearly 5 million businesses seeking expansion and success, including countless small businesses,” use the app. Many small businesses rely solely on TikTok for promotion and sales. [9][41][42]
The government shouldn’t be allowed to remove a legitimate revenue stream from TikTok influencers, whether the additional income is a small boost (small accounts report between $9 to $38 a day) or a large brand deal like that of Jon Seaton, football player for Elon University, who earned $250,000 through TikTok deals with Meta and Dr. Pepper. [43][44]
The bottom line: banning speech and legal jobs is discriminatory, undemocratic, and un-American.
Con 3: Singling out China and TikTok for recriminations is xenophobic and rank political theater.
According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, xenophobia is the “fear and contempt of strangers or foreigners or of anything designated as foreign, or a conviction that certain foreign individuals and cultures represent a threat to the authentic identity of one’s own nation-state and cannot integrate into the local society peacefully.” [45]
In other words, TikTok bans were being considered solely because the U.S. and state governments fear China.
Herb Lin, senior researcher at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation, explained, “Nobody would be paying this kind of attention if [TikTok] were British. It’s because it’s Chinese.” [53]
“This is xenophobic. And it’s part of another Red Scare,” explained U.S. Representative Jamaal Bowman (D-NY). Far more dangerous, he says, was the 2016 Russian disinformation campaign, the amplification of toxic rhetoric preceding the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar, and the organization of January 6, 2021, insurrectionists on Facebook—all were more dangerous than TikTok having a Chinese owner. [46]
Plus, banning TikTok gives preference to American companies who commit the same data collection sins. Journalist Kara Swisher notes that the bans will help other social media sites, primarily Facebook. [47]
“Twitter,” she explained, “ is no Nirvana garden party; it’s a very toxic place—and so this is a bigger issue that [the U.S. government] should be dealing with, but in this case, they’re going to aim at TikTok because of the Chinese government.” [47]
“I’m not at all saying TikTok is innocent, “but focusing specifically on one app from one country is not going to solve whatever problem you think you’re solving. It truly misses the point. Do we really think that Facebook or Google are not capable of being influenced by the Chinese government? They know a market when they see one. I think the pressure that’s building is basically a race to be seen as tough on China.”concluded David Kahn Gillmor of the ACLU. [48]
The chance of an everyday person being specifically targeted by the Chinese government is low. “If you’re not a defense contractor or you’re not someone who’s likely to be of specific interest to the Chinese government,…then I would say your risk is much higher from Facebook and Instagram, all those things where those companies are doing the best to hire people to figure out how to make you more addicted to their product.” said Justin Cappos, engineering professor at New York University. Digital addiction is a bigger concern than espionage. [53]
“I cannot stress this enough—the national security concerns are purely hypothetical. And rather hysterical,” argued CNN senior editor Allison Morrow. [49]
Journalist Karl Bode calls the ban rhetoric “the great TikTok moral panic of 2023” and notes that the uproar over TikTok is simply a purposeful distraction from the lack of larger policy solutions for the industry at large. [50]
In the end, what we have here is “a big dumb performance in which we pretend that banning a single app actually does anything of use. After all, the Chinese, Russian, and U.S. governments can all just buy data from the poorly regulated data broker market. They don’t need TikTok for surveillance and propaganda; they have plenty of data brokers and U.S. tech giants for that.” Bode continued.[50]
“Just that myopically fixating on the ban of one app “but doing nothing about the shitty policy environment that created the problem—is more political performance than meaningful solution. A performance that will annoy young voters, make it tougher on researchers and educators, uproot established community, face numerous First Amendment challenges, and not actually fix the core issues.” explains Bode. [50]
Calls to ban TikTok gave politicians the opportunity to appear to be “tough on China” without pinpointing or addressing actual threats. [51]