Possible TikTok Ban?

Possible TikTok Ban?

Maddy McGee, Staff Writer

Recently there have been many major concerns about TikTok and the Chinese Government.

An article has recently been published in March 2023 stating that TikTok is owned and operated by a Bejing-based company which by Chinese Laws allows the Chinese Government access to any information that TikTok collects. The company it is owned by is called ByteDance which is a privately owned Chinese company, but it is registered in the Cayman Islands which also raises suspicion. This concerns those in the United States because accusations have been made that the Chinese Government could potentially spy on you or use your information.

As more information gets spread people have more and more concerns about the Chinese Government being able to access personal information like your location, email, phone number, and other information that gets stored on TikTok. Other countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom have also been trying to ban TikTok on all official government devices.

Many people try to limit the amount of information TikTok can access by turning off location services and entering the least amount of personal information possible. As this will prevent them from having your personal information they still have access to everything you do on the app and use the information that is shared.

As all these concerns rise in the United States the US government has more and more reasons to ban TikTok. TikTok is also the most used search engine over Google and Safari which makes the US want to ban it. A new Patriot Act is being used that allows TikTok to access all of your information if you have any access to their servers. They could do things from freezing your bank account to accessing your credit card information.

Due to all of these risks, the United States is still trying to get a full ban on TikTok, which is difficult because of the great popularity associated with this app.