Tik-Tok Ban

TikTok ban is officially here in the USA. Man, this is crazy! I never thought I would see the day when an app as big and influential as TikTok is being banned… but wait, maybe that plays a part in the ban. We'll get there; let’s start at the beginning for the people who have been under a rock. TikTok, which is home to many creators, small businesses, and is an amazing app for entertainment and educational purposes, launched in 2016 and quickly blew up with short videos of educational content, catchy songs that went viral, and trendy dances that helped people become famous. The government’s national security team deemed TikTok a security risk because of the owner ByteDance's ties to the Chinese government. Many conspiracy theorists believe it’s deeper than politics and that censorship and control of the people are the real problems. In 2025, the main way many people get information is from social media, and the government doesn’t like information that is spread to millions of people that they might not deem in the best interest of the government. There has also been heavy debate across all social media platforms about “freedom of speech,” where some believe freedom of speech is the ability to say anything you want, but it doesn’t make you free from consequences. Others believe freedom of speech means all speech except hate speech. That is where the issue with censorship comes in; you cannot regulate what a person says and then deem it “hate” speech while also telling them they have freedom of speech. That is a contradiction. So, I really do believe it’s deeper than the political side of things. I truly believe that if social media companies do not eventually align with the government, they will have similar fates. These platforms have people on them who are so influential that the government is not a fan of this power. We all know influence is one of the greatest weapons in the world. It will be very interesting to see how this plays out, as many people will be affected due to that platform being their source of income. President-elect Donald Trump will yet be tasked with a major problem when he steps back into office this January.

- Samuel

@samuelshouseofart