Veronica Marcone
The TikTok Hearing
In March 2023, US lawmakers convened a congressional hearing to interrogate TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, questioning the app's safety for users and expressing concern about potential Chinese influence and interference within the United States through the platform.
During the hearing, congressional members posed a number of questions regarding the potential for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to access data from American TikTok users, given the app's ownership by Chinese tech company ByteDance. Chew clarified that by storing the data within the US through project Texas, it remains beyond the reach of the Chinese government. Additionally, Chew highlighted that certain user information, such as eye dilation and other smartphone content, is never collected or accessible to the company. Despite the reassuring words of the CEO, most lawmakers were not convinced of the safety of the app, and continuously threw accusations tied to the algorithm being dangerous to the younger generations. Chow further clarified that the app has age and time restrictions for minors.
Officially, TikTok neither collects nor spreads user information, and there has been no evidence of either occurring. Regardless, Congress has been close to banning the app altogether more than once.
Are Worries Justified?
TikTok today has over 1 billion active monthly users, 150 million of whom are American users, 44.4% of whom are under the age of 24. Given the existing demographics and government restrictions on staff downloading the app on government devices, it is safe to assume that TikTok's access to sensitive governmental information is unlikely or totally nonexistent. Private users should feel reassured knowing that there is no evidence of the CCP having spied on TikTok users, especially since Chew has explained in the February 2024 tech hearing that, since TikTok is not accessible in China, then the company does not have to abide by Chinese laws. From a practical perspective, it seems counterproductive for the Chinese government to take interest in content that mainly features children and young adults dancing, lip-syncing, and following fun trends that could hardly serve as useful intelligence on American users.
There are some concerns the CCP could possibly be pushing political propaganda on the app as well, though political content isn’t featured prominently on user feeds since the algorithm usually pushes entertainment videos. The one subject China has been found to disseminate misinformation on through the app is the Uyghur-detaining region of Xinjiang, in an attempt to promote tourism to foreign users. While there isn’t evidence of this strategy being used widely in the United States, this type of content could potentially easily be promoted on other media apps considering the looser restrictions that other platforms have.
On the other hand, compared to other popular social media platforms in the United States, TikTok has stringent content guidelines that limit topics and words that can be used, including anything related to violence, hate speech, self-harm, and illegal activities. This means that a large portion of dangerous content is taken down daily, often even by simply mentioning flagged words or phrases. According to TikTok, 90% of content that includes nudity and sexual activities is removed within 24 hours, and the percentage is even higher for content related to suicide, bullying and graphic content. Yearly, millions of accounts are blocked for violation of guidelines, most of them for possibly being underage accounts. TikTok requires users to be at least 13 years of age to hold an account on their app. These strict guidelines for users should reassure Congress that TikTok isn’t promoting any form of propaganda, rather, it is one of the apps with the most protections for users.
Why Just Target TikTok?
Congress is keeping a close eye on TikTok, though it seems to be turning a blind eye to other platforms such as Meta, which encompasses Facebook, Instagram, Threads, WhatsApp and other services. In 2023, Meta was fined $1.3 billion for failing to protect user information by violating the privacy policy of the European Union. Even within the US, Meta has fought a lawsuit filed by the New Mexico Department of Justice over a lack of protection for minors from viewing sexually explicit content.
The evidence that services and platforms provided by Meta have negative effects on both minors and adults should make Congress reconsider where to point fingers when trying to protect its citizens. Social Media platforms should all be scrutinized for the risks they pose to users, and laws should be passed to protect citizens’ privacy instead of searching for a scapegoat.
Recently, in February 2024, Congress gathered the CEOs of major media and tech companies in a hearing to address these issues. Witnesses included Meta’s Zuckerberg, TikTok's Chew, and the CEOs of Discord, X (Formerly Twitter), and Snapchat. The push to question these media companies was a step in the right direction, but was biased when questioning Chew, which caused them to waste precious time instead on focusing on what the hearing was planned for: Online Child Exploitation. The other CEOs were being accused of not putting enough effort to safeguard minors' lives, not apologizing, and to not adequately compensating the families of victims of their social media platform. On the other hand, Singaporean CEO Chew was being questioned about whether he applied censorship based on CCP orders and was asked what happened in Tiananmen Square. He was also drilled by Senator Cotton about his nationality, and whether he was Chinese in various forms, which he isn’t. Although Congress concerns are justifiable, questions like these serve no real purpose for the goal of the hearing, but rather act as a form of harassment towards the CEO of a seemingly squeaky clean app as of now. Different treatments of the various CEOs failed to achieve the set goal of the hearing, wasting precious time to develop higher national security standards by asking better aimed questions and diluting more energy among all of the CEOs present at the hearing.
What Congress Should Do
It is understandable that Congress is concerned about the potential risk that TikTok poses, but the risk is a hypothetical as of now, and banning the app altogether would do more harm than good. The first factor to take into consideration is that banning the app would limit the people’s freedom of speech and expression according to the US Constitution’s 1st amendment. TikTok also has applications beyond entertainment; it can also be incredibly educational depending on the content users choose to engage with. Specifically during the pandemic, many users engaged with content related to science, psychology, cooking, self-care, and a variety of topics.
As of last year, up to 10% of small business owners have reported making use of ‘viral’ marketing through TikTok to promote themselves. A number of small and medium business owners have also taken advantage of the app to market their goods and services, with 78% noting a positive return on investment since using the app. According to marketing and public relations firm NoGood, a majority of businesses benefit from advertising themselves on the app: “viewers who engage … on a brand’s video are 150% more likely to purchase their product or service. Even more convincing, 350% of engagers are more likely to visit the brand’s physical store, and 40% are more likely to visit the brand’s website”. The firm’s research also found that among the top 10 most engaging businesses on the app, many are American; some of these include household names like Netflix, NBA, Fortnite, and many more. Banning the app could cause significant financial damage to these businesses, especially smaller businesses that otherwise have limited access to mainstream marketing channels.
To solidify laws protecting privacy and minors, Congress should push for more regulations that resemble legislation implemented by the European Union and European Court of Justice. One example of this implementation can be seen in the EU’s 2021 social media regulation that bans promotion of terrorism, terrorist acts, or instructions on how to build and manage explosive devices. Another possible avenue is the 2023 European Digital Services Act, which requires platforms with high engagement to assess risks they cause and take measures to mitigate such risks; fines of up to 6% annual revenue will be imposed on platforms that are unable to comply. These laws shouldn’t only be regulating TikTok but all social media platforms, to ensure no platform isn’t monitored and all citizens rights are protected.
On the issue of potential leaks of government information, US government employees are already forbidden from downloading the app, specifically on government devices. To ensure further protection, congress should require these employees to avoid using other platforms on government devices (except authorized personnel of social media teams), and avoid engagement with TikTok even on private devices. They should be encouraged to maintain a certain degree of privacy on all social media platforms altogether.
Following this latest hearing, there is hope for new legislation being implemented which will safeguard American interests and national security. While Congress has been taking steps in the right direction towards addressing issues around all platforms through the recent hearing, it still has a long way to go regarding their understanding of which potential issues and apps are the most detrimental for our citizens' security and should focus on the most.
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