China has described a potential TikTok ban as “an act of bullying” that would backfire on America. TikTok is urging users to call Congress about a looming ban. As support grows for a bill in Congress that would effectively ban TikTok in the US, the video platform is trying to gather support: its own users. TikTok sent users in the US a push notification saying that “Congress is planning a total ban of TikTok” that would “[strip] 170 million Americans of their Constitutional right to free expression.” The page said that a ban would “damage millions of businesses, destroy the livelihoods of countless creators across the country, and deny artists an audience.”
The alert includes a way for users to find themselves to stick up and fight for it. Bills are passed through legislative, executive, then judicial branches of government. The push to pass the bill came up against headwinds from several different political directions, including former President Donald Trump, who once supported the thought of banning the platform. Democrats are facing pressure from young reformers among whom TikTok remains a preferred social media platform. TikTok creators and Beijing have responded angrily to the upcoming vote, calling it an “act of bullying.” In a statement on Wednesday’s vote, TikTok said its attention would now shift to the Senate, where the fate of the legislation is unclear.
Selena Garcia, a former student of MHS, Manville High School, said that it is offensive to the Asian population to fittingly being racist to the creators of TikTok. Selena uses tiktok to create videos and to keep up a feed of posts about her friends. As she said, she cried because TikTok is where she goes during her free time, after school, and going to bed; basically in her everyday routine. Her future daily routine will cause her to think to herself everyday about the memories that were made and posted. Like any other teens that use TikTok in their daily lives, the reasons are not valid enough to ban it. As she stated, “they should be worried about world hunger, homeless people, and pollution; all because it’s a Chinese company, if it was an american company they would not care who’s selling out information,” pointing out the alleged racism behind the act.
