By Sasha Rothstein (HMC ’23)
Over the past two-and-a-half months, America’s 100 million active TikTok users have been launched into the deep end of fraught US-China relations. Citing national security concerns over the Chinese-owned app, the Trump administration issued multiple executive orders to ban TikTok in the absence of an acquisition by an American company. While temporarily blocked by American authorities, the fate of TikTok remains unresolved as a new deadline in late November looms large in recent acquisition talks with Oracle and Walmart. Regardless of how these negotiations play out, the current administration’s attempted ban presents a substantial threat to the U.S. national interest.
Even if TikTok is a genuine national security concern, any ban over the app is a faustian bargain at best. Targeting specific companies diverts public attention and resources away from a more comprehensive approach that addresses broader privacy concerns. Where the Trump administration has pursued specific companies through lawsuits, the administration could instead use the bully pulpit to implement data privacy legislation that protects all Americans. These selective bans pose a real threat as they allow for other apps, like those created by Facebook and Google, that present concrete security concerns to operate unhindered.
This threat is by no means hypothetical. One other notable example of a Chinese app proven to be malicious is the popular drone app DJI Go 4. Researchers found the app sending copious amounts of user data back to servers in China as well as having the ability to remotely download software onto a user’s device, a typical feature of malware. Despite proof of its malicious behavior, the app remains available for download on the Google Play store. Notably, the U.S. government has made no attempt to issue a ban, potentially as the drone app has significantly less visibility than social media superstars like TikTok .
While undeniable that TikTok impacts a much larger user base than DJI Go 4, the Trump administration’s national security concerns surrounding the social media app are unproven. Though TikTok has been shown to gather user data in line with other social media apps like Facebook, the company has strenuously denied claims of Beijing’s ability to access its data. TikTok’s interim-CEO Vanessa Pappas recently stated that, “TikTok does not operate in China. The U.S. data is stored here in the U.S. with backup in Singapore, and we have strict data access controls.” Furthermore, experts say that the app wouldn’t be useful for Chinese espionage and that censorship concerns largely point to lack of US data policy rather than malicious intent. With an app the size of TikTok, privacy concerns are a given—yet pursuing a sole company without proof of national security-threatening actions is ineffective at best.
This targeted app ban also sets back data privacy activism in the United States. By declaring TikTok as a national security concern due to its Chinese ownership, the Trump administration effectively protects American companies guilty of data privacy violations. While TikTok and Instagram both gather similar amounts of consumer data, only the Chinese-owned TikTok has been targeted by this administration over data privacy concerns. This recasts the narrative around data privacy, shifting support from a broad framework that protects consumer data from all corporations to a nationalist approach that solely targets foreign companies. Through creating this culture of protection for American tech companies, the administration limits the potential for the broad data privacy reforms that would benefit US citizens.
The TikTok ban also represents a victory for China. By banning the app, the United States, which prides itself on its open markets and freedom of speech, follows a model of technology censorship seen in autocratic countries like China and Russia. This is a particularly meaningful blow to the West, as the U.S. has long guarded the international infrastructure that supports the world wide web. With a new administration set to succeed Trump in January, the attempt of these Chinese app bans has shifted the Overton window such that a previously unthinkable act of technological censorship now appears to be a viable political move.
This subversion of core American values further risks prompting other countries to increase their digital censorship. Already, rising nationalism has prompted tech bans in countries around the world as the technological chasm grows between the West and China. In compromising its open stance on technology, America risks accelerating this detrimental global trend and undermining its international standing.
The United States has long benefited from the globalization of technology both economically and politically. Exacerbating the nationalization of the digital economy jeopardizes the growth and power that has accompanied American technological development. Without promoting the international markets and talent that has boosted Silicon Valley companies and others, the U.S. harms its own industry at the precise moment that Chinese companies like Huawei have expanded their global presence. Through banning TikTok, America only further accelerates its slide towards cyber-sovereignty, hastening the decline of its own technological supremacy.
The future of TikTok is, as of yet, uncertain. With the November deadline fast approaching and no signed deal announced, it is plausible that TikTok will, in the near future, be banned to US netizens. Even as American users shift from TikTok to American alternatives like Triller, the ban has already caused significant harm to the US national interest. Given the incoming Biden administration, this damage could be mitigated by pursuing legislation that protects consumer data regardless of a company’s geographic origin. Federal action, whether through the courts or Congress, to protect freedom of speech and affirm America’s dedication to open technology could also stem the flood of techno-nationalism that threatens US interests both abroad and at home. However, regardless of intention or implementation, this ban has wrought injury upon America’s global standing and opens the door to an unsettling future ahead.
