TikTok People, Time's Ticking Away

The federal government is so bent on punishing the Chinese-owned TikTok social media platform (but not the American-owned Facebook or Twitter platforms) that they called in TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew (who's Singaporean) to testify before a U.S. House committee with the understanding that he had a lot of explaining to do.

Chew testified that TikTok is ensuring that any information collected by his company is not being shared with the Chinese, and he is sorting the information collected from American TikTok users in a database located in the U.S. with no way for the Chinese government to access it.  His assurances satisfied no one, and Congress is considering a bill that would give President Biden the authority to ban TikTok completely.  (If that were to happen, I wouldn't care: I don't use it.)

This would actually help the Republicans in 2024, though, because TikTok is primarily used by adults under 35 - not to look at stupid videos but to promote their own businesses and projects.  If Biden were to ban it completely, many of its young clients would exact revenge against the Democratic President by voting Republican on Election Day or just staying home. 

Of course, children have used TikTok too, many with the devastating consequences that social media platforms of all types bring, like teenage depression and suicidal thoughts.  Perhaps the government can keep TikTok legal but severely regulate it, so children won't be exposed to anything meant to pollute their minds and make them addictive to the platform.  Utah has already passed a law placing restrictions of TikTok's use by minors (and France just passed a law banning TikTok platform on government devices).

But Biden had best not alienate any voters in the 18-34 age range with a full ban on TikTok, or else on Election Day, 2024 . . . his time will be up.