TikTok is a social media platform for creating, sharing, and discovering short videos. The app is used by young people as a way to express themselves through singing, dancing, comedy, and lip-syncing. It allows its users to create videos and share them across a community. TikTok is also used worldwide, with a significant portion of its user base being teenagers and young adults. Its diverse content has attracted users of all ages and influences many watchers spend an estimated 6 hours per day scrolling at the content posted.

Unfortunately, TikTok is one step closer to disappearing in the United States after a panel of federal judges on Friday unanimously upheld a new law that could lead to the banning of the popular app on January 19th. Many argued that the law unfairly singled out TikTok and that a ban would infringe on the First Amendment rights of American users. The judges disagreed with both users and TikTok’s argument. They said the law was “carefully crafted to deal with only control by a foreign adversary,” and didn’t run afoul of the First Amendment. Over the years this topic has been debated since 2020, and it looks like this time it actually might get banned in a short few weeks..
In my opinion, TikTok should not be banned because it is not only great for entertainment purposes but also a powerful tool for marketing products or services. With millions of eyes glued to the screen, there is immense potential for a company to capture attention. TikTok thrives on authentic influencers who create engaging content that resonates with their audiences. This allows influencers to be creative and genuinely showcase products or services. This approach leads to higher engagement and financial benefits when compared to traditional advertising methods. 

Taking away TikTok would subsequently diminish any work that brands have done to connect to consumers because there would be no pipeline between the two if the judge’s decision to ban the app is upheld. Advertising is a huge contributor to people buying goods and services, therefore aiding the economy via spending money. These influencers have taken so many risks just to get to where they are today. Banning TikTok would take a huge toll on their success as an influencer and be a huge waste of money and time for them. Some even argue can negatively impact the US economy. 

Whatever decision it comes down to with the potential TikTok ban, our Gators definitely have an opinion on whether TikTok should stay or go. 

Grace Hawse who goes to Green Level says, ¨In my opinion TikTok should stay because I learn so much just from a 2-minute video, and the culture on TikTok is very diverse. Another reason why I think it should stay is because content creators do TikTok for a living and getting banned can cause lots of destruction to the careers that they´ve worked years to build. So there is an entertainment benefit and a financial one.¨

Jayden Card, another Gator said, ¨In my opinion I think TikTok should be banned because it can be a huge distraction for me, by affecting my sleep schedule, particularly on school nights. I also think TikTok should be banned because it has a weak security system by location and device information getting leaked and potentially being used for harm versus good.  There is also a lot of research that says TikTok purposely feeds information to U.S. scrollers that are heavily focused on issues that can negatively impact our mental health. But in other countries, they feed educational information and topics that bring unity instead of negativity. ¨

Opinions from users have been very loud that banning TikTok will be negatively viewed and could cause other countries to do the same thing. It makes me wonder if the judge’s decision is driven by safety issues or if it’s mostly because of the country it was developed in (China) and the political and economic tensions that we have with their country. No matter the reason, I’ll be very disappointed if it happens and will wait and see if other new apps get created that would give the same or a better experience. Until then, I could be getting 6 hours back to my day.