By: Eva Huang

For the past couple of years, the United States has been considering banning TikTok for U.S. users for safety reasons. TikTok is an internationally popular app owned by a Chinese company called ByteDance, where people share short-form videos. Although TikTok may seem like just another fun app like Instagram, many countries have recently complained about safety concerns.

The U.S. is not the only one that wants to ban TikTok. India banned TikTok in 2020 due to accusations of safety concerns. Other countries, such as Australia, Britain, Canada, and France, only banned TikTok usage from their government official workers. Maybe 2025 is going to be the year that the U.S. bans TikTok.

Another issue is that TikTok can be misleading and share misinformation. Using TikTok, the Chinese government and the TikTok company itself may be able to mislead TikTok users and change their perspectives for their own advantage. Backing this issue up, according to the authors of the source, Maheshwari and Holpuch, “They [The United States] are also worried that China could use TikTok content’s recommendations to fuel misinformation.” Once again, TikTok denied these accusations.

When it comes to banning the app, the U.S. is going to use the app stores. According to Maheshwari and Holpuch in the New York Times, “The mechanics of the ban take aim at app stores, like those operated by Apple and Google: If they distribute or update TikTok, the federal government could impose civil penalties on them.”