Bipartisan legislation that might result in the banning of TikTok, one of the most popular applications globally with an estimated 170 million users in the US, is set to be voted on by the House on Wednesday. Thousands of content creators who depend on the website for their primary source of income have been incensed by the prospect of a possible ban.
Two years ago, content producer Amber Estenson, 42, popularly known as “That Midwestern Mom,” uploaded one of her oddball Minnesota “salad” creations to TikTok, which caused her to go viral. Snickers bars, apples, Jell-O, and Cool Whip are the ingredients that turned her into a viral hit.
Estenson, who has a million followers on TikTok, described the platform as her “lifeline” and expressed concern about a possible ban in the United States. “A prohibition is ludicrous and unreal. That would directly entail a loss of revenue for me. I would lose a million followers as a result,” Estenson remarked.
Other Tik Tokers make charitable contributions using their site. William McCoy, a Baltimore native and former heroin dealer, goes by the name Izzy White. He said that he helps the needy in his neighborhood by using his platform.
“Without TikTok, basically all the mouths that I feed every day wouldn’t get fed every day,” McCoy stated. A plan that would require TikTok’s parent firm, Byte Dance, located in China, to divest the app within six months of the law’s implementation or face a statewide ban has garnered backing from lawmakers of both parties.
Republicans and Democrats alike are concerned about national security in light of China’s ownership of the app.
However, Columbia University human rights lawyer Jameel Jaffer stated that a ban is not the solution to this specific problem.
“TikTok is not the only website that gathers data of that nature. The information is gathered by numerous other platforms, including American ones, and is subsequently sold to data brokers who resell it to foreign governments, according to Jaffer. Currently, utilizing TikTok on government-issued devices is largely forbidden for federal and state employees of government agencies.
Montana was the first state to outlaw the app on any personal device in May of 2023. Many of the platform’s doubters haven’t been persuaded despite TikTok’s insistence that it now stores its American user data with a different, U.S.-based organization from Byte Dance.
It looks that the bill has the support it needs to pass the House after it was unanimously approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee last week. Supporting the legislation, House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters this week that TikTok is “actively undermining our economy and security.” In the event that the bill reaches his desk, President Joe Biden has stated that he would be happy to sign it.
