Banning TikTok Will Stifle Gen Z’s Engagement with Democracy

Banning the social media platform could have a huge impact on the 2024 election season.
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I first got active on Twitter in 2015, during primary season. A graduate student at the time, I wanted to give voice to younger voters who supported then-candidate Hillary Clinton. Back then, Twitter truly was the “digital public square” — or at minimum, a more level playing field for your average politically opinionated American.

The power of the viral platform paid off. Within a few months, I joined the Clinton campaign as a digital organizer and, today, I continue to generate tens of millions of monthly impressions on the platform. Twitter was an undeniably powerful force in the 2016 election, and over the past several years, despite many negatives, it has been a tool to connect with like-minded folks, gain insight beyond my own bubble and organize to protect and defend our democracy against unprecedented attacks.

However, as many of its users well know, Twitter has been broken by its new owner, Elon Musk.

As a result, TikTok seemed poised to play a central role in the 2024 election season. The Biden White House shrewdly embraced TikTok stars last year as part of a plan to inform younger Americans, the majority of whom use the platform.

But instead of what would’ve been a plausible transition for both social media users and political campaigns, the TikTok platform is in a fight for its life. In recent months, efforts to ban the app have gained momentum, and testimony from TikTok’s CEO before Congress didn’t help matters. In fact, skeptical lawmakers seem even more adamant that there will be some action against TikTok.

As a recent TikTok convert and digital progressive advocate, it would be ill-advised to outright ban this avenue for public organizing and discourse prior to a presidential election.

At this moment, it does not appear that the benefits of a TikTok ban outweigh the costs. While China’s position toward the United States is clearly adversarial, and lawmakers are right to worry about foreign influence, there is no clear evidence of major, persistent espionage efforts by TikTok. One main concern of lawmakers is that TikTok could access user data in harmful ways, and it should also be noted that the site has been accused of, and in some cases, has admitted to, spying on journalists.

These are serious issues, but they are not distinct to TikTok. Are we to assume that Elon Musk is a more trustworthy custodian of American user data than any Chinese company? I’m not convinced.

Further, while certainly no defense, Uber also earned headlines for plotting to spy on journalists reporting about the company. Facebook is inseparable from the Cambridge Analytica scandal. It is clear we need to upgrade our digital privacy and platform regulation laws (Europe has left us far behind in this regard). Still, scapegoating TikTok for the ills of social media will come with consequences for our democracy.

Over 60% of TikTok users are part of Gen Z, and it is a major news source for this demographic. For Gen Z, the most socially engaged generation in history, this information has meant power, or as Sofia Andrade explained for The Nation, “Because of the short-form video platform’s unique content-sharing algorithm and vertical-swipe interface, TikTok allows tens of millions of users to quickly access political information directly from community organizers, candidates, and journalists.”

“Scapegoating TikTok for the ills of social media will come with consequences for our democracy.”

Many credited the organizing power of TikTok for Gen Z’s impressive voter turnout in the 2022 midterm election, which ultimately staved off a horde of right-wing extremists (some equally a threat to our democracy as potential foreign espionage). The ACLU has come out “strongly” against a TikTok ban, citing First Amendment issues. Some have also expressed concern that the U.S. would need to develop tools to censor the internet, a capacity it does not currently have, and one that could, somewhat ironically, set off authoritarian alarm bells. However — without more evidence against TikTok — it also seems viscerally wrong to rob Gen Z of fundamental digital infrastructure that is helping its members determine their own futures through democratic processes. This is particularly true given the stakes in 2024.

After all, China poses a threat to our democracy, but so does the presumed front-runner for the Republican nomination — Donald J. Trump. Just last week, barricades went up around New York City in response to his efforts to incite violence, should he be arrested. Lest we forget, Republicans in Congress renewed the calls to ban TikTok in the wake of Gen Z’s midterm success. The vast majority of Gen Z voters voted for Democrats. Some Republicans have even gone so far as to suggest raising the voting age to silence Gen Z voters.

It’s certainly possible a TikTok ban would depress youth voter turnout in 2024, a net benefit to Trump or whoever the Republican candidate is for president. As Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo recently noted in an interview with Businessweek, “The politician in me thinks you’re gonna literally lose every voter under 35, forever.”

The Biden administration has recently proposed that TikTok’s Chinese owners sell the app to avoid a potential ban while addressing concerns over China’s influence. Meanwhile, TikTok’s CEO has proposed implementing a firewall to protect U.S. user data.

This or any middle-ground solution is strongly preferable to any outright ban — particularly given the potential impact a ban would have on the 2024 election. Regardless of how this TikTok puzzle is solved, U.S. lawmakers cannot take on TikTok in lieu of passing long overdue reforms to our digital privacy and platform moderation laws.

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