Washington Does Something Right for Parents with TikTok Ban

Millions of parents sighed in relief on Wednesday when President Biden signed legislation overwhelmingly passed by Congress potentially banning TikTok in the United States. The bipartisan law imposes a nationwide ban on the app unless its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, divests completely within the next nine months.

As the bill faces expected legal challenges, parents are holding their breath again in the hope that the app’s path to prohibition is not interrupted.

American families have long had grave concerns about TikTok’s power to warp young and impressionable minds. According to polling conducted by Parents Defending Education (PDE) in 2022, at least 68 percent of parents across racial and party lines are uncomfortable with their children using TikTok without adult supervision. Their anxiety is not unreasonable.

After the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel, disturbing content on the app grew in volume and intensity. The ongoing anti-Israel protests on high school and college campuses have echoed some of the most extreme messages shared on TikTok—including blatant eliminationist rhetoric against the Jewish people and even open praise for Hamas terrorists as “liberators.”

Over the past century, the U.S. has spent billions of dollars to win hearts and minds overseas. But while our government has invested money in outlets like Radio Free Europe—a key outlet to counter Soviet propaganda during the Cold War—policymakers have seemingly been asleep at the switch when it comes to foreign adversaries using the same tactics on our shores.  

As a result, our country’s youngest generation is at risk of becoming catastrophically anti-American.

A stark example occurred last fall when Osama bin Laden’s “Letter to America” became a sleeper hit among TikTok’s Gen Z users (born in the late 1990s-2010s) and those in Gen Alpha (born in the 2010s-present), groups too young to remember the horror of the 9/11 attacks. Seemingly overnight, young consumers were fed a steady diet of pro-bin Laden content that sympathized with al Qaeda while suggesting their atrocities were righteous.  

Over the years horrified parents have watched their children share TikTok clips promoting things like suicide fantasies, eating disorders, criminal behaviors, extremist ideologies, and other outrageous material. Videos have even glorified the Columbine shooting, the likes of which have already influenced modern-day copycat shooters.

Perhaps some of the time and resources devoted to proving Russian interference in the 2016 election would have been better spent focusing on a more pervasive—and dangerous—threat: the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), to which TikTok’s owners are directly tied.

The editor-in-chief of ByteDance is the CCP Secretary; his duty is to make sure TikTok comports with the interests of the People’s Republic of China. The CCP knows that the phone-addicted Gen Z and Gen Alpha users of today are the leaders of tomorrow, which means that a small amount of effort spent today to encourage warm feelings about Xi Jinping, China, and “socialism with Chinese characteristics” is likely to pay great dividends down the line. It’s a classic soft power play, and it’s working.

In addition to pumping poison into children’s heads, there is also TikTok’s alarming data collection. Under the guise of platforming seemingly harmless entertainment, the app collects data on all users, including viewing habits, interests, locations, and more. As the saying goes, “knowledge is power,” and this information, gathered at scale, is highly valuable.

Last year, PDE identified a number of school districts where students were assigned homework on TikTok, putting families in the uncomfortable position of being forced to choose between a failing grade or compromising their personal security.

TikTok is not alone; other platforms have been quietly purchased by CCP-linked corporations over the years, including Tutor.com, an online tutoring program founded in 1998 by the Princeton Review yet acquired by Primavera Capital (the same investment firm that owns ByteDance). Tutor.com has caused similar data mining concerns, already motivating Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) to demand an end to its use by the Department of Defense, while Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI) has demanded answers from Education Secretary Miguel Cardona.

With the full scope of the problem still unknown, policymakers must commit to investigating which foreign-owned apps, like TikTok and Tutor.com, are being promoted and used by school officials. Once this has been determined, lesson plans can be adjusted, and contracts canceled. But we must go further—and then stay the course.

Parents are justly anxious and frustrated by the toxic role that TikTok is playing in our children’s lives and feel powerless that sensitive information about them is being collected hand over fist by the CCP without any real obstacles. Taking proactive steps to remove this weapon from the holster of America’s top foreign adversary is a commonsense move with broad grassroots support. Washington took the right first step. Parents expect them to follow through.