Currently, TikTok is the fifth most used social media app, with over 50 million daily users and roughly 170 million American users, according to the website Statistica.
The ban is supposed to happen on Jan. 19, and some people are switching to different social media apps to replace TikTok.
Now the big question that many Americans have is, “Why is TikTok being banned?”
Banning TikTok should not be one of the country’s most serious topics right now. There are plenty of other things that we could be focused on such as the Los Angeles fires.
One of the major concerns with TikTok is data privacy and security. The US government is concerned that the app might potentially share the users personal information and data with China.
Additionally, there are concerns about the younger generations’ mental health and influence of social media with the spread of misinformation.
As the banning of TikTok is going through the final steps, many other apps are surfacing as ‘replacements’ for the social media app: Instagram reels, SnapChat Spotlight, Youtube Shorts, Rednote, Lemon8, Likee, and many more.
If TikTok does get banned, this is how it will play out. TikTok will be removed from all app stores and will no longer be able to update. The app itself will not be removed from phone screens, but there are a few different things that could happen if the app is opened.
National Public Radio states that if the app is open one thing that could happen is that the app will still work but, overtime the app will not update and will become too buggy to use without the weekly software updates. Another thing that could happen when the app is opened is that a pop up will show up on the user’s screen stating that the service is no longer available in the country you are in.
However, even if TikTok does get banned, people will continue to create new apps for people to use with the same ideas.
