Apps such as Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and Facebook are widely used across the world. Many use social media for entertainment, connections with others, and to share information, while some use social media as an escape from reality. 

In the nostalgic year of 2017, when Stranger Things Season 2 premiered and Taylor Swift’s debut album “Reputation” was released, a gigantic platform, formerly known as Musical.ly, captured the attention of teenagers around the world. This platform, now known as Tiktok, has recently created controversial debates on whether it should be permitted on American government devices. 

Previously, in August of 2020, former President Donald Trump attempted to ban Tiktok for its connection to the Chinese government and supposed threat to national security. In the same year, the Army, the Marine Corps, the Air Force, and the Coast Guard banned Tiktok on their government devices. However, recently in 2023, the Biden Administration has pushed to ban Tiktok because of the parent company ByteDance and its connection to the Chinese government. They are also concerned about how China could use Tiktok’s content recommendations for misinformation. 

People are enraged about the possibility of Tiktok being banned on all devices across the country, however, many people are misinformed on what the government actually plans to do. I mean, if the government actually wanted to ban Tiktok on all devices, I would be infuriated, like so many others on the app. However, it would be impossible for the government to ban Tiktok on all devices, so people should stop freaking out about it. All the government plans to do is ban the app on all government issued devices. 

Banning Tiktok from these devices is a good solution in my opinion, however, there may be more solutions to this issue that the government hasn’t considered. Other options such as approving Tiktok’s plan to operate in the United States could be possible, however, many of Tiktok’s staff have opposed this idea and have said that this solution would not solve their main problem–the Chinese ownership of Tiktok. Another alternative is forcing the company ByteDance to sell Tiktok to an American company, solving their main issue of Chinese ownership.