Recently, the Supreme Court unanimously voted to uphold a proposed TikTok ban, leading to speculation behind the reasons for the ban and what the ban could look like for Americans.
In 2024, Congress passed a law forcing Chinese company and TikTok developer, ByteDance, to sell its U.S. operation or else a U.S. TikTok ban would be imposed due to the national security risk the app could pose. Freshman Alexandria Wheeler does not agree that Americans using the app is a problem for the country.
“A certain aspect of it can be free speech…I feel like it’s just part of our rights and the reason to remove it isn’t the best, especially that they aren’t giving us a valid reason, they’re kind of hiding it from the public and that’s not really helping anybody,” Wheeler said.
According to the Charle Agency, there are about 1.6 billion active monthly TikTok users. Many people post different types of content, including opinions, tying back to Wheeler’s comment of free speech and TikTok’s role in it. English teacher Molly Dugan has a large TikTok following of her own that would be affected by the ban if it were to be implemented.
“At this point, [TikTok] is a source of income for me and it is a job that I really like, so [a ban] would just change that,” Dugan said. “Because the opportunity fell into my lap, I’ve been working really hard to grow it. I would have to really start doing my research and looking elsewhere if I want to continue this path because I’ve become passionate about creating content.
With TikTok bringing in extra money for Dugan, the effects of a ban are much more far reaching than simply a loss of entertainment. According to CBS News, TikTok can be a way for people to work with brands on partnerships as well as bring in clients to brands who post on the app. Additionally, Dugan spends a significant amount of time keeping her TikTok account active.
“Probably, honestly [I spend] at least an hour [a day on TikTok] because I try to post something everyday and so that takes time, then I try to be active with the commenters and stuff so that takes time as well,” Dugan said.
Wheeler, on the other hand, generally spends time watching other creators on TikTok.
“[I spend] probably at least 5 hours a day [on TikTok],” Wheeler said.
Dugan also said she sometimes just scrolls on the app and uses it for entertainment rather than as an entertainer.
“I’m gonna say [TikTok has had a] positive [impact on my life] even though I can fall down the rabbit holes of just scrolling and scrolling,” Dugan said. “For me, I have a following so it’s financially supported me in ways that I worked so hard to find in other aspects and it also has helped me create a teaching community and I feel like it’s helped me dream of bigger things that I could do with this.”
Wheeler has a different perspective on her usage of the app.
“ For me [TikTok] has been more negative because it can be kind of an addicting thing but overall I kind of view it as a neutral thing for everybody,” Wheeler said.
Dugan explained that she does not think TikTok should be banned.
“In my opinion, I don’t think it should be [banned], it’s so ingrained in our culture at this point,” Dugan said. “We would feel ripples from it for a really, really long time. I can see why there’s always concerns about social media and stuff, and I don’t think that that’s a bad thing. If it’s gonna happen, they need more time to really investigate and make that happen. I feel like it’s being pretty rushed.”
While everybody has a different experience with TikTok, the app hosts a large network of people from around the world and many American lives would change if a U.S. nationwide ban is actually implemented.
