Local lawmakers, residents discuss bill that could ban Tiktok in United States – Western Massachusetts News
SPRINGFIELD, MA (WGGB/WSHM) — A Tiktok bill that could lead to a ban of the popular social media platform in the United States has Massachusetts lawmakers divided. The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed legislation that would require China-based parent company Bytedance to sell its stake in the app Tiktok. The bill passed with broad bipartisan support, but in Massachusetts, there was a rare split among the nine Democrats representing the state, with five voting ‘Yes’ and four voting ‘No.’
One of those No’s came from Congressman Richard Neal who told Western Mass News in a statement: “Safeguarding our national security and protecting our citizens’ data from a hostile foreign adversary are paramount, but Republicans rushed this bill and singling out one app doesn’t solve the issue at hand.”
Following this vote, Western Mass News took our questions to Janice Fedor, an assistant professor of marketing at American International College. She teaches classes that educate students on a variety of topics including social media marketing and touched upon subjects such as the issue of data protection and privacy. She told us she believes this bill will eventually pass, but instead of the app being out right banned from U.S phones, she’s hopeful China will choose to sell its stakes to a U.S.-backed company.
“It sounds like they’re putting together a group that will buy Tiktok, so I think it would be a very quick turnaround of that and Tiktok would be up and running again, but owned by a consortium of United States owners,” Fedor explained.
We also spoke to one of Fedor’s students, Skylar Hernek, who told us she’s also hopeful that the app will not be banned, but instead be transferred over to U.S. ownership.
“I think it’s a little ridiculous that people are trying to get it banned because it’s such a big part of our culture today,” Hernek noted.
Hernek told us that she has learned about data sharing in Fedor’s class, but she’s not extremely worried about the risk and added that users must take some responsibility.
“You have the option to just not get the app,” Hernek said.
She also credited Tiktok with helping her meet some of her closest friends and pushing her to go to college, which is something she never thought she could do.
“Tiktok got me to do it because there’s multiple different ends of the spectrum here. What you’ll see on Tiktok, there’s funny cat videos, but there’s also amazing resources on the app, so there are mental health resources. There are advertisements for therapy, people who need that, or ads for online tutoring and things that I use every day as a student and it has changed my life,” Hernek added.
Fedor explained that, if the sale of Tiktok does go through, then the U.S. would have more control over protecting the privacy of users in the United States and potentially set a precedent for other social media sites. However, she said we must tread lightly.
Because the Chinese government could possibly make the United States divest, Apple or Tesla, or other similar companies, and so then it becomes a question of where does it end?” Fedor noted.
Fedor’s point is there’s a possibility the Chinese government could retaliate by asking the U.S. government to sell its ownership of items built in China, such as Apple products, which has the potential to affect millions of people across the country instead of just those who use Tiktok.
President Biden has said he’ll sign the bill if it gets to his desk, but first, it will have to pass the Senate.
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