INDIANAPOLIS—A bipartisan bill in congress would ban the use of TikTok in the U.S. The app is one of the most popular social media apps in the world. There are more then 170 million users in America alone. The reason behind the attempted ban has to do with concerns over the Chinese owner. Congress is concerned about what they might do with American data.
Brandon Buckley has over 100 thousand followers on TikTok. The platform is something he says has allowed him to live out his dreams and share his creativity.
"Brands like Rihanna Savage X Fenty, to Fashion Nova and a lot of different brands that helped build you know your platform to another level,” Buckley said. “So, when that happened I was able to bring lucrative income in, in different ways."
Before Buckley was in influencer he worked with kids, something he still does through his nonprofit The Hub. During NBA All Star Weekend, he rewarded kids in an after school program he runs with NBA All Star tickets.
The kids who got them were rewarded for their hard work and dedication in school. He says without TikTok that type of work would be more challenging.
"That has brought a better connection with me with youth here even in the city of Indianapolis and without TikTok that wouldn't have happened,” Buckley said.
He feels banning the app would be a violation of people’s freedom of speech.
"Here in America, we are free to do whatever we please to and that’s a dream and we are free to make our dreams come true,” Buckley said. “By banning it is just telling us 'here is a slap on the wrist you can't be creative you can't do these things because it's not controlled.'"
Experts say legal challenges are likely to follow if the legislation is signed into law. However, due to the app having Chinese ownership, it’s right to the freedom of speech could get legally murky.
“Generally speaking, the supreme court frowns on what it calls prior restraints, what we call censorship by the government,” Anthony Fargo the Director of the IU Bloomington Center for Int'l Media & Law & Policy Studies said. “Because of the foreign ownership the questions of data security carry a little bit more potential national security implications then it would in regard to Facebook or Instagram or other websites.”
As for influencers like Buckley, he is focusing on a way to continue building his brand and spreading positivity along the way.
"I'm just planning,” said Buckley. “Planning planning planning that's what it is."
Two Indiana congressional members have been in the forefront of the fight, Congressman Andre Carson and Jim Banks. We reached out to both of their offices for a statement on the topic.
Congressman Carson sent the statement below:
“Through my work on the new House Select Committee on Strategic Competition with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), I’ve learned a great deal about the serious national security threats against us by the government of China. We’ve worked in a bipartisan manner to find solutions to these threats. I’m a cosponsor of a bill to address the unique problems of the Chinese government owning and operating a social media platform used by countless Americans. Unlike privately owned companies, a communist government-owned platform is filled with national security risks, allowing foreign adversaries to clandestinely surveil and unduly influence American users through the collection of user data and monitoring and manipulating the content Americans share and consume.
To demonstrate the influence that the CCP wants to exert on American politics, Tik Tok has blasted millions of messages to users falsely claiming this bill bans the platform. It does not. The “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act” incentivizes the divestment or relinquishment of control of Tik Tok from the Chinese government to an American entity for American users. It’s important to recognize that the CCP restricts, surveils, censors, and manipulates its citizens’ social media. The CCP is currently capable of doing the same to Americans, as we’ve seen this week. That’s why I support this bipartisan bill, which will allow Americans to useTikTok, but without it being under the control of a foreignadversary threatening our national security, or misusing users’data and manipulating their content. “-Congressman Carson
Congress is expected to vote on the legislation on Wednesday, March 13. It would then go to the senate where the future is unclear. President Biden has said if the bill gets to his desk, he will sign it.
