SOUTHERN MARYLAND – TikTok is a popular app where users can create and share videos about any subject. From silly clips to informative matters, millions flock to this app for entertainment, business, news, and more. It has been a trending topic lately because the House of Representatives passed a bill to ban usage in the United States.
US lawmakers have renewed efforts to crack down on TikTok over national security concerns related to its Chinese parent company ByteDance. The bill would prohibit TikTok from US app stores unless the social media platform is quickly spun off from ByteDance.
The bill, called the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, advanced out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee last week. On Wednesday, the bill was passed in the House with 352 affirmative votes and just 65 representatives dissenting. [1]
The bill also received support from the White House.
Approximately 170 million Americans who use the app have rallied against this bill to go further. They claim that it’s not just an app for the latest news or funny videos, but a social experience needed to connect with others, and local business promotions would cease and suffer.
Local influencer, Victoria Yost, shares cooking, cleaning, and homemaking content focusing on learning domestic home skills. This is something that many appreciate since these skills aren’t always taught to people by their parents.
“Since 2020 I have been able to grow tremendously on TikTok and it has opened up new opportunities for me and my family. I’ve been able to successfully generate income from TikTok to help support my family,” Yost told The BayNet.
“With the cost of living so high right now, it has been from my TikTok earnings alone that we’ve been able to continue to make ends meet. I am by no means a mega TikTok star making thousands upon thousands of dollars per video. But I do make anywhere from a couple hundred dollars a month to over a thousand, which has been a huge blessing. If TikTok were to be banned, we’d lose this supplemental income as well as the business and brand I am slowly building for myself. So as you can imagine, the U.S. government would essentially be shutting down my business and taking away income from my family.”
When it came to the political reasoning behind the bill, Yost had this to say.
“In this day and age, I don’t expect things to be fair anymore.”
Another tri-county TikTok resident influencer, Shannon Crush, spoke out as well.
“Like most of us. I started my TikTok in 2020 when COVID-19 had us all quarantined. It was a really fun way to connect with others during a really stressful time. I share a lot of lifestyle content. I run a small homestead in St. Leonard and have been sharing the good, bad, ugly, and absolute beauty of homesteading. I have spent the better part of four years building a platform with 154,000 plus followers,” Crush told The BayNet.
“Like many other full-time creators, losing TikTok would have a financial impact on my family. I have watched hometown musicians become universally known! I have watched peoples’ journeys through addiction and homelessness. I learned how to better my food storage, make breads, I have found nature-based channels I watch with my kids. It’s not just a ‘dancing app.’ We have been able to discover people like Elyse Meyers, and Mama-Tot. I have never been a part of a social media app that brings people together like TikTok.”
“We have families who currently cannot afford to feed their children and not a single political party can agree on anything the other side wants. But, they can all agree that TikTok is the biggest problem in this country. The focus is on the wrong problems,” stated Crush.
Now that the bill has passed the House, it moves to the Senate, where it faces a more uncertain future – just like the app users.
Ringing the bell of hope and justice, the bill is largely unpopular with TikTok users, and could possibly sway the 2024 U.S. election. All politicians are acutely aware of this fact, especially the Senators who make the next vote; their election or reelection is in the hands of the people.
Users posted videos ahead of Wednesday’s vote showing them calling their representatives and threatening to vote for alternate candidates if they voted to pass the bill.
There isn’t an exact date when the Senate will vote, but the progress has slowed exponentially. However, the main issue remains; either China sells their share of the app or the United States would need to ban it and users would need to go to a different format that the Senate does not deem a homeland security threat.
To learn more about Victoria Yost’s work, click here.
For more information about Shannon Crush’s work, visit @DoulaShannon on TikTok.
Contact our news desk at news@thebaynet.com
Citation: https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/13/tech/tiktok-ban-us-bill-explained/index.html [1]
Content creators for Chines spyware. Great job ladies!
Holy crap they are going to have to get real jobs.. Move to China if you like them so much.
Better push your audience to YouTube, Instagram or Twitch.
Tiktok may be good for some that use it correctly, however it and like most social media is taking over young lives. It’s sickening to watch.
Hope these influencers can be successful in another platform if it does come down to a ban.
oops, am I supposed to use that?