Snap CEO Evan Spiegel would “love” a TikTok ban

Evan Spiegel, CEO of Snap, has made no secret about the danger TikTok poses.

Snap Partner Summit, yesterday (Apr. When asked about his position on a potential TikTok banning, Spiegel replied that "we'd love it." However, he added that excitement would be "short term."

Paulina Prizkova's approach to Instagram

The photo-messaging app would benefit from the removal of one of Gen Z’s favorite apps, but the move would also have a negative impact. It could be dangerous if US regulars ban one tech company.

Spiegel stated, "I think it's important that we be thoughtful and develop a real regulatory framework for dealing with national security concerns -- especially those relating to technology." "And I believe based on information that's publicly available, there are legit national security concerns well above my paygrade and security clearance."

TikTok doesn't look like any other app. It's an app owned by a Chinese company, which is massively popular, and has alleged security flaws. This comes in the middle of the ever-escalating US/China trade wars.

150 million Americans use TikTok to get information and express themselves every month. A ban could violate their First Amendment right--it was considered a valid concern after a WeChat Ban was stopped--as well as their Constitutional right to receive foreign-language information.

2020: Donald Trump's administration bans TikTok by signing executive orders. One order prohibits transactions between US citizens with TikTok for 45 days and another instructs TikTok that it must sell its US assets in 90 days. Influencers with millions of subscribers and earning thousands of dollars for each video sued a federal judge, who blocked the ban. A second federal court issues a preliminary order against the restrictive measures, calling the move by the administration "arbitrary and capricious."

BuzzFeed revealed that ByteDance staff in China had repeatedly accessed US TikTok users' data. US Senate Intelligence Committee Leaders ask the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate if TikTok misled the public regarding Chinese employees accessing American user data. Bloomberg reported that the Chinese government asked TikTok to host secret propaganda accounts. Forbes' analysis of LinkedIn profiles for TikTok employees and ByteDance staff reveals 300 former Chinese state media publications. Congress voted to ban federal employees from using TikTok devices owned by the government.

In 2023, the White House will give government agencies 30 days in which to remove TikTok on all federal devices. Senators from the US introduce the RESTRICT act, which would grant the federal government the power to restrict and possibly ban technologies coming from China. The White House supports the legislation. Congress grills TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew in a five hour long hearing.

TikTok, owned by ByteDance a China-based firm, has sparked widespread concerns about national security. The company has been questioned by lawmakers about whether it shares US user data with Chinese officials. ByteDance claims that the company is not Chinese. The ownership of ByteDance is divided 60-20-20 among global investors, ByteDance staff, and ByteDance's founders. The founders' shares have a large voting right.

In an effort to calm fears, the company migrated the traffic of all US users to the servers run by the American software giant Oracle. It also increased the number of US employees on its Trust and Safety team.

It launched an algorithm retrainer this year after a nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate report accused the app for pushing videos on eating disorders and self harm to young users. It also implemented new parental controls for screen time to ease concerns raised by Congress.

The solution is to protect Americans, not ban individual companies. Companies can harvest data without you being able to say no. --Alexandria Ocasio Cortez's TikTok viral video from March in which she opposed the app's banning.

TikTok is able to collect data from users even if they are not directly using the application. According to Gizmodo, AppFigures and Gizmodo, over 28,000 apps use TikTok SDKs for features like ads in TikTok and logging into the app. There are also TikTok tracking tools on other websites, such as Planned Parenthood. This is not unique to TikTok; most social media and advertising firms, such as Google and Meta, work in this way.

Private data brokers are able to provide the kind of data TikTok gathers, such as geolocation data.

Nothing stops another Chinese tech firm from introducing and developing a similar app here in the US.

TikTok could be banned in the US, if its ownership is Chinese.

The updated TikTok data privacy policy is not enough to calm nerves

US lawmakers are renewing their efforts to ban TikTok