Is TikTok Getting Banned? My Hot Take
It’s a question that all marketers and social media gurus are keeping an eye on: Is TikTok getting banned in the U.S.? Are there going to be new restrictions? What does that mean for the algorithm? The fact is that TikTok is probably not going to get banned — at least not any time soon. And I’m going to go into a few reasons why in my latest blog post.
The History of the TikTok Ban
Before I get into why TikTok is likely not getting banned, I’m going to cover the history of the TikTok ban in the U.S. thus far. Murmurings of a nationwide ban first gained traction in 2019. That’s when the Defense Department labeled it as a security risk. In 2020, it was viewed as enough of a threat that the United States Army and Navy banned it on all government devices.
Then, in 2023, the federal government gave agencies 30 days to delete the app on all government owned devices. Since then, over two dozen states have joined the federal government in banning TikTok on state-owned devices. This was followed by Montana’s power move. The state decided to ban TikTok completely, which was later overruled in November by a U.S. judge. Now, Montana is fighting back against the judge’s decision.
Is TikTok Actually a Security Risk?
This is a question that I’m asked quite a bit as a marketer. Is TikTok a security risk? The fact of the matter is that like most forms of social media: Yes, it is. However, the reason why TikTok is receiving so much attention is because it’s owned by the Chinese-based company, ByteDance. With escalating tensions across the globe, it’s no surprise that the U.S. government is cracking down on foreign-owned companies.
I’d argue that the security risk wouldn’t be much of an issue, until you look at China’s policy on social media. The Chinese government is notorious for requesting company data for intelligence-gathering operations. In fact, it’s been proven that China was tracking U.S. journalists by using TikTok.
Why TikTok Isn’t Likely to Be Banned
Considering the fact that TikTok is, in fact, a security risk, some may find it surprising it isn’t being banned. However, TikTok has gained a lot of popularity in recent years — especially among Gen Z. Plus, the app is mildly addictive, encouraging people to scroll on, add content, and get more shares and likes. It reminds me of the early days of Facebook, where you hunted for as many likes as possible from as wide of an audience as possible.
Montana is actually a perfect case example of why TikTok isn’t likely to receive a universal ban in the U.S. Even with the state government backing it, there’s a general outcry of “no” from social media users in that region. Plus, the general populace flies under different rules than the U.S. military and government employees. We can look at the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine and other case studies to prove that much.
TikTok Can’t be Replaced
Last, but not least, I want to take a moment to cover the main reason why TikTok isn’t likely to get a ban. U.S. companies are having a hard time edging in as competition. Meta has already been trying to fill the niche with Instagram. In fact, it’s boosted how many views reels receive as a way to attract more people to the platform.
For all of their work, though, Meta has failed to replace TikTok in the eyes of Gen Z and Gen Alpha. Instead, they’ve simply encouraged their current audience to do more videos and less photos.
This doesn’t mean that TikTok may not be banned in the future. I just think it’s very unlikely with the current amount of users. Instead, I think it far more likely that ByteDance works out a deal with a U.S.-based company so that the platform continues to exist in the country — assuming that it comes to that.
In the meantime, enjoy your mildly addictive short videos. They’re not going anywhere any time soon.
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