Local reaction to proposed TikTok ban
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – The federal government is currently weighing a ban against the social media app TikTok.
Legislators say that a ban on TikTok is necessary to thwart any potential access to American’s data by the Chinese government.
Virginia U.S. Senator Mark Werner said on Face the Nation, “If you don’t think the Chinese Communist Party can twist that algorithm, to make it, the news that they see reflective of their views, then I don’t think you understand the nature of the threat.”
Even President Biden threw his support behind the bill despite his campaign being on TikTok, telling reporters, “If they pass it, I’ll sign it.”
His opponent, former President Donald Trump, voiced his opposition to the bill citing his concerns it would embolden other companies like Meta.
However, some locals disagree with this proposition.
One local resident, Gabriel Perdue, said if TikTok were banned he would be, “Probably depressed, because that’s like the only thing keeping me entertained right now in multiple different ways right now. So, basically, I would probably be in my room bored having nothing to do my in life because that was the only thing I do in life, watching TikToks and making TikToks.”
Another resident, Michael Welch, said, “I’m a free market guy, and I really want to limit government involvement in our lives and our freedoms. My view is that the federal government should stay out of it for private users.”
Perdue said, “Why would you want to ban an app when there’s much more issues out there that you can really go for. Like now we’re having inflation, climate change is going crazy, so we really need to focus on the main key points really.”
They added any restrictions should be in private settings only.
Welch said, “The government as an employer or private employers should have the right to ban that app from devices they are using.”
The House has moved forward with a bill on a TikTok ban, which would require ByteDance to sell their stock of the app or otherwise face a ban from U.S. devices.
