SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News)- Generation Z is considered those born from 1997 to 2012. What makes this generation unique is social media. With 170 million users worldwide TikTok has been widely regarded as one of the fastest growing social media platforms. TikTok is ultimately owned, through a complex multi-layered corporate structure, by ByteDance, a privately owned technology giant. TikTok officially launched in 2017 and a few months after it bought rival app Musical.ly to merge as one company.
Two weeks ago, on March 13, 2024, the House of Representatives passed a bill that works as an ultimatum for the owner of TikTok. He could either sell the app to a potential buyer or face a ban in the United States. The reason for this ban is because China’s 2017 National Intelligence Law states that any organization must assist or cooperate with state intelligence work and ByteDance would likely have to comply with Chinese authorities if they were to ask for information. The data the U.S. fears that China would be interested in is sensitive information, especially for 2024’s upcoming election.
Syracuse University sophomore Gabriela Peniston has been a content creator since she was 12 years old and currently has a TikTok page with two thousand followers. Her highest viewed video has around seven hundred thousand views and has even received monetization from some of her viral videos. But Peniston said that a ban could take her fan base away. “I’m not that connected to them yet. I feel like I have been recognizing that stuff, and you know, I have had people talk to me about it, but I don’t, I don’t, I don’t feel like they would follow me to another platform yet.” said Peniston.
While security and child exposure are a concern for Peniston, she does believe TikTok brings more good than bad to society.” I think that TikTok gives the opportunity for people to see a lot of sides, to be able to kind of get that exposure to not only politics, but for real world issues or in other aspects like music.” said Peniston.
President Biden said that he will sign the bill, but before the bill gets to him, it first has to go through the Senate.
