TikTok

Table of Contents

Introduction
Pros
- Pro 1: TikTok poses a threat to U.S. national security, serving as a propaganda arm of the Chinese Communist Party.
- Pro 2: TikTok is rife with dangerous misinformation that the government can and should rightly ban.
- Pro 3: A “tough on China” approach is needed to safeguard the United States and its citizens.
Cons
- Con 1: TikTok is no more a threat than American-owned social media sites that also collect and sell user data.
- Con 2: Banning TikTok is discriminatory, undemocratic, and un-American.
- Con 3: Singling out China and TikTok for recriminations is xenophobic and rank political theater.
U.S. Federal and State Bans on TikTok
International Bans on TikTok
Historical Timeline
- 2012 - ByteDance Is Founded
- July 2014 - Early Version of musical.ly Launches on iTunes
- April 2015 through March 2016 - muscial.ly Takes Off
- Sept. 2016 - ByteDance Launches Douyin
- June 2017 - China’s National Intelligence Law Goes into Effect
- Sep. 13, 2017 - TikTok Launches in Indonesia
- Nov. 2017 - ByteDance Acquires musical.ly
- Aug. 2, 2018 - TikTok Merges with musical.ly, Launching App in United States
- Jan. 26, 2019 - TikTok Allows Advertising
- Nov. 1, 2019 - TikTok Reportedly Under U.S. National Security Review
- Dec. 16, 2019 - U.S. Department of Defense Issues Guidance on TikTok
- Dec. 2019 - U.S. Army and Navy Ban TikTok on Government Devices
- Jan. 2020 - U.S. Marine Corps Bans TikTok on Government Devices
- Jan. 3, 2020 - U.S. Air Force and Coast Guard Confirm TikTok Bans
- Aug. 6, 2020 - President Donald Trump Issues Executive Order 13942
- Sep. 19, 2020 - Oracle Partners with TikTok as Part of “Project Texas”
- Nov. 12, 2020 - U.S. Department of Commerce Will Not Enforce TikTok Ban
- May 19, 2021 - ByteDance CEO Steps Down
- June 11, 2021 - President Joe Biden Overturns Trump Executive Order 13942
- Oct. 26, 2021 - TikTok’s Michael Beckerman Testifies in Subcommittee
- June 17, 2022 - BuzzFeed Reports TikTok Employees Repeatedly Accessed American User Data
- July 2022 - “Project Texas” Begins Roll Out
- July 13 2022 - FCC Commissioner Says Troops’ TikTok Use Endangers U.S. Military
- Oct. 20, 2022 - Forbes Reports ByteDance Plan to Surveil Physical Locations of Specific U.S. Citizens
- Dec. 22, 2022 - ByteDance Reveals Data Leak
- Dec. 29, 2022 - Biden Signs No TikTok on Government Devices Act
- Feb. 24, 2023 - DATA Act Introduced to the House of Representatives
- Mar. 7, 2023 - RESTRICT Act Introduced to the Senate
- Mar. 23, 2023 - U.S. Congress Questions TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew
- Apr. to May 2023 - Montana Bans TikTok for All Users and Faces Lawsuits
- June 2, 2023 - Department of Defense Bans TikTok
- Nov. 30, 2023 - Federal Judge Blocks Montana’s TikTok Ban
- Jan. 31, 2024 - TikTok CEO Testifies to Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing
- Mar. 13, 2024 - Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act Passed in House of Representatives
- Apr. 23, 2024 - President Biden Signed into Law the National Security Package
- May 7, 2024 - ByteDance Sues to Stop Ban
- Aug. 2, 2024 - DOJ and FTC File Civil Lawsuit against TikTok
- Oct. 8, 2024 - 14 Attorneys General Sue TikTok
- Oct. 8, 2024 - Internal TikTok Documents Reveal Plan to Influence U.S. Politicians
- Oct. 11, 2024 - Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) Request TikTok Internal Documents on Child Endangerment
- Nov. 6, 2024 - Canada Orders Dissolution of Canadian TikTok Business
- Dec. 6, 2024 - Federal Appeals Court Upholds Federal Ability to Ban TikTok
- Dec. 6, 2024 - Romania Calls off Presidential Election, Citing Concerns of TikTok Interference
- Dec. 8, 2024 - TikTok Requests Temporary Freeze on TikTok Ban Law
- Dec. 13, 2024 - D.C. Circuit Court Denies Request to Freeze TikTok Ban Law
- Dec. 16, 2024 - TikTok Asks the U.S. Supreme Court Emergency Stay on TikTok Ban Law
- Dec. 18, 2024 - U.S. Supreme Court Agrees to Review TikTok Law
- Dec. 21, 2024 - Albania Bans TikTok for One Year
- Dec. 27, 2024 - Trump Asks Supreme Court to Delay Start of TikTok Ban
- Jan. 10, 2025 - Supreme Court Hears TikTok Case
- Jan. 15, 2025 - TikTok Indicates the App Will Be Completely Shut Down Immediately if Banned
- Jan. 15, 2025 - TikTok Says U.S. Employees Will Keep Jobs if Ban is Enforced
- Jan. 16, 2025 - TikTok “Refugees” Flock to RedNote
- Jan. 17, 2025 - Reports Say Biden Administration Won’t Enforce TikTok Ban
- Jan. 17, 2025 - U.S. Supreme Court Upholds TikTok Ban
- Jan. 19, 2025 - U.S. TikTok Ban Goes into Effect
- Jan. 19, 2025 - TikTok Begins Restoring Service in the U.S.
- Jan. 20, 2025 - Trump Issues TikTok Executive Order on Day One in Office
- Feb. 13, 2024 - Apple and Google App Stores Restore TikTok
Discussion Questions
Take Action
Sources

References & Edit History Related Topics

Images

Read Next

What’s the Difference Between Emoji and Emoticons?

Discover

January 21, 2019: Superbowl LIII will be played at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday, February 3, 2019 against the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams.

What Was the Super Bowl’s First Blockbuster Commercial?

Young boys working in a thread spinning mill in Macon, Georgia, 1909. Boys are so small they have to climb onto the spinning frame to reach and fix broken threads and put back empty bobbins. Child labor. Industrial revolution

The Rise of the Machines: Pros and Cons of the Industrial Revolution

In this aerial photo, structures are damaged and destroyed October 15, 2005 in Balakot, Pakistan. It is estimated that 90% of the city of Balakot was leveled by the earthquake. The death toll in the 7.6 magnitude earthquake that struck northern Pakistan on October 8, 2005 is believed to be 38,000 with at least 1,300 more dead in Indian Kashmir. SEE CONTENT NOTES.

6 of the World’s Deadliest Natural Disasters

Vietnam War. U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson awards the Distinguished Service Cross to First Lieutenant Marty A. Hammer, during a visit to military personnel, Cam Ranh Bay, South Vietnam, October 26, 1966. President Johnson

Vietnam War Timeline

Chapter 4 pg 42 - Chapter header of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. Published in 1884 by The American Publishing Company

Periods of American Literature

Remarkable new details of Pluto's largest moon Charon are revealed in this image from New Horizons' Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI), taken late on July 13, 2015 from a distance of 289,000 miles

Why Is Pluto No Longer a Planet?

Horses. Equus caballus. Horse stable. A brown horse looks out from his stall through the window.

Horsing Around: 7 of the Weirdest Racehorse Names in History

TikTok: Related Content

Written and fact-checked by The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Photos

See All Images →

Topics

social media Florida Bans Social Media for Kids Under 14 Net Neutrality Social Media Video Games Artificial Intelligence (AI)Cell Phones Tablets vs. Textbooks Cancel Culture Internet Binge-watching Ride-Sharing