Imagine 12-year-olds sitting in military-precision rows, laser-eyed focus on the front of the room. Talking unless addressed by the teacher, asking a question, or getting up out of your seat are not allowed. Full respect and attention to authority is mandatory. This isn’t a boot camp. It’s a Chinese middle school I attended as an exchange student. And this was just a small glimpse of the cultural and political differences I experienced there, things that stood in stark contrast to what we honor and value here in America. These foundational differences highlight why it’s surprising and potentially dangerous that Chinese social media sensation TikTok has become an integral part of American teen culture.
Among TikTok’s 135 million American users, a quarter are 10- to 19-year-olds. With its highly personalized algorithm, TikTok takes the crown as the most addictive social media platform. This puts American teenagers, who are especially receptive to new stimuli, at high risk of consuming potentially harmful content.
By harmful, I’m not just referring to self-image, bullying, or tracking user data, location, and preferences. As a subsidiary of a Chinese company ByteDance, TikTok must abide by the laws of the Chinese Communist Party, and according to their laws, any Chinese entity must work in the interests of the CCP. The CCP can spread propaganda and misinformation, or censor topics controversial in China like democracy or political developments in Taiwan. Because of this, American teens can fall down the rabbit hole of Chinese authoritarian ideology and lose sight of our democratic ideals, which grant us freedom of speech, religion, and political affiliation.
According to the polls and interviews I have conducted with 80 students in my high school in Austin, some high school students have witnessed blatant censorship: “I remember an incident when TikTok took down a video of a person speaking against the Uyhghur genocide…” Yet, according to the data in my interview, few of my peers (25%) are concerned that TikTok is Chinese-owned. More teens voiced concern about location tracking (67%), sharing personal data (75%), and addiction (75%). Despite the potential threats of manipulation and hacking, most teens remain complacent.
The dangers of TikTok are daunting, but there are ways to help teens stay out of harm’s way. Legislators have already banned TikTok from federal electronics. The House of Representatives aims to ban the app from the United States or force its divestiture by September 2024. “We must ensure the Chinese government cannot weaponize TikTok against American users and our government through data collection and propaganda,” U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise said in March.
It’s time teens take action at home by limiting or terminating our use of TikTok and use platforms such as Instagram and YouTube instead. This isn’t just an innocent social media platform; it’s a national security risk. Not only is it a danger to our mental health, it’s a danger to our civic understanding, with the CCP lurking behind the scenes. You, can help protect your data, your freedom of speech, and our American way of life simply by logging off.
Inara Woodrum is a high school junior in Austin who has studied abroad in China and has been published in the Pacific Council on International Policy’s magazine, discussing social media and propaganda. Inara intends to study international relations and is interested in how different countries’ cultural norms affect world politics.
This article appears in August 2 • 2024.