If The U.S. Government Doesn’t Ban TikTok, Parents Should

When the TikTok ban was set to go into effect this past Sunday, I immediately thought of a famous scene from “The Simpsons” where all the children go out to play after their favorite cartoon is pulled off the air. They come out of their houses, rubbing their eyes, and instantly become more sociable, creative, and joyful — and all this is set to the perfectly chosen music of Beethoven’s “Pastoral” sixth symphony. 

Like many public high school teachers, I hoped for something similar for today’s youth who idle away their most formative years on TikTok. Perhaps they would rediscover (or discover for the first time) the joys of reading, talking with friends, and exploring their neighborhoods. Maybe, like I did at their age, they could be creative and begin their epic graphic novel, capturing the drama and intrigue of working part-time at a department store.

Alas, it was not meant to be. Like the Christian Paraclete, the Spirit of Trump descended upon the operators of TikTok and reassured them a deal would be reached. To the relief of their users, the platform was up again, complete with an effusive note of gratitude to America’s magnanimous new president. Now the app has another few months to resolve its ownership dilemma. 

Ironically, the very thing that would doom the platform and its millions of devoted fans is something few people actually worry about: the Chinese government harvesting data from American users. Evidently, the Chinese owners of TikTok collect such data (personal information, searches, and content preferences), which is then used by the CCP to harm Americans.

It’s never made clear how exactly this harms them — nor do the advocates of a TikTok ban usually mention that nearly every other internet platform also harvests data to sell to advertisers — but it’s mostly settled truth that Chinese video apps such as TikTok and Red Note threaten American security. Somehow, little Johnny’s infatuation with twerking videos and certain anime characters will tip off the Chinese military to exploit the weaknesses in our national defense. It could never just be useful information for the algorithm to better customize Johnny’s feed (perhaps with more videos of his favorite anime characters twerking?). 

I suspect that for the less technologically inclined types, there is a mysterious but direct connection between one’s data and one’s soul. If a company or government has a person’s data, he has control over that individual. Therefore, if an unscrupulous government (rather than an unscrupulous megacorp) has this data, it effectively has control of whole populations.

A few years ago, there was a corny show on Paramount Plus called “Rabbit Hole” with Kiefer Sutherland that had this premise: Some nefarious group of oligarchs was going to possess everyone’s data and somehow rule the world. It was a race against time, as Sutherland, playing a cybersecurity expert, tried to prevent this group from having the codes to access some massive trove of data. 

None of this is to defend or justify the CCP or anyone else trafficking in user data, which may very well present serious problems for American security. It is to suggest that the real reason to ban TikTok shouldn’t be predicated on the concern of where the data goes but on what the app has done to its users.

In a sense, TikTok (and knock-offs such as Instagram Reels and Youtube Shorts) really do harvest user data to manipulate people in negative ways. Otherwise-healthy human beings are brought low by an addictive algorithm that hacks (figuratively) into their psyches and reduces them to anxious zombies with shorter attention spans than the average goldfish. Over time, the app severely stunts its users intellectually, socially, and emotionally. 

While some Americans have made their peace with turning their neighbors and their children into half-functional junkies, particularly those who profit from it politically or economically, such a product should alarm everyone else and inspire collective action. Threats to national security aside, apps like TikTok are bad for people and should therefore be banned or highly regulated. 

Even if American leadership doesn’t recognize this or has too much political capital to lose in imposing a national tech prohibition, however, American parents can do their part with their own children by prohibiting the app on their children’s phones — or better yet, not giving their children smartphones in the first place. 

Not only would this almost immediately inspire our children to do better things with their time (like the children in “The Simpsons”), but it would also set them on a happier, healthier, and more human way of life in the years to come. 

Auguste Meyrat is an English teacher in the Dallas area. He is the founding editor of The Everyman, a senior contributor to The Federalist, and has written essays for Newsweek, The American Mind, The American Conservative, Religion and Liberty, Crisis Magazine, and elsewhere. Follow him on X and Substack.