On the first day of his term, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that added a 75-day period of non-enforcement on the TikTok ban. Three days earlier, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld the federal law banning TikTok and on Jan. 18 the app was banned on all U.S devices.
TikTok is currently facing scrutiny for collecting user data and allegedly sharing it with the Chinese government and knowingly allowing harmful activities on TikTok Live.
The supreme court ban was issued because of concerns of manipulation of content by the Chinese government and obtaining access to user data. Congress passed the legislation to ban TikTok unless the platform was sold to a government-approved cooperative.
TikTok CEO Shou Chew attended President Trump’s inauguration, as did the CEO of Meta Mark Zuckerberg and X owner Elon Musk.
With over 170 million Americans using TikTok daily, President Trump is looking to reinstate TikTok permanently. Generation Z makes up 60 percent of the TikTok userbase.
This week on Noon Edition we’ll talk with IU professors of cyber security and media ethics, as well as a TikTok content creator.
Guests:
Ava Wilson, Indiana University undergraduate and TikTok content creator
Lois Scheidt, IU instructor in adolescent internet use and digital ethics
Scott Shackelford, executive director, Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research