The social media app TikTok, was banned by Congress starting last Saturday, Jan. 18. However, even before his first day in office, President Donald Trump delayed the ban for 75 days and would like the app running for all American citizens, according to the official website of the White House.
Before Trump’s intervention, over 170 million TikTok users in the U.S saw the app disabled on their phones that Saturday night. National security and cybersecurity concerns are cited as major reasons for the ban, according to the official U.S Congress website.
Senior Devesh Mamidi doesn’t believe TikTok poses any security or content concerns to its users, he said.
“I think the ‘brain-rot,’ (content) for example, well it might be humorous, it isn’t really harmful,” Mamidi said. “If a video on TikTok is harmful, you’ll get a notification on the bottom of the screen that says ‘Hey, this kind of content is harmful. Please do not try this.’”
When Congress first passed the law to TikTok, many people were very angry and sad about the decision, Mamidi said. He has never received a virus on TikTok and believes it’s a safe app, he said. TikTok users were moving to TikTok alternatives like YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, Rednote, and Lemon8, he added.
“YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels just don’t hit the same as TikTok,” Mamidi said. “I feel like TikTok content is unique ‘brain-rot.’”
Senior Harish Manukonda believes the TikTok ban will be beneficial for American-based companies like YouTube and Instagram, he said. The content on apps like TikTok and YouTube Shorts aren’t that harmful besides wasting a person’s time, he said. Congress wasn’t making a bad decision by banning TikTok, he added.
“I think it (the ban) was because of Chinese data concerns, like the way the Chinese is using TikTok to control American citizens,” Manukonda said. “They can manipulate them in various ways, maybe through ads.”
TikTok will be safe since Trump says he likes TikTok, Manukonda said.
“It’s (TikTok) been unbanned, but Trump wants to get the U.S. to have ownership of it,” Manukonda said.
Tiktok is safe and theres not really any bad content on TikTok, junior Justin Li said. He doesn’t care about the TikTok ban since he’ll just use YouTube Shorts or Instagram Reels instead, he said.
“I’m going to use Instagram Reels,” Li said. “Because I can say whatever I want in the comments, and I won’t get banned.”