Can We Ban Social Media?
Commentary by Steven A. Smith
Troglodyte: A person characterized by reclusive habits or outmoded or reactionary attitudes.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
I am a social media troglodyte. Except for Facebook, I am reclusive on nearly all social media platforms. That is especially true when it comes to TikTok.
I have always been this way.
As a newspaper editor, I left it to digital managers to figure out the best apps for sharing content. In my personal life, I knew little or nothing about any of them. And when I bought my first smart phone, my downloads did not include those apps.
Later, I learned about social media from my students at the University of Idaho. They often laughed at my popular culture and digital ignorance. But they schooled me on the nuances of Snapchat and Instagram and a few other apps, which were clearly not appropriate for a professor. I even started posting to Twitter because it was a good platform for sharing some of my writing, though I have left that platform along with many journalists and news organizations.
The Newbie on the Block: TikTok
But in my years teaching, TikTok was never really mentioned.
That app made its debut in the U.S. in 2017 and was still a rising phenomenon when I left teaching three years ago. TikTok is still rising and, behind Facebook, is the second-most active social media platform in the U.S.
About 44 percent of all Americans have a TikTok account. But until I started researching this column, I did not.
Troglodyte.
I like old movies and some of the new streaming TV shows. I like old music.
Videos that run 15 seconds or less have held no interest. I do not care for videos of cute cats. I have my own cat to watch. I don’t look for dog videos or fashion videos or cooking videos. Home improvement clips bore me. And those TikTok dance videos are simply irritating.
But I am clearly in the minority.
Another Futile Road to Ban Social Media
Still, it is time I pay attention. Not because I plan to spend hours on TikTok as some do. But because it may become the newest example of our government’s futile efforts to regulate, slow or stop digital communication.
Domestic digital platforms have avoided most new regulatory efforts despite serious problems that include dubious content, fake news, election denial, foreign propaganda, child sexualization and intrusive data mining.
But those platforms are owned by domestic interests.
TikTok is owned by a Chinese holding company, ByteDance, which originally developed the sophisticated algorithms for Douyin, a platform that still operates in China where its content — and its users — can be tightly controlled by the state. ByteDance developed TikTok as its international platform in 2017.
But under Chinese law, TikTok is still subject to state control even if it does operate internationally. To date there is no evidence that has happened, but it is possible.
And it is that possibility that has fueled the ban debate.
TikTok and the Chinese Connection
TikTok critics say the platform can be used to collect massive amounts of data on U.S. citizens that can be used to influence attitudes and behavior. Of more concern to national security interests is the possibility TikTok could be weaponized, delivering to the Chinese sensitive technical and intelligence data.
For that reason, the federal government and many state governments prohibit TikTok on government-owned phones.
But banning TikTok entirely is a completely different matter.
In 2020, former President Donald Trump tried to ban the platform by executive order. Federal courts put a stop to that. His efforts to force a sale of TikTok’s American interests also failed.
But talk of a complete ban is back. President Joe Biden is working with Congress on legislation that would give him authority to directly regulate the giant social media platforms. But Congress has been down this path before without finding agreement. Several bills are in process. Even our own Congressional troglodyte, Cathy McMorris-Rodgers, has introduced legislation.
Meanwhile, one state has acted on its own.
Montana Legislature Bans TikTok
The Montana Legislature last week passed a ban on TikTok in that state, with legislators making the bizarre argument that the platform can be removed from various app stores — but only in Montana. The legislation establishes fines of $10,000 per day for any provider that allows TikTok downloads in the state. There are clearly plenty of tech troglodytes in the Montana Legislature.
Perhaps someone in Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte’s administration has enough technical knowledge to understand the impossibility of such a ban and will tell him before the governor signs the silly bill although he likely will sign sometime this week.
Meanwhile legal experts say a federal ban will never survive judicial scrutiny. Aside from the clear current absence of regulatory authority, there is a little legal issue — the First Amendment. The government cannot simply step in and eliminate the free speech rights of 150 million Americans, not to mention the free speech rights of ByteDance’s American subsidiary.
Is the Ban Really about Protecting Citizens?
Our politicians surely know this. They must know a ban is both technically and legally impossible. So, why all the noise?
Ban talk is all about politics. Tension between the U.S. and China are at their highest in decades. It is politically expedient to posture a tough-on-China stance. President Biden will announce his re-election plans soon, and he does not want to campaign against a soft-on-China accusation.
But while his administration talks tough, the White House is organizing a digital re-election campaign that includes a heavy TikTok presence. Congressional Democrats are all in on the platform. Republicans are certain to follow. Neither party wants to alienate the young voters who are TikTok’s most active users.
Absent any evidence of a clear and present TikTok danger, all those addictive videos will stay, and the platform will continue to grow.
As for me, I am learning a few TikTok dances. I look like a gravel truck driving a bumpy road.
But I am tired of being a social-media troglodyte.
