A TikTok ban on hypothetical grounds of a national security threat directly undermines the First Amendment’s protection of freedom of speech. 

So far, the United States government has not made effective efforts to “limit no more speech than necessary” to protect national security. This violation will forever impact social media platforms and the American public’s right to freedom of speech. 

For those who are unaware, TikTok “is a popular social media app that allows users to create, watch, and share short videos.” This app plays a large role in marketing for small businesses, supporting content creators and spreading information globally. 

Rumors of banning TikTok in the U.S. began during Donald Trump’s 2020 presidency when he issued an executive order to prohibit TikTok due to its alleged ties with the Chinese Communist Government. This executive order, however, was blocked due to a preliminary injunction against that ban that was granted by a U.S. district judge, and the executive order was revoked by former President Joe Biden in 2021.

Rumors of a TikTok ban continued to circulate and on Jan. 19, these rumors became reality. American users opened their beloved app and saw a pop-up message saying, “A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now.”

Less than 24 hours later, the app was miraculously working again with a new message explaining that despite his previous speculations, President Trump made efforts to reinstate TikTok in the U.S.

TikTok’s headquarters are located in California, however, its parent company, ByteDance, is based in China. TikTok’s data collection has raised suspicions within the U.S. government, which prompted this investigation. 

Along with most social media apps, TikTok uses the data from individual users to improve its quality. American-owned social media sites such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook also partake in this same practice. These apps collect personal information such as location, user content and behavioral data. 

In April 2024, TikTok was given the ultimatum to sell to a U.S. company or face restrictions in America. TikTok has repeatedly refused to sell, which warranted a ban on Jan. 19. 

During this short prohibition, many TikTok users downloaded the Chinese version of TikTok: RedNote. RedNote was an insult to the U.S. officials who support the TikTok ban since RedNote is directly associated with China. 

Downloading RedNote was also a form of protest and retaliation by the American public since the TikTok ban is arguably unconstitutional and undermines the U.S. First Amendment right to freedom of speech.

“I thought it was hilarious that people were downloading RedNote because the reason TikTok was getting banned in the first place was because it wasn’t U.S. owned,” TikTok user, Maikaya Moeling said. “There was a big social impact from the users of TikTok to be like, ‘OK, well, then we’re just going to go to an officially Chinese-owned platform.’”

The rise of RedNote came to an end less than a day later due to a 75-day TikTok extension signed by President Trump. The order for ByteDance to sell TikTok was signed into law but has not yet been enforced due to Trump’s executive order. 

In addition, the evidence presented to the government against TikTok has not been publicly released, which has a lot of Americans, including myself, questioning if the national security threat even warrants a ban on the platform. 

University of Oregon Communication Law Professor Justin Francese explained that it would be unconstitutional to ban a platform without evidence of direct harm. 

“I don’t presume to know more than our leaders in Congress or our justices in the Supreme Court,” Francese said. “But I think it is safe to say that shutting down the platform without actual evidence of harm being released to the public in specific ways sets a precedent that undermines the First Amendment.”

The standard balance of national security and freedom of speech will not be constitutionally protected if the TikTok ban is officially enforced in the U.S. 

The U.S. government needs to explore less extreme ways to protect national security while respecting the public’s right to freedom of speech.