ATu Montana, the sky is immense, bordered only on the west by the Rocky Mountains. But, obviously, the horizon of the “Big Sky Country”, as it is nicknamed, stops at the borders of China. Lest Beijing revel in heated discussions among teenagers in Billings, its largest city, Montana has become the first US state to ban TikTok.
The favorite application of those under 25 (60% of its audience) will be prohibited from downloading throughout its territory from 1er January 2024. In retaliation, the Chinese company officially filed a complaint on Monday, May 22. According to the group, this decision violates the American First Amendment on freedom of speech.
Like Captain Haddock’s band-aid, the TikTok affair sticks to the fingers of American politicians without them knowing how to get out of it. Donald Trump had first tried to ban the application, in August 2020, then to have it bought by an American company. The US Congress took up the case, hearing the application’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, at length.
Addictive character
With two main grievances. On the one hand, the data collected by its 150 million users in the United States is transmitted to China. On the other hand, its content and its addictive nature are likely to pervert American youth.
In fact, the application has, for more than two years, totally dethroned Facebook, and even Instagram, in the hearts of American teenagers and around the world. If its content is not fundamentally different, it is the nationality of the company that causes this fever. Hatred of China is the only truly cross-partisan issue in the United States today. These accusations are not as unfounded as his boss claims.
In a very detailed article, Cristina Criddle, journalist at FinancialTimes, tells how she was spied on through her TikTok account, with tracking of his movements and communications in an attempt to identify internal sources that gave him details of the company’s managerial practices. And also on data exchanges with Beijing.
However, after more than two years of invectives and lawsuits, nothing is happening in Washington. India was the first state to ban the app, in 2020, and several Western countries have banned it from civil servants’ cellphones. But touching teenagers’ smartphones is another matter. It appears that this soft de-globalization, which affects the culture of an entire generation, is even more difficult to achieve than with electronic chips.