By Lizzie Sun, Staff Reporter

Founded in 2016 by the Chinese company ByteDance, TikTok is a popular social media company ranked sixth among all other leading social networks. With a 142% revenue growth in 2021 and billions of users, the app has grown to be a dominant player in the social media world. Yet, more than half of the states in the United States have banned TikTok on all state devices, and Pennsylvania plans to join them.

A bill that York County Senator and Republican Kristin Phillips-Hill proposed will prohibit the usage of the app TikTok on state devices and networks. Senate Bill 379 is currently on the floor of the Senate and open to debate.

“TikTok presents an unacceptable level of cyber espionage, collection of government data, and a threat to personal security,” Phillips-Hill said in a video posted to her YouTube channel. “At least 25 other states have addressed this, and Congress prohibited its use across a broad swath of federal agencies and departments.”

In 2020, a U.S. judge shut down an executive order by former President Donald Trump that tried to ban TikTok. Trump believed the Chinese government was utilizing users’ private data to China’s advantage.

Rejected three years ago, this idea is gaining traction again. ByteDance recently admitted to misusing third-party data to track multiple journalists, and the recent Chinese spy balloons over the U.S. led to increased concern over national safety and privacy. As a result, tensions between China and the U.S. are rising.

“To me, that (Pennsylvania TikTok ban) seems like something that would be reasonable and attainable,” said Aaron Lockard, a U.S. Government and World History teacher. “Much like that the government can classify documents, for example, I imagine that extension of confidentiality, secret access to government documents, and information or personnel being able to extend that to what sort of apps are on the cell phone seems reasonable.”

In addition to its popularity globally, TikTok is particularly popular in the Conestoga community, as well. Spending an average of two to three hours a day on TikTok, junior Timothy Corben is an active user of the app. He uses TikTok to unwind and gets paid to make TikToks for Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream and Yogurt.

“I don’t know a person who doesn’t (use TikTok),” Corben said. “I feel like almost at least 95% of everybody I know is using TikTok.”
The bill would not make TikTok inaccessible to students currently using the app. If passed into law, the bill will not affect personal devices such as phones not owned by the state.

The T/E School District already blocked TikTok on all school devices, including other social media websites. While this bill will have little effect on Conestoga’s students, it paves the way for more bans that might affect the T/E community.

“In this case, (TikTok) just happens to be like a virtual market, which I think opens the doors up,” Lockard said. “It opens the door for something that could be used on public devices.”

Lizzie Sun can be reached at [email protected].