Given time, what is old will eventually become new again. Why such a seemingly silly statement? Because it wasn’t so long ago (2020, to be exact) that the then-president of the United States, Donald #Trump tried to effect a ban on the #TikTok social media platform via executive order. Of course, as we all know, that plan fell flat on its face spectacularly. The courts were quite quick to bring that bid to its knees, calling it colorful terms like “arbitrary and capricious.”

Yet, here we are again. The names and faces might have changed but the same issue has reared its ugly head again. So, once again, we have to debate the ethics and propriety of initiating a nationwide ban on what has arguably come to be one of the most heavily used apps in all of the United States today.

Let’s start by looking at the case for and against this notion.

The relationship between the United States of America and the People’s Democratic Republic of China has almost always been strained. However, it has gotten significantly worse over the last few years. Now, while TikTok doesn’t operate out of China, its parent company, #ByteDance, does. On this fact alone, many people argue that the platform is fundamentally unsafe for use by U.S. citizens.

This is because it is generally believed that companies that thrive in China do so. After all, they are largely subservient to the government there and would always do their bidding. Naturally, this includes divulging any and all bits of personal information made available on their platform.

It is on this basis that the #Biden administration is massively pushing that the use of this application be banned in the country. What’s more, whether or not this ban is implemented on a nationwide scale, the facts remain that it has already been adopted and executed. At the moment, no U.S. official is allowed to have TikTok installed on their phone. In addition to being implemented at the national level, more and more states have started to adopt this approach as well. All of this goes to show just how serious a threat to national security the American government considers this application to be.

Now, for the argument against the ban.

The unpleasant truth that most people pushing for the ban will likely be unwilling to hear is the fact that quite a lot of apps, not just TikTok, illegally gather information on their users. They collate massive data on these individuals and sell them with little thought to the consequences of such actions to the highest bidder. The digital dossiers that many of these platforms have on users are comprehensive and staggering beyond belief.

The question now is, will the U.S. government move to ban all of these apps as well?

And, should they do so, or even move to ban just TikTok alone, what would become of the #First Amendment in the process?

If memory serves, the entire purpose of the First Amendment is to ensure that the voice of the people isn’t limited or muffled in any manner, shape, or form. The simple truth as such is that initiating a ban on this app would be a stark violation of such a fundamental right.

The implications of that ban would be made far more significant in light of the fact that quite literally millions of Americans would be affected by it.

If the fact that the ban on TikTok would be a direct attack on civil rights and liberties isn’t enough, let us briefly consider the ripple effect that such a move might have.

For example, other countries might opt to take the exact same stance that the U.S. is taking at the moment. That is, they might choose to ban U.S.-based apps and platforms operating in their countries on the grounds that they cannot trust that the U.S. government isn’t exploiting the information being gathered by these apps.

In the same vein, this action could lead to a lull in foreign investment in America as investors will fear and want to avoid the possibility that they’ll get caught in the crossfire that is certain to follow between the U.S. and China.

What this all boils down to is that an outright ban on TikTok is just a silly proposition. It doesn’t appear well thought-through and is sure to have far-reaching consequences even beyond what has been discussed so far.

That being said, this doesn’t in any way mean that the potential threat that TikTok and other apps as it poses should be ignored. On the contrary, they need to be taken seriously now more than ever before.

To that end, the American government should be focusing on taking measures like enacting well-thought-out privacy laws and looking for efficient ways to prevent data breaches and data spills. Those are sure long-term solutions that will stop this recurring problem.

Banning TikTok is simply a stop-gap that is sure to do more harm than good at the end of the day.