What Would Happen If TikTok Suddenly Disappeared?

The thought of going viral it’s almost like winning the lottery. Would you say it’s the ultimate goal of users or someone putting out videos?

I think it’s probably the underlying thing. The idea of creators as a career has shot up in the last decade or so but particularly in the last few years. More kids now want to be YouTubers than astronauts. There is this idea that you can make money on these platforms so people started to treat it that much more seriously.” 

The angst in Washington seems to be the fear the Chinese government is gaining access to US user data—would you agree? 

Yeah, there are two prongs. One is the idea that this is a dry vacuum hoovering up our data to be siphoned off to China and then used against us. The other is that this is a Trojan horse where it can present propaganda to us in a way that we assume doesn’t happen elsewhere. Both of those are not problems that are unique to TikTok and they’re not necessarily as pressing issues as I think some people think they are. 

How do you personally feel about it?

I feel like we actually haven’t been shown any evidence that this is some deep state plot. This to me seems emblematic of all big tech platforms which is they have too much of my data–every big tech platform does. They know me too well–every big tech platform does. And they addict me in a way that every big tech platform does. So I don’t feel great about this but for me at least it’s not the China link that is the concern here, it’s the fact that we have kind of sleepwalked into just handing over stuff to be tech platforms willy-nilly whether they come from China or elsewhere. You hand over as much data to Instagram or Twitter or YouTube as you do in TikTok. 

What did you think of the congressional hearing with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew?

Not a lot. It was pretty poor, to be honest. It was emblematic of our approach more generally to big tech. It’s partly generational, right? Our politicians haven’t innately grown up with these platforms therefore it’s pretty difficult for anybody who hasn’t innately grown up with the platform to understand how it works if you’re not using it day in, day out. So there were some questions that were frankly just embarrassing…I don’t think we got all that much information. I think it did a disservice to TikTok but I also think it did a disservice to citizens who do need protection from social media…We didn’t spend any time talking about the actual issues about big tech that we’ve known about for years that we’ve outlined already so far. 

What do you think would happen if TikTok suddenly disappeared in the US?

I think what would happen is you’d see a pretty significant groundswell of public opinion. You know 150 million Americans use TikTok. Not all of them will have very close bonds or ties to the platform and think they need to fight for its survival, but I think probably a good number of them do. I think the company stacks on its economic contribution to the United States and the jobs it supports and therefore I think they would probably would want to step in because it’s their livelihood. I think that you would also see a legal response. TikTok has previously been threatened with a ban. They have previously appealed it in court. I think that will happen again. It will just be groundhog day from 2020.