The TikTok Ban: National Security or Corporate Competition?
Today, TikTok has gone dark in the U.S., sparking widespread controversy over the impact of how U.S. lawmakers have treated this Chinese-owned company compared to U.S. digital and social media companies.
Critics argue that the ban on TikTok, while framed as a measure to protect national security, is a calculated move by competitors and lobbyists to stifle competition and protect their social media ecosystem controlled by American giants like Meta and others.
So, let’s examine how TikTok has grown, examine the accusations levelled against it, compare its data practices with those of U.S. competitors, and explore how lobbying efforts leveraged and influenced U.S. lawmakers’ limited technological expertise to promote a compelling—and potentially strategic—narrative that TikTok is a strategic threat to the U.S.
TikTok: From China To The World
Owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, TikTok launched internationally in 2016 and swiftly secured a massive user base. By 2025, it boasted over 170 million users in the U.S.
However, its Chinese ownership raised alarms among U.S. officials who feared the Chinese government could access American users’ data, posing a ‘national security threat.’
These concerns led to legislative actions, including the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which mandated ByteDance to divest its ownership of TikTok or face a ban in the U.S.
How TikTok Became the Fastest Growing Social Media Platform in the U.S.
TikTok’s adoption in the United States has been nothing short of meteoric, setting a new benchmark for social media growth. It achieved this after merging with Musical.ly in 2018 and giving it the necessary traction, through which it could leverage an established user base with its unique algorithm to attract millions of new users.
By the end of 2018, TikTok had been downloaded over 80 million times in the U.S., topping the Apple App Store’s download charts in Q4.
The platform’s ability to quickly personalise content and spark viral trends made it a favourite among Gen Z and millennials. This positioning of the platform as a cultural phenomenon raised concern among incumbent U.S. social media companies like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and others.
The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 further accelerated TikTok’s growth, as lockdowns drove users to explore new forms of entertainment.
By mid-2020, the platform had reached 100 million monthly active users in the U.S. alone, doubling its user base in less than a year.
By the start of this year, TikTok’s U.S. user base surpassed 170 million, making it a dominant player across all age demographics.
Its unparalleled adoption has revolutionised how people consume and create content, triggering scrutiny from competitors and policymakers concerned about its influence and Chinese ownership.
TikTok’s Data Practices vs. U.S. Social Media Giants
TikTok’s data collection practices are ‘similar’ to most social media platforms. It gathers:
User behaviour data (likes, shares, watch time).
Device information (IP address, operating system).
Location data (when permissions are granted).
Content creation details (e.g., videos, comments).
Critics have argued that ByteDance’s ownership of TikTok raises concerns about Chinese government access. The platform denies sharing data with any government.
To counter that perception, TikTok launched Project Texas in 2022, a US$1.5 billion initiative to safeguard American user data and address U.S. national security concerns.
The project involves routing all U.S. user data through Oracle’s cloud infrastructure, ensuring that the data remains stored and managed on U.S. soil under the oversight of an American company.
The company also established an independent subsidiary, TikTok U.S. Data Security (USDS), to oversee compliance and implement security protocols aimed at limiting ByteDance’s access to U.S. data and addressing fears of potential ‘interference by the Chinese government.’
Yet, despite these measures, sceptics continued to argue that the project does not entirely mitigate perceived risks, reflecting broader geopolitical tensions and competitive dynamics in the tech industry.
How U.S. Platforms Collect and Use Data
Platforms like Meta (Facebook and Instagram), Google (YouTube), and Snap (Snapchat) collect similar, if not more extensive, user data, including:
Cross-app tracking to monitor user activity across different platforms and websites.
Highly detailed ad profiling to target individuals with precision.
Meta has faced significant legal scrutiny in the U.S. and the UK for its role in data misuse during elections. Most notably, it was involved in the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which Facebook user data was improperly accessed to influence voter behaviour. The company has been fined and criticised for failing to protect user data and allowing targeted political ads that spread disinformation.
Similarly, Twitter, particularly under Elon Musk’s ownership, has faced widespread criticism for relaxing content moderation policies that amplified the spread of misinformation and disinformation campaigns on the platform, especially during major political events and crises.
Meta and Google have been sued and fined multiple times for breaching privacy laws. Yet, they have not been subjected to the same level of scrutiny regarding national security or its influence on users.
Key Difference: The argument against TikTok hinges not on the volume of data collected but on the potential for the Chinese government to access it. However, no concrete evidence of misuse by TikTok has been presented, making the case speculative and about perception.
The Narrative Used Against TikTok and Its Impact
The most effective narrative pushed against TikTok was rooted in national security—a concern guaranteed to resonate with lawmakers and the public. Since 2018, TikTok has been framed as a national security threat.
The key elements of this narrative included:
Suggesting TikTok could be used for espionage, with the Chinese government accessing user data.
Claiming the platform could influence U.S. public opinion by amplifying or suppressing specific content, including during elections.
Highlighting viral trends as evidence of harm to society, even when those trends originated elsewhere.
Exploiting Lawmakers’ Lack of Tech Expertise
Lobbyists capitalised on the fact that many lawmakers lack deep technological expertise. By presenting TikTok’s risks in broad, fear-inducing terms, they successfully avoided nuanced discussions of:
How TikTok’s data practices compare to U.S. platforms.
The technical feasibility of the claims (e.g., whether the Chinese government could realistically use TikTok for large-scale surveillance).
TikTok has implemented safeguards to address these concerns.
Lawmakers, faced with a “national security” argument, were more likely to err on the side of caution, even without concrete evidence.
Equally, making TikTok into the villain enabled US competitors to distract away from the issues facing their entities relating to misinformation and hate content.
What has been interesting to see is how ‘free speech’, as defined in the US, can be weaponised to influence audiences on American social media platforms, but it is not allowed on a foreign platform.
Lobbyists and Competitors: A Strategic Alliance
The Washington Post reported how Meta ‘paid GOP firm to malign TikTok.’ Lobbyists representing U.S. tech companies were instrumental in amplifying these national security threat narratives. The campaigns they ran benefited from the following:
Simplified messaging that made TikTok’s risks sound unique and alarming.
A focus on patriotism, casting the issue as a choice between American values and foreign interference.
Public relations efforts to tie TikTok to harmful societal trends and incidents.
How TikTok’s Competitors Benefited from the Ban
What Meta, YouTube, Snapchat are hoping to gain from ‘TikTok going dark’ is an exodus from TikTok and a move onto their platforms.
Meta, YouTube, and Snapchat stand to gain the most from TikTok’s absence. The platform’s ban means:
Greater ad revenue as brands redirect their budgets to these platforms.
An influx of TikTok influencers and their audiences.
Reduced competitive pressure, allowing them to maintain dominant positions without the need for innovation.
This is not yet happening, with many users moving to Chinese-owned Red Note.
Cloud Providers and Data Services
U.S.-based data providers like Oracle, Amazon Web Services, and Google Cloud will also benefit as companies and governments prioritise “domestic” data storage solutions.
Political Stakeholders and Advocacy Groups
The ban allows U.S. lawmakers to claim a win in protecting citizens from foreign threats, bolstering their political and ‘America First’ narratives.
Advocacy groups lobbying against TikTok also gain prominence and funding.
Economic Fallout from TikTok’s Ban
Since 2020, social selling on Instagram and TikTok has experienced significant growth, transforming how consumers discover and purchase products online.
87% of buyers now believe that social media helps them make shopping decisions, and 66% of customers are more likely to purchase after seeing others’ social media posts. This shift has led to social selling generating 45% more opportunities than traditional sales channels, with 78% of salespeople who use social selling outperforming their peers.
TikTok has been at the forefront of this evolution, particularly with the introduction of TikTok Shop, which seamlessly integrates social media and e-commerce. This feature lets users purchase products directly through videos, live streams, and influencer content. In 2024, TikTok Shop’s gross sales topped $1 billion monthly since July, indicating the platform’s significant impact on social commerce.
Additionally, TikTok’s popularity among Gen Z shoppers and its investments in live shopping has contributed to the platform’s role in driving U.S. social commerce sales, which are projected to surpass $100 billion by 2025.
Creators and small businesses that rely on TikTok for income and exposure now face significant disruptions:
Creators lose a platform optimised for organic growth and engagement.
Small businesses that use TikTok’s cost-effective advertising tools may struggle to reach younger audiences on more expensive platforms like Meta.
Ripple Effects on the Economy
TikTok’s creator economy contributes billions to U.S. economic activity. Its ban will:
Impact adjacent industries such as influencer marketing agencies, digital product developers, and e-commerce platforms.
Reduce competition, potentially leading to higher advertising costs for businesses.
A Broader Issue: Data Sovereignty and Corporate Influence
The TikTok saga underscores deeper issues about data sovereignty and corporate influence:
Data Privacy Legislation: The lack of consistent regulations leaves gaps that disproportionately target foreign companies while allowing U.S. entities to operate with impunity. This is an example of the ‘America First’ mindset supporting American companies.
Corporate Power: TikTok’s case illustrates how U.S. companies can influence public narratives to suppress competition.
A Convenient Scapegoat in a Competitive Landscape
When compared to the influence and threats that American digital and social media companies pose to users of their respective platforms, the TikTok ban appears to be less about genuine national security threats and more about protecting U.S. corporate interests under the guise of patriotism.
Social media companies' influence over users through the amplifying of misinformation or hate content makes this an issue for everyone. It can only be resolved by improving awareness of how content and narratives online can be promoted to influence opinions and perceptions.
The real losers are the creators, businesses, and audiences who rely on TikTok for innovation, income, and engagement.
If the U.S. wants to address these challenges meaningfully, it must adopt comprehensive data privacy laws that apply universally—domestic or foreign—and avoid allowing lobbying efforts to dictate policy. But, given the influence and ability that social media has a whole to influence opinion, and because of the coming ecosystem that we are going to be entering, this in unlikely to happen.
Policymakers and industry leaders must advocate for balanced regulations that protect data privacy without stifling competition. Only then can we build a fair and secure digital economy.
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