My husband and I visited Beijing and southern China in early 2019. It was memorable in several ways. Our hike on the Great Wall was bucket-list worthy, as was the country’s natural beauty once we got out of the city.
Yet what has stuck with me the most is the government control that pervades so much of Chinese daily life. It’s palpably oppressive.
And it was downright dystopian to be forbidden from using wide swaths of the internet, from Twitter to Instagram. Those apps simply don’t work there.
Perhaps having experienced what this kind of censorship is like makes me more sensitive to efforts in the United States to curb social media use.
Co-parenting with the government?
Bipartisanship is increasingly rare among our elected officials, so it was positive to see lawmakers come together last month in an effort to protect children.
A group of two Republicans and two Democrats in the Senate introduced the Protecting Kids on Social Media Act. Sens. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, Tom Cotton, R-Ark., Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and Katie Britt, R-Ala, want to shield kids from the negative mental health effects linked to social media.
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The bill would ban children younger than 13 from using social media altogether and would require parental consent for those ages 13 through 17.
There’s a good case to be made for why children – especially young ones – should stay clear of apps like Instagram and TikTok.
But it strikes me that the government is trying to step into the parenting role with this legislation. Parents are already capable of putting restrictions on phone use, and many apps can help them track what their kids are doing online and how much time they are spending on their devices.
Do we really need Congress to serve as a middleman?
TikTok in the crosshairs
TikTok is the target of much of the angst among U.S. officials, because it’s owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. There are real security concerns, given the control the Chinese Communist Party has over even “private” companies – and the fact the Chinese government could be using the app to spy on us or manipulate users through propaganda.
This distrust of the Chinese government is the reason I refuse to download TikTok on my phone (not to mention that endless, random videos don’t appeal to me).
Yet 150 million Americans do have the app and use it frequently. Shouldn’t they have that right?
The app’s popularity hasn’t stopped the Biden administration from raising concerns, nor members of Congress.
Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri has introduced legislation to ban the app nationwide, because of data mining on Americans and potential risks to national security.
Fellow Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, however, has stood up to Hawley over First Amendment concerns.
It’s one thing for a ban on federal and state government devices – that makes sense. It seems a step too far, though, to ban it for everyone.
Congress wants to ban TikTok.They have no idea what that means to the rest of us.
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Montana gets on the TikTok ban bandwagon
Montana lawmakers thought it was a good idea to join the banning fray, and GOP Gov. Greg Gianforte signed legislation Wednesday blocking TikTok statewide. It’s the first state to do so.
The law doesn’t take effect until Jan. 1, and there will be legal pushback.
It’s ironic to hear a TikTok spokesperson say the law infringes on the First Amendment and the ability of Montanans to “express themselves,” because that’s definitely not a right Chinese people are granted. TikTok isn’t even allowed in China, although the government has deemed a “sister” app acceptable.
Free speech groups like the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression offer a stronger defense for maintaining access to the app.
“A ban would shut down an immensely popular means of communication for the tens of millions of Americans who use the app every day to share and consume information, news, ideas, political advocacy, and creative content,” FIRE said in a statement.
Whether it’s bans for children or limits on foreign-owned apps, the government should intervene only as a last resort. Otherwise, we start looking too much like governments we don’t (and shouldn’t) trust.
Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at ijacques@usatoday.com or on Twitter: @Ingrid_Jacques
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