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A graphic showing a phone screen canceling the TikTok logo with the American flag in the background. It is speculated that TikTok has been used to disseminate misinformation and share private user data with the Chinese government. ILLUSTRATED BY BRITTNEY DIETZ/THE STATESMAN

I have always firmly believed that ensuring the safety of American citizens and the national security of the United States surpasses individual liberties, and this is no different when it comes to my unwavering support for banning TikTok.

Joseph Moreno, a Stony Brook University alumnus who formerly served as a federal prosecutor for the United States Department of Justice National Security Division, believes TikToks problematic nature, in the eyes of the U.S. government, lies with its parent company ByteDance.

For several years, the U.S. Defense Department and the Department of Justice both members of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States have alleged that TikTok has been used to disseminate misinformation and share geolocation and other private user data with the Chinese government, Moreno said. While ByteDance denies these allegations, it has admitted that employees accessed data on American journalists TikTok accounts in the past.

From COVID-19 origins to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) buying U.S. farmland, China has taken advantage of the U.S.s unwillingness to address their questionable actions; if the U.S. bans TikTok, American dominance in world affairs will be demonstrated, intimidating the CCP at a vital time when China may be invading Taiwan.

Unfortunately, many libertarians such as those in the Republican Party who are nationally known to embrace individual liberties, have not taken the threat of TikTok seriously. For example, Senator Rand Paul blocked legislation that would result in a nationwide TikTok ban, citing freedom of speech as his reasoning. However, banning TikTok does not necessarily constitute an attack on the First Amendment, as other social media platforms are not being banned.

Additionally, current presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy who has claimed to be tough on China has backed down from being against TikTok and now supports it.

Ramaswamy said he changed his mind to reap young Americans votes, which includes compromising and engaging with Generation Z on TikTok. As Ramaswamy has said in an interview with The Hill, I have a radical idea for the Republican Party: We need to win elections. And part of how we win elections is reaching the next generation of young Americans where they are.

No one who prefers to compromise our national security in order to further themselves politically is fit for public office.

We have already seen a ban on the use of TikTok from government devices and systems [in] the United States, many of its states and municipalities (including New York City) and several of its global allies including Australia, Canada, the EU and the U.K., Moreno said. In response, ByteDance claims to be conducting an effort referred to as Project Texas to house U.S. user data in domestic services managed by a U.S.-based team.

China is arguably the most powerful of Americas adversaries. As it is, China has developed alliances with other U.S. adversaries like the Taliban-controlled Afghanistan and Russia. If the U.S. bans TikTok, a message will be sent to the world that we will no longer turn a blind eye to China, or any of our other global competitors who intend to harm our way of life.

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There must be a complete ban on TikTok in the U.S. - Stony Brook Statesman