Americans fear TikTok could make a difference in the 2020 selection

  • Mar 29,2024
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TikTok has become extremely popular all over the world amongst young people in the last year. They are experiencing great fun recording short entertaining videos or simply just watching them. The application has been downloaded more than 1 billion times worldwide, a lot of which are American users.

However, as much as common people love it, the Chinese app has been frowned upon by the United States of America’s government in the past months. There are suspicions that it cooperates with intelligence work controlled by the Chinese Communist Party by providing users’ personal data. Politicians suggest that the video app should be banned from the country as it represents a great national threat.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned people to be cautious while using the app and consider the personal information they are giving. It is reported that president Donald Trump has taken into serious consideration prohibiting TikTok for good.

What is more, politicians continue to express grave concerns about it, acknowledging the upcoming elections this November. The latest cause for their worries is the potential of the video platform to interfere and have an influence on the votes.

Senators Rick Scott and Marco Rubio are “greatly concerned the Chinese Communist Party could use its control over TikTok to distort or manipulate conversations to sow discord among Americans and to achieve its preferred political outcomes”. They expressed their worries in a letter to the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI head, and the head of Homeland Security, adding that “Beijing exploits openness of western democracies and social media platforms to propagate the party’s preferred narratives”.

The Republican-controlled Senate is considering banning the application from governmental employees' phones as Scott and Rubio are adamant to inform the presidential administration about the highly possible threat. The U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs approved the ban as it will not only apply to TikTok but also to any mobile application from its company ByteDance.

India was the first country to ban it as well as 105 more Chinese apps, including the popular WeChat, ShareIT and Helo, to counter the threat to its sovereignty and security. This move could not only ruin China’s Digital Silk Route ambitions but could also lead to more countries following India’s example and blocking the video platform for good.

The 2020 United States presidential election is scheduled for Tuesday, November 3, 2020. The series of presidential primary elections and caucuses (a nominating process) are currently being held. 27 democrats and 3 republicans dropped out while only 2 candidates remained – present-day presidential Donald Trump, Republican, and former vice president of the United States (2009-2017) Joe Biden, Democratic.

As the elections are in less than 100 days, active American citizens have taken to social media to remind everyone how important it is to vote. It is reported that back in 2016 41.7% of the eligible voters have decided not to take action. People are stressing on the significance any vote could have and the great difference it could make.

Trump’s slogans for the 2020 race are “Promises Made, Promises Kept” and “Keep America Great” – a reference to the 2016 “Make America Great Again”.

The former vice president proposes a plan to grow a stronger, more inclusive middle class – the backbone of the American economy, by strengthening public and private sector unions. As president, Biden promises to check the abuse of corporate power over labor and hold corporate executives personally accountable for violations of labor laws; encourage and incentivize unionization and collective bargaining; ensure that workers are treated with dignity and receive the pay, benefits and workplace protections they deserve. His slogans are “Restore The Soul of America”, “Our best days still lie ahead” and “This is America, second to none”.