TikTok is a very controversial topic right now in the U.S.A, Canada and much of Europe. TikTok is a video sharing app currently owned by the Chinese compony ByteDance. Recently after the app was released to the public it was found that TikTok can use phones cameras and voice recorders to figure out what should be on your recommendations. While this could be with good intent now, your private information could be used for something you don’t want later.

However, it isn’t that one-sided. TikTok isn’t all bad, In fact, one in three Americans use the app regularly and it is a huge source of income for many content creators. It helps teach things about life that can’t be learned from school or your parents. TikTok is also facing scrutiny though because of how much screen time it creates; the average American spends 1.5 hours daily on the app. But there are also restrictions being put in place so people under 18 can only spend an hour on the app each day which partly fixes the problem.

The reason I said partly is that there are many ways around the one-hour limit. You can use cell service, which most phones have, or when signing into the app, say that your age is over 18.Additionaly, after the Chinese balloon incident. More reasons were added to the list of why TikTok should be banned saying that your information (and even things like your credit card number, if you make in app purchases) could be leaked to the Chinese government. Recently, at a congressional meeting on TikTok, Representative Cathy Rodgers said that “TikTok collects nearly every data point imaginable”.

Currently in the U.S. TikTok has been banned on most government devices and many states have banned it entirely. Montana being the first to do so this month. But what do you think about this?