Not for others, obviously. TikTok has 100 million users in the United States. They tend to be younger people, and their attachment to the social media platform seems surgical. Last year, TikTok scored more watched minutes in this country than YouTube.
TikTok’s magic potion is its ability to ingeniously identify the videos that users like and keep sending out more of the same through its secret “For You” algorithm. The site is so addictive that it has been likened to “digital fentanyl.”
TikTok’s role in torching so many American brain cells would seem reason enough to get rid of it. But that’s not why national security experts and politicians of both parties want it banned in the United States.
Their objections center on the tools TikTok provides China to spy on Americans, drown them in government propaganda and spread misinformation. FBI director Christopher Wray says he’s “extremely concerned” about TikTok’s operations in this country.