Let’s cover a couple of facts* first:

• TikToc is a social media app used by close to 170,000,000 people in the US, 1billion users worldwide.
• TikToc earns about $20billion yearly from the US.
• TiKToc influencers/creators earn between $15,000 – $25,000 per year (median).
• There are about 50,000 US based TicTok influencers.
• US TikToc influencers generate at least $750,000,000 – $1.25billion annually for the US economy…and personal income for US citizens.

Here are the two most disturbing facts about TikToc; 1) TikToc gathers huge (and I mean massive) amounts of user data, 2) when you get down to the nitty-gritty, the Communist Party in China owns TikToc.

If you want to boil it all down more, a couple of things begin to clarify:

1. TikToc is wildly popular and generates a huge amount of money for the little guy here in the United States.
2. TikToc sends all that user data of US citizens to a massive data farm in China that provides valuable information to the intelligence service of the #1 enemy of the United States.

So what is the problem? Well, the real problem is the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) ruling to uphold the TikToc ban in the US. Wait a minute…it’s a danger to the security of the US right? Up to debate, but probably…almost certainly true. Why/how? It opens users’ phones to hacking by China in addition to all that user data going to our biggest enemy. So SCOTUS was right to ban it, right? No!

The anti-TikToc law was written based on the security threat aspect it posed to the United States. SCOTUS also upheld the law for the same reason. TikToc was arguing that the ban violated 1^st Amendment ‘free speech’ rights. So, banning TikToc was still the right thing to do, right? No!

SCOTUS ruled that a foreign company doesn’t have free speech rights in the United States. And that might be true, I am no legal scholar to that point. But, the ruling wasn’t about the company’s free speech…it was actually about the users’ and influencers’ free speech rights. And those free speech rights were absolutely and definitely violated…without any question!

But our enemy benefits from all the US users’ data…a national security issue…SCOTUS was right!!! Ah, no.

There are two completely separate issues here:

1. US citizen users’ right to free speech, a Constitutionally protected right.
2. China using TikToc for spying purposes, an illegal activity in the United States.

So what is the answer? I am not 100% sure, but consider this:

• Prove in court that the TikToc data is going back to China’s intelligence service. Then prosecute all the related folks (including the 38,000 TikToc employees) for spying.
• Educate US users on how to protect their data from being collected.
• Pass a law that apps can’t gather any user data.

You see, the 1^st Amendment right to free speech isn’t to protect the speech you like and approve of…it is to protect all speech. When you start to invoke “national security” or “security risk” to a Constitutional guaranteed right…then it becomes very, very easy to hinder or eliminate that right. And that leads directly to a police/security state…then authoritarianism. And then my friend…all rights, freedoms, and liberties are dead.

Last thought…why is there no huge initiative or program to educate app (i.e. cell phones) users on how to protect their data and/or make it illegal to gather that user data? Well, that is simple…the US government spy agencies do the very same thing that China is being accused of. The NSA, DHS, FBI, DNI, CIA…all of them capture the very same data that China does. And those very same US agencies use it against US citizens every single day, all day long. So if we are going to ban apps due to data being collected by spy agencies…well, there would be no more apps in the US.

So the real problem here…the US Supreme Court moved the US another step closer towards authoritarianism and the loss of yet more rights, freedoms, and liberties. And who exactly is talking about that? Certainly not US secret police agencies.

Related Articles –

• FAQ – 12/05/2022

* There is no 100% accurate and proven stats for TikToc information. 
The information I provided comes from what I believe to be reliable sources but could be inaccurate.

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