TikTok Banned on Jan 19th. Update: TikTok is back online!!!

[LevelUP]

Sen. Rand Paul has argued that TikTok has never been proven to pose a national security risk. Moreover, the majority of TikTok is owned by investors outside China, undermining the claim that it’s a "Chinese company." Years ago, Trump supported banning TikTok but appeared to backtrack after realizing how unpopular the idea was.

Would an executive order be legal? The fine is $5,000 per use, which, with 170 million users, could amount to approximately $850 billion per day. Can companies like Oracle afford to take that risk?

The problem with the TikTok ban bill is its lack of coherence.

Imagine Congress passed a bill declaring bears a physical threat to humans, but only allowed the federal government to kill bears within a 100-mile radius of Minneapolis, Minnesota—simply because some prominent politicians had bear-related incidents while camping there. Wouldn't that seem arbitrary?

Similarly, banning TikTok while leaving other popular Chinese-owned apps like RedNote and Temo untouched makes little sense. Instead of addressing privacy and security concerns across all apps, the bill singled out one company—a move supported by figures like Sen. Tom Cotton, which reflects "swamp" politics at its worst.

Then there’s the issue of free speech. How far can the government go in banning websites or apps? Will Americans need a VPN to use TikTok? And if they do, would the government punish them for it?

Nearly three-fourths of 13-39-year-olds oppose a TikTok ban, according to a recent poll.
https://www.axios.com/2025/01/16/ypulse-...ung-people

For some reason, Congress seems to think they can push through legislation, no matter how unpopular it is.