Banning TikTok: A Hot Fix for a Burning Social Media Crisis

I hate doom scrolling 8-10 hours away on a random Saturday as much as the next guy. Setting limits for myself isn’t easy, as much as I stare at my Instagram screen time with a disappointed frown. Looking up from my bed, I realize it’s 3:00 in the afternoon, and I haven’t seen another person since I locked myself in my room at 3:00 the day before.
If I’m being honest, when I heard TikTok’s ban was impending, I didn’t care. Not because I don’t use the platform (I don’t), but because other platforms are just as, if not more, addicting than TikTok.
I was following the trial back when it happened in 2024. Government officials bipartisanly agreed that TikTok posed a risk to national security because of its ownership by the Chinese company ByteDance. It also raised concerns over its influence on children, who represent a majority of the platform’s users.
But here’s the problem: TikTok’s impending ban isn’t justified when other platforms like Instagram and Snapchat have a similar influence on children and profit from user data in the same way. If TikTok’s data practices and addiction-inducing interface are grounds for a ban, why stop there? These concerns stretch far beyond just one app.
Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook all share similar features, such as vertical scrolling that maximizes user engagement. If I can’t doom scroll on TikTok, chances are I’m going to choose the next best thing instead of stopping (who knew?).
These platforms are also notorious for profiting off user data and collecting details on habits, locations, and preferences. Plus, Instagram and Snapchat, like TikTok, have a major influence on children and teens—key demographics that help drive their revenue. Meta (the parent company of Instagram and Facebook) is currently being sued by 41 U.S. states and the District of Columbia for damage done to minors; exposing teens to body image issues, bullying, and ideas of self-harm.
The not-so-easy-easy-to-explain solution is to ban them all. “There’s no doubt that would be a huge First Amendment concern,” said Sri Srinivasan, chief judge of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. This solution opposes constitutional rights specifically the First Amendment, people should be able to choose what they use and see. Despite this social media is affecting the youth population including myself, and TikTok is being outed as a scapegoat. A better job needs to be done limiting teen and child users on all platforms. Setting guidelines for user data collection also should be done to prevent social media from profiting from them. If TikTok is the first domino, then Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook are the next to go down.