In early 2017, the app TikTok was launched by Chinese company ByteDance. The purpose of this app was for users to create and share short videos. Seven years later, the app is one of the biggest topics in United States politics.
Currently, President Joe Biden’s administration wants the parent company of TikTok to divest itself of the platform. This is due to the fact that TikTok poses a threat to cybersecurity in the United States. As well, the United States is currently undergoing an adverse relationship with China.
The app is currently concerned with the potential influence of Americans. Its handling of user data and privacy has also been criticized. Presently, personal information such as location, contacts, and message contents are all able to be accessed by ByteDance.
The United States government is currently worried that ByteDance will share these personal details with the Chinese government. If the company behind TikTok does not comply, the app can possibly be banned nationwide. At this time, the app is banned on all United States federal government devices including military devices.
Meanwhile, Saint Xavier University uses the app for multiple purposes, such as the documentation of events, announcements, and videos to show the campus. “I enjoy that they (the videos created by the university) are clearly well thought out,” a member of the editorial board stated.
Most recently, the TikTok page for Saint Xavier posted multiple videos about Champ, the mascot. These videos covered his history, and what he is based upon. It is videos such as this, that are beneficial to possibly incoming students, that are at risk of being taken down.
If TikTok is banned in the United States, this could be severely consequential to Saint Xavier University. Currently, the university uses social media websites such as Facebook and Instagram to showcase student successes, but TikTok purely focuses on campus events.
It isn’t often that a college posts the events that occur on campus. Most only post basic videos which give tours of the campuses. “They always engage the community here,” a board member stated, “which is nice to see. It makes the campus seem more fun.”
“People are drawn to what they see on social media,” another member of the board stated. “If the ban of TikTok ends up happening, then the generation of teenagers that are drawn to the app will perhaps not be able to see what makes the campus life of Saint Xavier so great,” the board member continued.
On top of this, TikTok is used regularly throughout campus by students. “Personally I don’t have TikTok, but I see a lot of people using it and how distracting it can be,” another board member stated.
However, if the app gets banned, then the private data of United States citizens will remain safe. This would mean that Saint Xavier would resort to other social media pages to spread awareness of campus events.
A board member argued that, “campus life will not be impacted in an adverse way,” saying that the student body would discuss the ban in a general sense instead of relating it to Saint Xavier.
TikTok is one of the most well known social media platforms of today’s world, alongside Snapchat and Instagram. As another board member argued, “TikTok is the first social media platform” that they open when they aren’t busy.
Unfortunately the possibility of the ban can hurt far more than the university. Content creators can suffer, especially those who have their videos solely on TikTok. It is a major loss of both money and viewership, as some people would prefer not to switch platforms to watch their favorite creator’s videos.
Due to the increase of discussion over the ban of TikTok, Saint Xavier should consider moving the videos and all future content they had for the app, to different social media platforms.
By doing this, the University will be able to spread awareness of how college isn’t just busy schoolwork. It would show that outside of academic studies college can be a great time, and since this would be on other platforms it could potentially become widespread.
If information becomes widespread then this is a benefit to SXU. It would allow students from far and wide to become aware of the school, and would inspire them to apply. However, the ban of TikTok is something that is still being discussed, and will be decided soon.
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