By WHITNEY WORLEY/Staff Contributor
UT Tyler student Makayla Villarreal’s TikTok page seems to know her well. It offers her penguins falling down a slide, people doing backflips and college lifestyle narratives.
There’s also the curling iron.
After looking up the hair tool once back in December, Villarreal has been hit with ads for it ever since, much to her annoyance. In 30 seconds of scrolling, she received two targeted ads.
“I get videos of the Wavy Talk Hair Curler at least twice a day,” Villarreal said. “It’s so specialized to me.”
This specified ad targeting is the product of TikTok’s massive collection of user data. But the information it gathers is only part of the reason behind legislation to restrict the app.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill on March 13 that could possibly lead to a nationwide ban of TikTok. The bill gives TikTok parent company ByteDance six months to sell the app to an American company or face a ban in the United States.
CONCERNS ABOUT BYTEDANCE
Since it is based in Beijing, China, ByteDance must abide by Chinese law. If the Chinese government ever mandated ByteDance to turn over all its user data, it would be required to comply.
This information would include data from millions of Americans who use the app daily, a situation lawmakers view as a threat to national security.
But apparently, what’s cause for alarm to a legislator is not a concern to students. According to some users, the potential for their personal data being shared does not bother them.
STUDENT REACTION
“No one is a private person anymore since social media and technology,” UT Tyler senior Haelyn Straub said.
She believes that, if not through TikTok, “China is going to find out about our information through something else.”
Other students think that their data on the app is not anything worth protecting.
“I know people were talking about politics and propaganda, that’s why they want to own it – but in terms of my data, you can have it,” Villarreal said. “I’m just a normal girl in college, I’m kind of nothing special, so why would they need me and my data?”
The legality of this bill, which some consider a restriction of constitutionally protected free speech, has come into question.
However, some students disagree with the idea that it’s a restriction of free speech.
“I don’t think they’re trying to restrict it (in order) to restrict free speech,” UT Tyler student Sara Maldonado said. “Because if they were, they would do it to lots of other social media platforms.”
Straub said that, while she finds the situation questionable, she feels that banning TikTok would “bring a lot of people back to reality.”
“It is really addictive. I wish I could delete it, but I can’t, I really can’t,” Villarreal said. She thinks TikTok being banned would force her to “actually live.”
“Honestly, I feel like it would improve my life,” Villarreal said.
The Senate’s thoughts on the bill remain to be seen.
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