By Jenny Rivera, Staff Writer
TikTok stands strongly as a leading social media platform that allows people to share their lives. However, behind the forefront TikTok has been fighting against the United States government from attempting to ban the platform.
TikTok has become one of the largest informational social media sources there is.According to Rebecca Leppert and Katerina Eva Matsa at the Pew Research Center, “no social media platform we’ve studied has seen faster growth in the share of Americans who regularly turn to it for news.” There is a consistent amount of people live streaming themselves, events, and their products that run on a 24-hour clock. The government has a challenging time banning the app completely due to the economic status of TikTok and the millions of users on the app.
The platform has become an outlet many rely on, like Tanya Wilson. A Junior majoring in computer science expressed her opinions on the possible banning of TikTok.
“With the time we’re stepping into, we are going to need outlets like TikTok. It’s effective in every angle especially with providing news that hasn’t even hit media networks. It’s like everyday people are the reporters now,” she said.
Wilson touched on how effective having TikTok as a news outlet is. People with instant access to a cell phone allows easier access to important news. This is a key component in making sure that those who have an active lifestyle stay informed.
“I don’t use TikTok for the news often, but I do find it useful. I always have my phone with me so if I do need to look something up about the news on TikTok, at least I know it’s there,” said sophomore communications major Josh Campbell.
Wilson primarily views news on TikTok because she finds it more than convenient. She chooses TikTok as her go-to app because she uses it more than any other social media platform. “Because I’m not home that often, I don’t watch tv much. Now that I think about it, I’ve never really watched the news other than on my phone,” she shared.
TikTok, like most social media platforms, provides news about almost anything. News coming from not only individuals, but from actual news networks and occasionally live with breaking news.
“I think it’s important to know what’s happening in the world because it affects all of us. For instance, I’ve heard recently about the strikes happening at the ports. We don’t know what’s gonna happen in a few years with our food and I know that because of TikTok,” Wilson spoke.
After searching TikTok, the port strike story was updated just one day ago by ABC News. It states, “a tentative agreement was reached on wages” according to the International Longshoremen’s Association and the U.S Maritime Alliance. ABC has provided the millions of TikTok users pertinent information. It also mentioned their wage increase.
Campbell mentioned hearing about the fight to ban TikTok.
“I think the government is mad about two things, the money that TikTok makes and the fact that people give other people so much inside information,” he said.
Both Campbell and Wilson believe that banning TikTok would be a foolish idea.
“Either way, if the government bans TikTok, people will only find another great app to share anything they want,” Wilson expressed.
Wilson and Campbell represent many people in the world with the same view. News on TikTok is an important feature to the app that people find to be a necessity.
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