Why TikTok Is Your Roman Empire, Not Your Library of Alexandria

Congress' ban on TikTok is an infuriating move to (unfortunately) legally suppress speech. But as is common with anything regarding TikTok, the nuance has been lost.

Congress Pulled a Renegade

Today, January 19, 2025, the TikTok ban took effect as a result of the passage of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, a bill signed into law by President Joe Biden on April 24, 2024. The ban was ultimately slipped into a foreign aid package, and it became a bipartisan effort to force ByteDance Ltd., the Beijing-based owners of TikTok, to sell to a US buyer. The reason cited? National security, the elusive, broad excuse that Congress and the Executive Branch have used for years to threaten civil liberties ever since the passage of the Patriot Act. It was either that or be banned in the US. ByteDance chose the ban.

This wasn’t done without a fight, however. ByteDance and a group of creators brought a lawsuit on May 7, 2024 to argue that Congress’ ban on TikTok was a First Amendment violation because it suppressed free speech through the removal of a speech platform. Many TikTok users were holding out hope that the lawsuit would save the app here in the US. From content creators to small businesses on the app, it is estimated that the ban would lead to a $1.3 billion loss in revenue in a single month. Senator Ed Markey, D-MA, along with Senator Rand Paul, R-KY, and Representative Ro Khanna, D-CA, introduced the Extend the TikTok Deadline Act on January 15, 2025 to try to prevent the inevitable ban just days later. Unfortunately, it failed. On January 17, 2025, the Supreme Court issued its decision in the appeal of the ongoing litigation that ByteDance and creators brought in May 2024. SCOTUS chose to uphold the TikTok ban in a 9-0 decision, meaning all Justices, including the liberal ones, found that there was no First Amendment violation.

I know this is a hard pill to swallow, but SCOTUS was right. There was no other logical decision that the Justices could have reached without undermining the basis of free speech laws. This ban was content neutral, meaning that Congress was not seeking to ban a particular type of speech by banning the app as a whole. If SCOTUS had sided with ByteDance, that would have undermined separation of powers, a dangerous step that we want to avoid with this incoming administration. At the end of the day, it’s up to Congress and the Executive branch to step up, and Trump, ahead of his inauguration, has done just that today with TikTok now working to restore access to the US.

But before folks start celebrating the potential save — particularly folks on the left — let’s talk about how we got here. Because TikTok is problematic in its own way, and while we don’t want Congress to curb our speech, we have to be aware of the wealthy, tech oligarchy that is coming for us all.

Everyone Was Bored in the House and in the House Bored

In 2020, TikTok became the most downloaded app. The COVID-19 pandemic shut the world down, and in the midst of isolation, people were looking for community and a creative outlet. Musicians, dancers, artists, and other talented people found major success on the app. But it wasn’t just entertainers who could gain a following. Disabled creators created platforms to advocate for themselves and find community. Small businesses could share their struggles and make it to the For You Page (FYP) where viewers’ financial support got these owners back on their feet. Mothers found a space to be honest and raw about the realities of motherhood. There seemed to be a place for everyone and every niche. How was TikTok so successful?

The algorithm.

TikTok’s proprietary algorithm can cut through what doesn’t appeal to a user and instead serve them a golden platter FYP with surgical precision. It uses predictive technology to figure out quickly what a user wants to see and then populate their view with a string of videos, keeping the user scrolling for even hours at a time. The TikTok algorithm has been called addictive, and other social media platforms want to figure out how to provide this fix. That is exactly why ByteDance has kept this secret formula under tight lock and key. But not only does this sharp algorithm curate a perfect user experience, it also creates dangerous echo chambers.

If someone is constantly fed right-wing extremism on their FYP, it reinforces dangerous beliefs and behaviors. Echo chambers on the left meant that left-leaning creators overestimated their presence and influence on social media, given how much conservative creators dominate. Even on TikTok, where left-leaning news creators outnumber the right by small margin, that does not necessarily reflect views and amplification of their message. A study even found that pro-Trump creators were far more active on TikTok. This also means that during the 2020 global pandemic, TikTok became a vector of misinformation and disinformation.

Researchers found that 1 in 5 videos in a TikTok search result contained misinformation. The algorithm is designed in such a way that unless a user is already the type to seek out accurate and factual information, they can get caught up in dangerous confirmation bias. Aside from presenting misinformation, users began to notice that the app was removing and suppressing even factual information. This happened with topics such as abortion and Black Lives Matter. At the same time, the app supported and allowed the spread of hate speech such as anti-LGBTQ+ content.

Creators from historically marginalized backgrounds believed that they were being unfairly suppressed. This belief became even more pronounced when we learned that the algorithm is not as organic as we thought. Success can be granted by moderators via a “heating” button that decides who is worthy of platform growth and who is not. Going viral or getting banned could depend on the whim of a TikTok employee watching your account, not members of your own community. An era of self-censorship began in an effort to protect accounts from community guidelines violations. Terms like “yt ppl” were used to describe “white people” because antiracism content was hit with shadowbanning and strikes.

To be fair, all platforms are guilty of having this double standard when it comes to moderating content by minorities. But TikTok was supposed to be different. The platform became so popular because it gave a voice to those who weren’t part of the dominant group. Creators and users were left confused and angry, wondering, “What is going on?”

TikTok Knew. They F***ing Knew.

Black creators had major influence on the trends, dances, and overall success of TikTok. But instead of crediting these Black creators, white creators like Addison Rae received prime TV time copying the Black creators who created the dances and trends. This led to Black TikTok going on strike. They weren’t receiving credit for their work, and unlike our white counterparts, Black creators often don’t get paid properly or at all. But even worse, Black creators also began to experience unfair suppression on the app, and it began with the Black Lives Matter movement in the wake of George Floyd’s murder.

Months after TikTok issued an apology to Black creators, nothing changed. This wasn’t surprising to many after it was revealed that TikTok had instructed moderators to suppress ugly, disabled, and poor people as well as political speech. Black employees of TikTok reported being forced to work in a racist and toxic environment. Before TikTok sued the US government, it was facing its own legal troubles for violating child privacy laws, racial discrimination, data breaches, and psychological trauma. Meanwhile, creators who have been unfairly and arbitrarily discriminated against by the app’s moderators and auto-moderation system had no legal recourse, especially given TikTok’s airtight and sneaky arbitration terms in its user agreement. This means that most class action lawsuits are impossible against the app.

TikTok also saw a flourish of pro-Trump content, and right-wingers celebrated their dominance on the app. I personally heard this directly from Alex Bruesewitz, Trump’s lead Republican digital strategist, as I sat on the same panel as him for a MediaPost conference in Washington, DC on January 16th. The right knows that they have control of these platforms. So when TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew thanked Trump in a video message, reposted videos of Charlie Kirk, and thanked Trump again in the ban message in the app, I wasn’t shocked.

The hang up for many left-leaning users is that if TikTok leans right and is intending to make such a stark shift, then how does the Palestinian genocide fit into this? That was a left-leaning issue, and conservatives reportedly became focused on suppressing pro-Palestine content. The GOP even accused TikTok of promoting this content. However, something to remember is that at the beginning of the genocide, TikTok was accused of suppressing pro-Palestine content. Many users also began flooding the comment sections of large creators with watermelon emojis and words of Palestinian liberation because the app seemed to be striking and removing videos that had active comment sections promoting Palestine. The thought process behind this was that if creators like Elyse Myers were affected, TikTok would be forced to change their moderation to protect their large creators and ultimately benefit everyone speaking up about Gaza.

But then a shift happened, and I think that shift came with the “Genocide Joe” label. I imagine that if TikTok wanted to lean right, an online campaign that hurt the Democratic party would not be a concern for their moderation. This isn’t to say that the Biden Administration’s mishandling of the genocide is not to be criticized. I am saying that I don’t trust that ByteDance actually cared or empathized with the issue. Instead, I think they saw it as an opportunity to elevate their status as Trump collects tech bros. At the end of the day, Shou is a millionaire who runs an app that has a long history of censoring marginalized voices and allowing unchecked hate speech. He is no better than the rest.

But speaking of Republicans, did we forget how this began?

That’s Suspicious. That’s Weird.

The TikTok ban was initiated by Trump. There is no question about that — regardless of Congress passing the law because of the GOP strongarming the ban into an aid package and President Biden signing the bill into law once it passed. This is the Trump TikTok ban. The initial lawsuits say TikTok v. Trump for a reason (and not one lawsuit exists between TikTok and Biden). This all began because Trump issued an Executive Order on August 6, 2020 to ban TikTok and punish China for COVID-19 (remember his “Chinese virus” tweet). It was Biden who saved TikTok by revoking the Trump TikTok Ban Executive Order. Biden, by honoring separation of powers and the limitations of his office, said that this was up to Congress. Biden said that Trump’s accusations that TikTok posed a national security risk needed to be evaluated.

But then to everyone’s anger and disappointment, the TikTok ban became a bipartisan effort in Congress. Creators were dumbfounded when people like then-Democratic Representative Jeff Jackson (NC) voted for the ban, despite the fact that the now-Attorney General amassed 36 million views by campaigning on TikTok. There has been confusion as to how there is such a strong, bipartisan effort to suppress speech, albeit constitutionally. Americans’ support for the ban has steadily declined. Creators continued to express their fears as the future of the platform hangs in the balance. But even more importantly, people are frustrated that there is this unbalanced focus on data security and privacy on TikTok when other platforms like Meta are cavalierly putting our information at risk. At the end of the day, it seems that Congress just wants to censor Americans by removing access to a major platform.

At the same time, it is ironic that in an effort to try to save TikTok, we are essentially arguing for a corporation to have rights. It is sad that to fight for more freedom of expression, we are trying to extend First Amendment protections to a foreign app that has done everything it can to shield itself from liability when it comes to its own discrimination and censorship of Black creators. But even more frightening, we are helplessly watching the rise of a level of censorship that is likely to harm us all in the end, especially as Trump has taken a 180-degree turn to support TikTok.

Oh No, No, No, No, No…

TikTok was up and running again today, with a hearty thank you message from Shou to Trump displayed on everyone’s screens as they were welcomed back. For many creators and users on the left, this message felt like a foreshadowing. The app already engaged in problematic methods before, but now, what will it become if it is aligned with Trump? People are scrambling for alternatives — Bluesky, Fanbase, and of course, here on Substack. But the truth is that the major platforms where many of us have the most reach and also make an income are being run by the ultra-wealthy tech oligarchy that is forming in front of our eyes, right on our screens.

This is my new Roman Empire, and I keep waiting for it to fall.