President Joe Biden signed legislation Wednesday banning TikTok, if its China-based owner doesn鈥檛 sell its stake in the company within the next nine months.
But it remains unclear whether the new law will withstand likely legal challenges鈥攁nd whether getting rid of the popular platform will alleviate educators鈥� concerns about students鈥� overuse of social media and its role in disrupting the school environment.
For starters, TikTok won鈥檛 suddenly disappear from students鈥� phones. In fact, if the sale is already in progress by the law鈥檚 deadline, TikTok would get an additional three months to complete the process. All told, it would be at least a year before the ban goes into effect.
What鈥檚 more, TikTok鈥檚 leadership has already pledged to challenge the new law in court. That process could keep the app in legal limbo鈥攁nd accessible to students鈥攆or years to come.
In the past, TikTok has had some success with court challenges. But the company has never sought to prevent federal legislation from going into effect.
Many K-12 educators say TikTok has hurt teens鈥� self-confidence, catered to short attention spans at the expense of deep thinking, and spread viral challenges urging students to post videos of themselves eating dangerously spicy chips or destroying school property.
In fact, in an informal poll of 177 principals via one of its newsletters, Education Week found that a little more than half of them said a TikTok ban would 鈥渕ake their jobs easier.鈥�
But TikTok has also helped educators connect with their students鈥攁nd even serves as a go-to professional development resource, particularly for younger and pre-service teachers.
Some teachers 鈥渕ight miss it,鈥� said Jeff Carpenter, a professor of education at Elon University who studies social media in education. 鈥淓ducators go on TikTok and think: 鈥榠t鈥檚 this nice little mix. I get some entertaining stuff. I get something about my hobby. And I get a little something about my professional interest.鈥欌��
But many more may be thinking something more like 鈥済ood riddance,鈥� added Carpenter, a former high school teacher.
鈥淚 also think there would be a lot of teachers who would feel like, 鈥業鈥檓 glad that the government is trying to do something about social media, because I鈥檓 concerned about its impact on my students,鈥欌�� Carpenter said.
Even if the legislation stands, the company isn鈥檛 sold, and TikTok is banned in the United States, many teachers expect that before long, there will be another platform that鈥檚 just as irresistible for students鈥攁nd problematic for schools.
鈥淪omething else is just going to come up and move into that void,鈥� said Stefanie McKoy, who teaches special education at Branson Junior High in Branson, Mo., and studied the social media platform as a doctoral student.
鈥楾hey get all their news from TikTok鈥�
Biden and members of Congress primarily had national security鈥攏ot schools鈥攊n mind when they moved to limit the social media site, which is used by more than 170 million Americans.
TikTok is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chinese technology company ByteDance Ltd. Lawmakers contend that China鈥檚 national security laws give its government the right to demand access to the data of TikTok鈥檚 U.S. users, including for intelligence gathering purposes.
TikTok officials have consistently rejected the argument that the platform could be used to aid the Chinese government. TikTok has never shared U.S. user information with Chinese authorities and wouldn鈥檛 do so if asked, company officials contend.
To date, the U.S. government also has not supplied evidence that TikTok provided data on U.S. users to the Chinese government, the Associated Press reported.
In advocating for the bill, some supporters, including Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., referenced the potential for the platform to spread misinformation, especially among youth.
鈥淔or many young people, they get all of their news from TikTok, and a slight change in that algorithm鈥攑articularly in an election year like this鈥攁nd you might see come October, that TikTok news is starting to say, 鈥榃ell you know what, Taiwan is really part of China,鈥欌�� Warner said in an.
And some lawmakers cited TikTok鈥檚 impact on young people鈥檚 well-being as among their reasons for supporting the legislation.
鈥淪o many teenagers and children [have] seen their mental health harmed by the app,鈥� .
In a video posted on the platform , Shou Zi Chew, TikTok鈥檚 CEO, pledged that the company would launch a legal fight for its independence.
鈥淚t鈥檚 obviously a disappointing moment, but it doesn鈥檛 need to be a defining one,鈥� he said. 鈥淩est assured, we aren鈥檛 going anywhere.鈥�
Concerns are 鈥榥ot unique to TikTok鈥�
At least 37 states have already taken some action against TikTok鈥攅ither by banning it on state devices or, in the case of Indiana, suing the company,
But states and the federal government haven鈥檛 been nearly as active in trying to limit the power of other social media platforms, experts said.
鈥淎 lot of the concerns that arise with TikTok, particularly regarding data sharing, are not necessarily unique to TikTok,鈥� said Amelia Vance, the president of the Public Interest Privacy Center, a nonprofit that works on child and student data privacy issues.
While the potential relationship between the company and the Chinese government has clearly raised eyebrows on Capitol Hill, many of the privacy concerns lawmakers voiced in explaining their support for the new law describe a range of social media platforms, she said.
鈥淭here are a lot of questions about why this [legislation] is what moved forward, and not a comprehensive bill that would apply to more than TikTok and address a lot of the data collection, data use and sharing concerns that have been coming up,鈥� including regarding U.S.-based companies such as Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, Vance said.
鈥楾hey鈥檙e just going to find something else鈥�
The ultimate impact of the legislation may be uncertain, but many educators are sure of one thing: Getting rid of TikTok won鈥檛 help teens, who find themselves on the platform almost constantly, unplug.
鈥淚f they get rid of it, it鈥檚 not like [students] will be like, 鈥榦h, let鈥檚 put the cellphone down. Now we can focus,鈥欌�� said Joe Harmon, a high school social studies teacher at Redbank Valley High School in New Bethlehem, Pa., who once had 110,000 followers on the platform. He recently took his account private, in part, because he found TikTok too time-consuming.
Trying to roll back the impact of social media on teenagers by threatening the existence of one platform鈥攅ven an immensely popular one鈥攊s like 鈥渢rying to stop a waterfall by just holding out a cup,鈥� Harmon said.
Harmon has used TikTok to get some teaching tips. But he expects that he will find another site to connect with educators and learn professionally.
鈥淚鈥檓 not gonna lose sleep over it,鈥� Harmon said. 鈥淎nd I don鈥檛 think the students are either because they鈥檙e just gonna find something else.鈥�
His students have already told him that if TikTok goes away, they鈥檒l move onto another platform, such as Instagram Reels, a similar video app. Many have already made the shift, he said.
Or a new platform will spring into being. 鈥淪ome entrepreneur out there is gonna go 鈥榟ere鈥檚 my chance,鈥欌�� Harmon said.
