Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) is calling for the Senate to take up a vote on the recently passed House bill that would force Chinese tech company ByteDance to divest itself from TikTok, or the app would be banned from use in the United States. McConnell and other Republicans have called the social media app a threat to the safety of American citizens because the app is "beholden" to America's adversaries, mainly China. However, is it the job of the government to dictate to you or me how we can use or consume social media? No, it isn't, and it is not the duty of the government to protect us from ourselves, rather it is the duty of the government to protect you and me from the threats of invasion or attack by outside forces. 

The arguments that McConnell and others are using are not without merit or good intentions. McConnell and others correctly argue that the Chinese Communist Party, through the TikTok app, actively mines your personal data and more. From every keystroke that is on AND off the app to every search you make on AND off the app, the data is being mined and sent to a global audience of adversaries like China. Not to mention the fact that China uses the app to help influence public behavior and foist its policy agenda on the most vulnerable and impressionable population in America; our youth. It is painfully clear that China uses TikTok to collect audio, video, and other data from American users and then uses that data to create algorithms that influence public opinions on various hot topic issues. 

To compound that issue, TikTok is a favored social media platform for several conservative celebrities, professional athletes, influencers, and more. As RedState Managing Editor Jennifer Van Laar put it: TikTok is a Trojan horse. The app and the content contained in it are being spoon-fed to a willing and waiting audience who are blissfully unaware or ignorant of what they are giving up by using the app. 

For example, here's a list of the top-followed country artists on TikTok:

• Tayler Holder -19.6 million
• Cooper Alan - 9.5 million
• Noah Schnacky - 7.9 million
• Kane Brown -5.4 million
• Luke Combs – 5.3 million
• Morgan Wallen – 4.9 million
• Luke Bryan -4.2 million
• Reba McEntire - 3.7 million
• Walker Hayes - 3.4 million
• Shania Twain – 2.9 million

NASCAR's a pretty big deal over at TikTok as well. While the follower numbers are much smaller than those for country music artists, NASCAR itself has 2.2 million followers, Hendrick Motorsports has 120,000, and Joe Gibbs Racing has 869,000. As far as individual drivers, Denny Hamlin has nearly 100,000 followers, Kyle Larson has 65,000, Chase Elliott has 73,000, and Bubba Wallace has 21,500. To his credit, while NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. has an account (with 36,500 followers), he hasn't posted anything on it. (He likely only opened the account to prevent the username from falling into the hands of impostors.)

However, what are you giving up to China and others by using TikTok, that you already are giving up to the Federal Government and anyone in the world who will pay for the data? The answer should shock you: everything. Every day, the overwhelming majority of Americans are sending their personal data to the highest bidder without knowing or caring. All you need is a smartphone, which almost everyone in America has, even homeless people. New research on the security and privacy capabilities of the iPhone shows just how much access these devices have to your data, even when you think you have turned off these data mining features. I have an iPhone and I have tried to turn off all these mining or collection functions, but I still find the phone to be actively listening and sending that information to anyone that wants it. 

‘Siri collects data in the background from other apps you use, regardless of your choice, unless you understand how to go into the settings and specifically change that.’

But it isn't just Apple and iPhones, it is any smartphone, smart appliance, or anything with a computer in it. Our phones, computers, and smart televisions all have microphones and cameras that record even when you're not aware of it. They monitor everything: all your smart dishwashers, ovens, refrigerators, microwaves, and more. Put your phone down and have a conversation with someone about something in particular, like shoes or something. Talk about that specific type of shoe and its price and where to find it. Do that for five to ten minutes. Then open up Facebook, any other social media site, or Google page; you will start to see those static ads on the sides of the webpage or placed ads in your social media feed of that exact shoe and where you can buy it. Trust me, I have done it. So by banning TikTok, the government has prevented nothing but has just merely put in place a speedbump or other obstacle that ByteDance and or China will merely sidestep or create something else to do the exact same thing. 

Banning TikTok in any shape or form is an attack on us, not China, and certainly not ByteDance. It is another example of an increase in the size and power of an already bloated and powerful federal government. A government that has been shown and proven to spy on its citizens without a warrant and to collect data on what Americans are buying and with what money. We all remember the bombshell dropped on America when Edward Snowden leaked information that implicated the NSA (National Security Agency) in a massive surveillance operation that was secretly collecting American phone and call records back in 2013. Do you honestly believe that the American government stopped doing that? I would confidently say that the federal government is doing the exact same thing that China and TikTok are doing. We should be directing our rage at them for overstepping their bounds.

A bill to ban TikTok in any shape or form is a bill that violates the Constitution, along with the First Amendment. We have the right to use whatever social media platform we use to say or record whatever we want, as long as it is not a crime and doesn't violate the terms of service for that platform. Now, if the Federal government says they are going to ban government workers from using TikTok on government property, that is perfectly within their purview to do so. Remember the calls from the right during COVID to keep your needles away from my body? All the complaints from the right about wearing masks, not being able to go where we want and when we want, etc, were all warranted and just, and that's why we should be against this overreaching TikTok ban.