“America Divided: GOP Calls for TikTok Ban After bin Laden Letter Trend Spreads Like Wildfire

In recent news, Republican lawmakers have doubled down on their calls for a ban of Chinese-owned social media app TikTok. This comes after a dramatic spike in circulation of a letter written to America from the late Al-Qaeda leader, Usama bin Laden. The presence of bin Laden’s letter on the social media site raised huge controversy among US netizens, and rightfully so. The message has been widely understood as an incitement of terrorism, and therefore has no place on any public platform. In response to this spreading dissemination of bin Laden’s message, Republican Senators Chuck Schumer (New York), Marsha Blackburn (Tennessee) and Tom Cotton (Arkansas) have all called for a permanent ban of the entire application. Sen. Schumer argued that the security of American citizens and their fundamental right to safety need to be taken more seriously, and argued further that software firms “need to be more vigilant and responsible” when it comes to their vetting processes. Sen. Blackburn echoed similar sentiments, tweeting: “TikTok has once again demonstrated a disregard for the safety of our citizens. It’s time to ban this app from the United States.” Meanwhile, Sen. Tom Cotton, who introduced a bill this summer to completely ban all software owned by Chinese company ByteDance (parent firm of TikTok), has also spoken out on the matter. Mr. Cotton stated that “the infiltration of this dangerous terrorist material is yet another blaring reminder of the risks that ByteDance poses to our national security.” These renewed calls to ban TikTok comes after months of heated debate among all sides of the discussion. ByteDance has repeatedly and consistently rejected all claims that their app is a security risk. Despite this, the U.S. government remains unconvinced. It is therefore likely that the debate surrounding the future of TikTok in the United States will continue into 2021 and may even become an election issue in some states. Time will tell if the U.S. government will follow through on their calls to ban the app, but the presence of Usama bin Laden’s letter appearing on the site is certainly a cause for concern.