Last Wednesday, the House voted and approved a bill that could ban TikTok in the U.S. The bill made its way through the house with strong bipartisan support. The final vote came to be 352-65.

This law forces the app to be sold by its Chinese parent company in six months or there will be a nationwide ban.

TikTok has posed a national security threat as it has a vast amount of personal user data. The ban would have an impact on users and content creators on the app.

“It depends on the day. During the school week I would say like an hour a day but on the weekend it is probably around one-and-a-half to two hours or even more,” sophomore Julia Eynon said.

TikTok significantly encroaches on students’ daily schedules. It takes substantial portions of their time throughout the school week.

Many students have varying perspectives on whether or not TikTok serves as a beneficial platform for students to engage with.

“I think that TikTok is a good thing for kids our age because it is a fun way to connect and engage with each other,” Eynon said, “You can also learn new things. But I don’t think it is a good thing for kids in elementary school and early middle school.”

While TikTok may have its merits, some believe TikTok can provide negative influence to children in elementary school. It is argued that younger children should prioritize their educational growth over social media platforms like TikTok.

“I think it is a good thing for kids because I see lots of videos that are interesting to me, like cooking as well as creative stuff that influences me to make something similar. I also think it is fun to see and hear other people from all over the world and what their lives are like,” freshman Lillian Harvey said.

TikTok has the ability to foster creativity and to serve as an educational tool. This allows students to be able to discover and learn new concepts through its content.

Many people have different opinions if the sale would solve the issue.

“I think a sale would solve the issue because the U.S. government wants an investor in the country to own it,” Eynon said.

Transferring the ownership of the app to a U.S.-based investor could potentially alleviate the government’s concerns regarding data security. While some people believe this, others feel that this will not solve the overall problem.

“I do not think it would solve the overall issue with data being accessed. With so many social media platforms, our data is most likely already out there. By changing the owner of the app, I don’t think this would change the fact that our data is being used,” Harvey said.

People believe transferring the app will not solve the personal data problem. Many social media apps have people’s data already. Ownership might not help with the data handling usage that is across multiple social media platforms.

The potential ban of TikTok could significantly impact influencers on the platform. This could possibly lead to a disruption in their overall influencer marketing opportunities.

“I think that it would make online influencers’ jobs harder but I think their popularity would just grow on other platforms, like Instagram. I also think that a new app will pop up and they will become popular there,” Eynon said.

“By banning TikTok, a lot of influencers would no longer have their platform to produce videos. I think a lot of them would resort to filming and posting more on YouTube or Instagram Reels,” Harvey said.

While the ban of TikTok could reflect negatively on influencers, other social media platforms could allow them to enhance their popularity.

While it has been said multiple times that TikTok is being banned, students have different opinions on if it will happen.

“I think that it could happen if the company is not sold, but if it does happen it won’t happen right away. I think there are enough people that want TikTok to not be used,” Eynon said.

“I don’t think TikTok will actually be banned because for one, it will take a long time to get through Congress and also stuff like this has happened before, but nothing actually changed,” Harvey said.

It has been speculated multiple times that TikTok could get banned, but this time an actual law was passed. People’s opinions are affected by the amount of times they have said it will be banned, and there are varying opinions on what is going to happen with the app.