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Short Read,

Is TikTok Going Away?

The popular social media app could be banned in the United States. Here’s why. 

By Mary Kate Frank
From the September 2024 Issue

Learning Objective: to read a short informational text, then craft a constructed response that includes a claim, text evidence, and commentary

Complexity Factors
  • Purpose
    This article explains why the popular social media app TikTok could be banned in the U.S.
  • Structure
    The text is informational.
  • Language Conventionality and Clarity
    Vocabulary: some challenging vocabulary (e.g., data, opt out, sensitive, congress, violate). Conventionality: The language is mostly conventional.
  • Knowledge Demands
    The text refers to various social media apps (Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat), tech companies (Google, Meta, Microsoft), and China.
Lexile: 990L
Featured Skill: Constructed Response,
Other Key Skills: identifying central ideas and details
Common Core Standards
  • Anchor Standards
    R.1, R.2, R.3, R.4, R.5, R.6, W.2
  • Grade 6
    RI.6.1, RI.6.2, RI.6.3, RI.6.4, RI.6.5, RI.6.6, W.6.2
  • Grade 7
    RI.7.1, RI.7.2, RI.7.3, RI.7.4, RI.7.5, RI.7.6, W.7.2
  • Grade 8
    RI.8.1, RI.8.2, RI.8.3, RI.8.4, RI.8.5, RI.8.6, W.8.2
TEKS Standards
  • Grades 6, 7, 8
    1d, 2a, 2b, 3a, 4a, 5a, 5b, 5c, 5d, 5e, 5f, 5g, 5h, 5i, 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d, 6e, 6f, 6g, 6h, 6i, 8d, 8f, 9a, 9b, 9c, 9d, 9e, 9f, 11b, 11c

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Statista

More than 1 billion people around the world use TikTok.

You’re scrolling through TikTok when you see a video of a duck playing soccer. Sooooo cute! In the next video, a teen and her grandma dance to a hip-hop song. The older woman lip-syncs the lyrics as she spins and slides into a split. Wow! Seconds later, you watch someone bite into a lemon and shriek. Ha!

With its endless supply of quirky videos and simple video-making tools, it’s not hard to see why TikTok is the fastest-growing social media platform in the United States.

But there’s something you should know. While you’re having fun on the app, TikTok is collecting all kinds of information about you. It knows what you search for and what you share. It might even know what you look like and sound like! This information is what’s known as data.

Most social media apps, including Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat, gather data on their users. But unlike these other companies, TikTok isn’t based in the U.S. It’s owned by a company in China. Because of this, U.S. officials say TikTok poses a threat to your privacy—and to the safety and security of the country. 

U.S. lawmakers are so concerned that this past spring, they passed a law ordering TikTok to be sold—or face a ban in the country. ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, says it won’t sell and is fighting the ban in court. 

What does all this mean for the future of TikTok? 

Getting to Know You 

Pew Research Center

TikTok is the fastest-growing social media platform in the United States. 

More than 170 million Americans use TikTok. Each of them has given TikTok the right to access their private information—just by creating an account. 

Unless they click a button to opt out, adult users allow TikTok to monitor their location and the messages they send. TikTok doesn’t collect as much data from younger users as from adults, but it still collects plenty—from their date of birth to which games they play. 

Even if you don’t use TikTok, it’s likely keeping tabs on you. So are Google, Meta, Microsoft, and other tech companies. They’ve all placed invisible trackers on popular websites—trackers that keep a record of what you do online. 

Why do tech companies care how many sloth videos you share or pimple patches you buy? Why does it matter to them that you watch NBA games or play a lot of Fortnite?  

For one thing, this kind of information helps companies improve their products. Tracking your interests is how YouTube suggests videos to you. Memorizing faces allows TikTok to perfect its filters. After all, the app can’t give you a dog nose unless it knows where your nose is! 

But there’s another reason tech companies track you. Advertisers pay big bucks for user data so they can place ads on apps and websites you use for things you’re likely to buy. (Did you ever look at a pair of sneakers online and then see ads for those sneakers for months? Now you know why.) 

This is all perfectly legal as long as you’re 13 or older. If you’re under 13, companies must get permission from a parent or guardian to collect and share info about you.

Sharing Secrets? 

Pew Research Center

58% of 13- to 17-year-olds in the U.S. scroll TikTok daily.

Many people do not like having their data collected and sold by tech companies, even if it is legal. But when it comes to TikTok, it’s not just data collection that lawmakers are worried about. They are also worried about national security—meaning the safety of our country. 

The Chinese government is allowed access to data from any company based in China. So Chinese leaders could order ByteDance to hand over sensitive information about Americans. U.S. lawmakers worry that China could then use that data to influence our elections, spread false information, or even spy on us. 

“We have a [privacy] problem with social media, but we have this specific problem with TikTok,” says James Lewis, an expert on information technology in Washington, D.C. 

TikTok executives say they have never—and would never—share details about Americans with the Chinese government. But Congress isn’t convinced. That’s why the new law requires that TikTok be sold to a company approved by the U.S. government by early 2025—or be banned here. 

Life Without TikTok? 

So could TikTok really go away? No one knows for sure. But the idea of life without TikTok angers the app’s fans. It also raises concerns about free speech. The First Amendment to the Constitution protects our right to express ourselves without government interference. Some say a TikTok ban would violate that right.

If TikTok does get banned, it probably won’t vanish instantly from everyone’s phones. Instead, updates will likely become unavailable. Over time, the app will become more and more unstable until finally it stops working. 

And then we’ll just have to find soccer-playing ducks and dancing grandmas somewhere else.

Thanks to James Lewis and the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., for assistance with this article.

Short Write

Should TikTok be banned in the U.S.? Answer this question in a well-organized paragraph. Use text evidence.  

This article was originally published in the September 2024 issue.

video (1)
Audio ()
Activities (6)
Preparing to Read
Reference
Skill-Building Activities
The Core Skills Workout
Quizzes (1)
Answer Key (1)
video (1)
Audio ()
Activities (6)
Preparing to Read
Reference
Skill-Building Activities
The Core Skills Workout
Quizzes (1)
Answer Key (1)
Step-by-Step Lesson Plan

Close Reading, Critical Thinking, Skill Building

Download the Printable Version
Table of Contents

1. Prepare to Read

(10 minutes)

Do Now: Journal and Discuss (5 minutes)

Project the following prompt on your board for students to respond to in their journals and/or in discussion. 

According to the Pew Research Center, a majority of U.S. teens use TikTok. About 6 in 10 teens (63%) say they use the app. More than half of teens (58%) use it daily, including 17% who say they’re on TikTok “almost constantly.” 

Do you use TikTok? If so, what do you like about this app? Is there anything you dislike about it? 

What do you think would happen if TikTok suddenly disappeared? How do you think people would react?

Preview Vocabulary (5 minutes)

Project the Google Slides version of Vocabulary: Definitions and Practice on your whiteboard. Review the definitions and complete the activity as a class. Highlighted words: Congress, data, opt out, sensitive, violate. Audio pronunciations of the words and a read-aloud of the definitions are embedded on the slides. Optionally, print the PDF version or share the slideshow link directly to your LMS and have students preview the words and complete the activity independently before class.

2. Read and Discuss

(20 minutes)

For students’ first read, have them follow along as they listen to the audio read-aloud, located in the Resources tab in Teacher View and at the top of the story page in Student View.

Have students read the story again. 

Optionally, divide students into groups to complete the Core Skills Workout: Central Ideas and Details activity. This graphic organizer asks students to identify the central idea and supporting details of each section of the article and the central idea of the article as a whole. 

3. Write About It

(20 minutes)

Have students complete the Short Write Kit. This activity can be used to guide students as they write a claim, support it with text evidence, and provide commentary in response to the prompt on page 11 in the printed magazine and at the bottom of the digital story page:

Should TikTok be banned in the U.S.? Answer this question in a well-organized paragraph. Use text evidence.

Text-to-Speech