Ian Juarez EDINBURG – On Sept. 25, the U.S. Government passed an executive order that grants U.S. companies a majority control over TikTok; most of the app will be owned by entities: Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX.
Erik Underwood, an assistant political science professor at UTRGV, shared what the potential impacts of the change of ownership may have on its functions.
“So, the main effect would be to reduce the Chinese government’s ability to try to influence the content, because there’s been studies that have shown that TikTok, more than other social media apps, particularly favors pro, Chinese Communist Party content,” Underwood said. “Content that’s, more adversarial to the U.S. Government.”
However, Underwood said there is a “positive side” to the situation on how content creators won’t be in constant fear of getting shut down or canceled while having more freedom to create posts.
“it could, create like a more, independent platform for youth from outside influences,” Underwood said. “So, it could also lead to different efforts to try to influence what sort of content gets on the platform.”
In the U.S., TikTok has been a topic of contention with President Donald Trump’s administration since August of 2020.
The first attempt to ban the app was over safety concerns due to its previous majority owner, Byte Dance, being a privately owned and operated Chinese Internet Technology Company.
Since President Trump’s second term, his administration has attempted to ban the app once in January, April, June and September, each time being pushed forward.
“It is better for security because, the Chinese are up to a lot of stuff around the world, to try to influence opinions in a way adversarial to the United States and pro Chinese. But also, because the Chinese government they do not care about free speech at all. And they’re very willing to try to censor or silence and speech, that opposes them,” Underwood said.
Underwood shared an article of research regarding Chinese safety.
An article by the Network Contagion Research Institute stated, “In 2022, ex-employees of ByteDance’s TopBuzz app reported21 that the company promoted pro-China content focusing on ‘soft’ news and topics, while actively suppressing any material critical of the Chinese Government.”
UTRGV Marketing Professor, Peter Magnusson, explained the various impacts the deal will have in the U.S. if successful.
“If this is where kids and young adults hang out, it is going to be a very, very important platform for our big consumer brands to advertise on it. Having a high-level deal between the U.S. and China, will set us more on a path towards integration, and hopefully a more peaceful and coexisting future,” Magnusson said.
