Banning TikTok is a bad solution to the wrong problem

No more glow-ups. No more 10-second viral dances. No more short lessons on how to clean your stove. Banning TikTok would potentially save users a lot of time scrolling through incredibly addictive content.

But a ban would be an entirely un-American, undemocratic and inappropriate response to an unproven risk that the Chinese-owned platform will share users’ data with Beijing for nefarious purposes. What’s more, banning TikTok would be completely useless in combating a different, much better-evidenced social media pitfall — the spread of dangerous propaganda.

An outright ban of the social media app in the United States is moving closer. Last week, the Biden administration threw its support behind a Senate bill that would give the Commerce Department that power. Cross-party consensus is building around the Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats That Risk Information and Communications Technology, or Restrict, Act. The bill follows moves by more than two dozen states that have banned their employees from using TikTok on official work devices. The federal government has done the same, and there have been similar measures in Europe and Canada.