Wisconsin locals react to possible TikTok ban in U.S.
WISCONSIN (CBS 58) -- TikTok is among the most popular and controversial social media apps, and people in Wisconsin are torn about its purpose, having mixed feelings about it possibly being banned.
On Thursday, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified for about five hours in front of Congress to address national security concerns.
Some lawmakers don't want Americans using the app owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company.
"I think it's going to be difficult to ban something like this," Marquette University Director of the Center for Data, Ethics and Society Michael Zimmer said.
Concerns over data privacy, misinformation, and content manipulation has the U.S. government threatening a ban or a forced sale. Experts who spoke with CBS 58 said the latter option is more likely.
"Banning an app is one step, but it's not going to mean that TikTok doesn't have access to anything," Zimmer said.
Experts said for average users, TikTok doesn't necessarily know more about its users than other social media apps.
"We should be talking about all kinds of social media apps that are vying for our attention," University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Director of Digital Arts and Culture Marc Tasman said.
There are about 150 million TikTok users in the U.S., endlessly scrolling through short-form videos that can be educational, relatable or humorous.
The app can also be good for promoting and marketing local businesses, and most popular influencers make money from video views and sponsored content.
CBS 58 spoke to a handful of locals in and out of the Milwaukee area Thursday and received mixed reviews. Some said they don't use the app at all, others deleted it after some time due to mental health concerns, and others admitted they scroll for hours every day.
"T-peck," or Thomas Peck, is a travel/adventure creator and landscape photographer from Lake Geneva. He told CBS 58 he has been a content creator for over a decade.
"I tried everything, I tried posting water balloons exploding, to the eventual niche that I ended up finding, which was newspapers being delivered from a moving boat," he said.
Peck said once the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the app opened up a whole new world for him, and now he has 1.4 million followers.
"Once I grew my account to a million followers, TikTok actually removed it completely for community guidelines violation, which was (considered) dangerous acts," Peck explained. "They didn't think the mail delivery service was a real job."
Within a couple of weeks, Peck was able to get his account back. He added that the threat of TikTok possibly being banned or limited in the U.S. has been a rumor for well over a year, and that he, like many other influencers, have had time to think of a plan B in case the app disappears.
"I know five years ago, it was like long-form video on YouTube was kind of the top dog, and Vine came around and disappeared, and then TikTok came around, but I figured I wouldn't put all of my eggs into one basket," he said. "Now, I wake up and post everywhere on different platforms."