Column: Censoring TikTok would harm democratic fabric

In the seventh grade, I downloaded TikTok out of boredom. I remember the wave of stagnation and isolation that followed the pandemic’s stay-at-home order. Little did I know that the app would be so much more than an entertainment platform. Some claim that TikTok should be banned because of alleged national security concerns and because it is not absolutely essential. However, such a ban would be a flagrant act of government censorship and a violation of the First Amendment. Given the consequences of censorship, I believe that TikTok should not be banned.

Undeniably, banning TikTok is a violation of the First Amendment. Recently, TikTok has metamorphosed from an entertainment platform to an information platform that resembles a search engine or a publisher. For example, a petition to stop the Willow Project, a proposed development project in Northern Alaska, gained steam on TikTok. The app helped the petition to garner an astounding 4 million signatures, with the number still climbing.

TikTok has created a bridge between Gen Z and real-world problems — something that mainstream news outlets have been unsuccessful at accomplishing. It is essential for young people to be conscious of world issues and to have a meaningful say in enacting change. Additionally, a whopping 300 million people, or 1 out of every 3 Americans, use TikTok. Evidently, banning TikTok would significantly hinder the freedom of speech and expression of a large swath of Americans.

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Moreover, banning TikTok would be an act of blatant censorship. History and literature have taught us that censorship signifies the start of a Machiavellian pipeline. Censorship leads to a lack of information, which could foster apathy, a lack of individualism, and excessive conformism. In other words, censorship creates the perfect breeding ground for authoritarianism. Many political powers have used this tactic to their advantage; some have even weaponized it. For example, the Taliban has banned TikTok to implicitly hinder Pakistani women, a large threat to their power, from seeing Western values and using them as a point of reference to live by.

Additionally, we must not be myopic and must consider how such a ban could affect our future. In the dystopian novel “1984,” George Orwell depicts a futuristic totalitarian society built upon high surveillance and the censorship of intimacy. Likewise, the novel “Fahrenheit 451” portrays a futuristic society where the censorship of books and literature are key features. Both novels act as cautionary tales, telling a truth that we must not ignore.

Banning TikTok would be blatant censorship and would threaten the democratic fabric of our society. Given the millions of Americans who utilize the platform to communicate and advocate, along with the dangers of censorship that history and literature have warned us about, TikTok should not be banned.

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Brayden Jadulang is a sophomore at Kealakehe High School.

“Raise Your Hand,” a monthly column featuring Hawaii’s youth and their perspectives, appears in the Insight section on the first Sunday of each month. It is facilitated by the Center for Tomorrow’s Leaders.

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