Tik Tok's Impact on Arizona Locals

Who runs the world? The short answer is social media app, TikTok.

In the US alone, TikTok has been downloaded over 175 million times and is estimated to have over a billion active users worldwide. It became the most downloaded app on Apple’s App Store by 2018.

Arizona State University student Mikayla Nagl moved here from Bloomington, Indiana in 2019. When she first arrived in Arizona, her TikTok feed began to unravel the hidden restaurants, boutiques and local holiday fests.

“TikTok helped me feel like a local and become more comfortable within my surroundings,” Nagl said. “No other social media app could’ve done that for me.”

Influencer Marketing Hub describes TikTok as “a short-form, video sharing app that allows users to create and share 15-second videos, on any topic.” The app is owned by the Chinese technology giant ByteDance. This quickly raised concerns in the US.

On August 6, President Donald J. Trump issued an executive order regarding concerns that “the spread in the United States of mobile applications developed and owned by companies in the People’s Republic of China (China) continues to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.”

Once downloaded, TikTok is able to access its users network activity, location data and search histories.

In hopes to protect US users from their data being stolen in an unauthorized manner, the order declared that TikTok would be blocked from being downloaded in the US by Sept. 20. Additionally, the President provided until November 12 for the app to be sold to a US company, in order to maintain operation. Failure to do so, would result in a complete ban of the app.

Federal judge Carl Nichols, granted an injunction against the order, temporarily blocking the ban. Major US companies Oracle and Walmart have begun partnering with TikTok, in order to keep the app safe for Americans.

Oracle CEO, Safra Catz, told CNBC, “We are a hundred percent confident in our ability to deliver a highly secure environment to TikTok and ensure data privacy to TikTok’s American users, and users throughout the world,”

Users across the globe have expressed concerns of being negatively affected if the ban of TikTok occurs.

For Gilbert, Arizona local Alyssa Williams, 19, the ban of TikTok would be detrimental to her brand and her purpose as an online influencer. Williams hopes to “positively impact people of all different backgrounds” through her TikTok’s. She currently sits at just over 30 thousand followers.

However, TikTok influencer and Arizona native Henry Barnes, 19, is more worried about the opportunities he would miss out on without TikTok. Through the app he was able to meet tons of influencers and creators just like himself. Barnes was also offered a plethora of brand deals, he would not have otherwise received.

Due to recent news on the potential ban on the app, Barnes has learned that “anything with social media is not guaranteed, you kind of just have to play the game in the moment.”

TikTok has the representation of making almost anyone an overnight sensation. “One day you’re in, the next you're not,” Williams expressed. “TikTok is more than just an app, or a career choice for me, it's a learning platform.”

Williams TikTok viewing feed is full of different bible verses and motivational videos. She joined a giant community that has helped her grow as an individual, “that's the reason I’d be most upset if TikTok were to disappear one day,” Williams said.

Just like anything else, TikTok has its pros and cons. Do the risks outweigh the benefits? Or will America decide to continue letting TikTok: run the world.