Why the U.S. Should Not Ban TikTok
The ban would hurt Americans—and there are better ways to protect their data.
Congress is currently debating bills that would ban TikTok in the United States. We are here as technologists to tell you that this is a terrible idea and the side effects would be intolerable. Details matter. There are several ways Congress might ban TikTok, each with different efficacies and side effects. In the end, all the effective ones would destroy the free internet as we know it.
Bruce Schneier is a security technologist and lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School. His latest book is A Hacker’s Mind: How the Powerful Bend Society’s Rules, and How to Bend them Back.
Barath Raghavan is a professor of computer science at USC.
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