With regards to Chinese control/manipulation, I'd like to add that in the course of debate with another person I've discovered just today that:

• I can't locate actual evidence from journalists that shows that TikTok skews results at the behest of China or otherwise. "There is no concrete evidence supporting the idea that political ideas shared on TikTok are more progressive or pro-Palestine than what you find on other platforms or that it skews more progressive than the overall population — with nearly 70 percent of voters now supporting a cease-fire in Gaza. It’s unclear how TikTok’s algorithm handles political content. But one of lawmakers’ greatest concerns is that the platform has offered a new avenue for people to virally spread political messages outside of traditional media."

• Topics that China REALLY wants censored are freely available on TikTok. Here's #uyghur on TikTok - the first result at the top is a video about how the world said "never again" after the Holocaust yet now we let it happen to Uyghurs in China. Here's a video from an account with 1.5 million followers that tests Chinese censorship by going through all of China's dirty laundry, including Uyghurs, Tibet and political suppression. It has been up since March 13th, has 187,500 likes, and shows up in the first 10 results (so right near the top). There are 42,700 posts that come up with #uyghur and top results are condemnations of China's genocide.

Saying China doesn't commit cyberwarfare or propaganda would be a ridiculous position. We should definitely be paying attention to what stands between the public and facts, although that applies to many more platforms than just TikTok. However, people should know the facts of censorship or skewing (China-mandated or otherwise). Burden of proof is on the accusers, and I can't find said proof. In the case of censorship, what I can easily find first-hand on TikTok itself is evidence that contradicts the claims about banning Uyghurs, Tibet, etc.

Edit: To those downvoting, why? I'm not asking because I need you to justify disagreeing with me. I want to see the evidence I couldn't find after spending all afternoon looking for actual proof that China maliciously censors TikTok or disproportionately skews results as is being alleged. I stepped up with evidence, please do the same.

TikTok content is, right now, showing people the truth of how Palestinians are suffering at a time when respected outlets like the New York Times are specifically telling their staff to avoid words like "genocide", "ethnic cleansing", and occupied territory". TikTok content is showing the truth of ceasefire/pro-Palestine marches, and Jewish participation in those events, at a time when officials and media outlets are calling them violent and anti-Semitic. Videos on TikTok are providing unfiltered on-site coverage and interviews of the campus protests.

I don't use TikTok because I hate the format. But I see value in a platform where the general population can share news without it having to get approval from an editor. It's the same reason I've never said Facebook, Twitter/X, etc. should be banned, even when I see there are lots of posts I know are harmful.

It's an issue of freedom of press/speech in modern times and organizations like the ACLU agree. "We’re deeply disappointed that our leaders are once again attempting to trade our First Amendment rights for cheap political points during an election year,” said Jenna Leventoff, senior policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union. “Just because the bill sponsors claim that banning TikTok isn’t about suppressing speech, there’s no denying that it would do just that. We strongly urge legislators to vote no on this unconstitutional bill."