China is a geopolitical rival with every incentive to harvest data on 170 million Americans, and TikTok's parent company ByteDance has direct ties to the Chinese government. We don't need to wait for a proven breach—the structural risk to national security and personal privacy justifies a ban, just like we'd never let a Russian company control our social infrastructure. Relying on pinky promises from a foreign corporation isn't a real solution.
Banning TikTok is overreach that sets a dangerous precedent for government control of the internet. Americans already hand their data to Meta, Google, and Amazon, who use it for profit and have been caught abusing it repeatedly—yet we don't ban them. If Congress is really concerned about data privacy, pass comprehensive privacy legislation instead of scapegoating one app because of anti-China politics. Free choice means letting adults decide what apps they use.