TikTok Ban Is 'Misguided,' Says Former Presidential Candidate

Some lawmakers are questioning if a nationwide TikTok ban is the right choice for the United States--and they're pointing to the potential harm faced by the country's entrepreneurs to make their point.

President Joe Biden signed a national security package on Wednesday containing a provision that forces TikTok to divest from its Chinese ownership and find a new owner within nine months. If not, the app would be banned from U.S. app stores, along with any future updates--rendering it unusable in the future. 

Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) recently told Inc. that he believes that the potential ban is "a misguided solution" and that Congress should pass legislation that sets a clear standard (relative to algorithm, transparency and oversight) for all applications. That way, platforms would have the same opportunity to abide by a uniform set of standards, he says. Failing that, he says, they should face a ban.

"Whether it's TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, or others [that are] U.S. owned or not, the fact of the matter is we have a massive privacy issue with all the apps and how that information is used [and] how it's abused," said Phillips, a Democrat who ran for president in this year's presidential race. "I think it's time that we set the standards and apply them to all."

He adds that a nationwide ban would be "detrimental" for the millions of small business owners that use the application to engage with customers. Phillips also vast experience as an entrepreneur. He was once the co-owner of Talenti, the popular gelato brand, operated a coffee shop in the Twin Cities, and he worked at his family's distilling company in Minnesota, which imported Belvedere and Chopin vodka to the U.S.

By TikTok's estimate, about seven million small businesses regularly use the platform for business needs like marketing, organic growth, sales and communicating with customers. Some businesses even use TikTok shop, the app's e-commerce portal that allows companies to sell their goods directly on the app.