Why a TikTok ban wouldn't make social media safer

TikTok, like any place on the internet where a ton of people are watching and sharing and competing for attention, is best understood in terms of both/and. TikTok is both a vital platform for community building and plagued by dangerous misinformation. TikTok is both uniquely good at providing a means for non-influencers to reach a huge audience and a platform that has failed, again and again, to fairly and adequately moderate the content posted there. TikTok is both riddled with huge concerns about the privacy of the data it collects on its users and, just like any other major social…