Looming TikTok ban a blow to digital diversity

The Trump administration has launched a major diplomatic and economic offensive against China, hitting Chinese officials with myriad sanctions over the past four months as relations between Washington and Beijing plummet to their lowest levels in decades.

This week, Trump signed two executive orders that will bar U.S. companies and people from certain transactions with the Chinese parent companies of the social media apps TikTok and WeChat, ByteDance and TenCent. The orders take effect in 45 days, giving at least TikTok the chance to be purchased by a U.S. company such as Microsoft.

LaToya Shambo, founder and CEO of Black Girl Digital, Inc., says she's disappointed by any attempt to dismantle a platform that has widened the space for Black digital influencers.

"Tiktok has definitely created a space for a lot of Black multicultural influence to really thrive in being creative in a short space," she says.

Nikkia McClain a New York City mother and founder of Tene Nicole Marketing, says her 13-year-old and 23-year-old daughters use the app religiously, but says she always encourages her clients to think about what's coming next. She points to an up-and-coming platform called Kandiid, which allows content creators to monetize their posts.

The Trump administration, citing the need to protect Americans' personal and other sensitive data from China, has also embarked on a worldwide campaign to stop Chinese telecom firms like Huawei and ZTE from participating in high-tech 5G wireless networks. It has thus far met with limited success, but this week it launched a major new initiative to purge global communications links, including underseas cables, of Chinese presence.

President Donald Trump and his top aides have railed against China for its response to the coronavirus pandemic that began there, looking to make political hay ahead of November's election. But the administration's hostility toward China predates the pandemic. Even while Trump played up his relationship with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, calling him "a very, very good friend of mine," his administration has been taking aim at China on multiple fronts since mid-2019.

In a statement on their website, TikTok leaders address their 100 million American users, writing, "TikTok will be here for many years to come. (…) "We have made clear that TikTok has never shared user data with the Chinese government, nor censored content at its request."