Banning TikTok: My Thoughts
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Anytime someone says “we need to ban insert current problematic platform we don’t understand or don’t want to take responsibility for,” my ears perk up and I go into defense mode.
Banning things, historically, doesn’t work well. At least, it usually doesn’t deliver the desired outcomes. Scott Berkun has an excellent piece on how banning something makes it powerful.
“A ban is lazy policy. It’s a failure to examine causes and effects of human behavior, including the history of the causes and effects of banning things.” - Scott Berkun
I couldn’t agree more. In the midst of everyone trying to ban ChatGPT and other AI tools (pointless), there has been a ban put in place on the video-sharing social app, TikTok, from government agencies and universities.
Many people will give you valid reasons for blocking or banning TikTok from devices. They have many concerns about privacy.
As well they should.
But is TikTok the only thing they should be concerned about?
Hardly.
Why are so many governments and universities blocking TikTok here in the United States? The reasons are many but most don’t have the greatest supporting data.
I’ve put together a document that — I believe — provides some background for the current state of the TikTok world, why some are choosing to ban or block the app, and the course of action I’d recommend.
This report came about after I was asked my opinion on the subject of a TikTok ban by some educational decision makers. I wrote it to, hopefully, provide some concrete evidence to better inform decision makers. Of course, I close the documents with my opinions on the situation.
The document is available here in PDF format. Feel free to download it and share with others. Or, share this newsletter with them.
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