One current nationwide debate is if TikTok should be banned or not. Lawmakers in Congress interviewed TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew on March 23 for over five hours. They are united in their distrust of the CEO and the company’s ties to China.

However, Congress should not ban the popular social media app.

ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, which is based in Beijing, could be using user data to track browsing history and location, potentially driving misinformation efforts. The government thinks the

Chinese are spying on people through TikTok and using their information. While this claim might be accurate, lawmakers have yet to produce any proof.

A lot of people have turned to TikTok to make a living, so a ban would be bad for the people that have made their full-time job making content on the app. Taking that away might benefit places that need more people to work, but it might also be hard for those coming from TikTok trying to find a new job as they may only have a few skills except for video making.

There could be another app created that functions like TikTok but not run by the Chinese, which would still be able to do the same things as TikTok does now. This would be a good solution, or the government should try to overrun whatever the Chinese are using to spy on people if they are.

Lawmakers in Congress have taken the side of banning TikTok. Still, if they could not find actual proof of why they think China is using TikTok as a way to spy on the U.S, then they shouldn’t worry. There has been recent tension with China, so perhaps the U.S. is making assumptions or trying to solve the problem before a problem even starts. Overall, Congress should look into TikTok more carefully and not ban it.