TikTok’s Last Dance? Fear, Loathing, and a tale of misplaced trust.

Picture this: 170 million Americans, scrolling through TikTok’s endless buffet of dance challenges, cat videos, and political “hot takes”, suddenly see a grim pop-up: “Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now.”

It happened on January 18, 2025, when the app went dark for a few hours, a teaser of the nationwide ban that kicked in the next day under the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA).

Then, like a reality TV plot twist, President Trump swooped in with an executive order, delaying the ban for 75 days, then another 75, keeping TikTok on life support until July 2025.

Why? National security, they say. Typical human nature, I say. Let’s unpack this mess and ask: Is TikTok a Chinese spy tool, or is the ban just Uncle Sam’s latest power grab?

The Fear Factor: Human Nature’s Oldest Trick

Humans are wired to fear the “other.” In 2025, that “other” is China, and TikTok, owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, is the bogeyman du jour. Lawmakers, from Mitt Romney to Josh Hawley, claim the app’s a Trojan horse for Chinese data harvesting and propaganda.

FBI Director Chris Wray warns that ByteDance could hand over your location, keystrokes, and late-night snack preferences to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Some even cry “pro-Palestinian bias,” as if TikTok’s algorithm is single-handedly swaying college protests.

Sounds scary, right? Fear sells, and Congress bought it, passing PAFACA with bipartisan gusto in April 2024, signed by Biden, and upheld by the Supreme Court in January 2025.

But let’s hit pause. If TikTok’s so dangerous, where’s the smoking gun? TikTok denies sharing U.S. user data with the CCP. But even if they are lying, TikTok’s “Project Texas” plan—storing data with Oracle in the U.S.—was a $2 billion olive branch the Biden administration ignored.

Sure, ByteDance mishandled some journalist data in 2022, but so do American apps like Meta, which hoover up your info without a peep from Congress. Oh, and speaking of grabbing all American’s data and harming us with it, who’s the real dangerous operator here? It’s the US government, of course. Always was. Always is.

And the “propaganda” charge? Please. TikTok’s algorithm pushes what keeps the scrolling zombies hooked, just like YouTube or Instagram or the next shiny object the public gets distracted by. If anything, TikTok’s chaotic “For You” page is a free-speech haven compared to the sanitized feeds of Big Tech’s legacy platforms.

Human nature loves a villain, and China’s disgusting, abusive, communist, and corrupt CCP government is an easy one. But fear clouds judgment, and this ban smells more like political theater than a data-driven takedown. It is designed to make us give up our freedom to the most dangerous government there is — our own.

Historical Echoes: McCarthyism 2.0

Rewind to the 1950s. The Red Scare had Americans seeing communists under every bed. Senator Joe McCarthy waved lists of “subversives,” ruining lives with flimsy evidence. Fast-forward to 2025, and TikTok’s the new “Red Menace.” The parallels are eerie: vague accusations, bipartisan panic, and a rush to control speech in the name of security.

Back then, it was blacklists; today, it’s app bans. In the 1980s, Japan was the economic boogeyman, with fears of Sony and Toyota “taking over” America. No bans, though—just trade deals and competition. Why? Because markets, not fear, won out.

History shows that fear-driven policies backfire. The Supreme Court’s January 2025 ruling admitted TikTok’s 170 million users form a “distinctive outlet for expression” but upheld the ban anyway, citing “national security.”

Yet banning TikTok won’t stop data leaks—users are already flocking to Xiaohongshu (RedNote), another Chinese app, proving human nature’s knack for workarounds. Meanwhile, the ban risks splintering the internet, setting a precedent for other nations to block U.S. apps.

Just as McCarthyism chilled free speech, this ban could choke digital liberty, all while China laughs at our self-inflicted wounds.

Economics: Incentives Over Ideology

Follow the money. TikTok’s U.S. ad revenue hit $11 billion in 2024, and its 170 million users drive jobs and small businesses—$24 billion to the economy in 2023 alone. A ban threatens creators, advertisers, and even Oracle, which hosts TikTok’s U.S. data.

Trump’s extensions reflect this reality: he knows TikTok’s a cultural juggernaut, credited with boosting his 2024 youth vote. His latest delay, announced April 4, 2025, came after tariffs on China derailed a potential sale to U.S. buyers like Oracle or Blackstone. Trump’s playing a creepy version of mercantilist chess, using TikTok as a bargaining chip in his trade war, hinting at tariff relief if China greenlights a sale.

ByteDance, meanwhile, faces its own incentives. China’s government, which must approve any sale, sees TikTok’s algorithm as a national asset. Divestiture is “not possible,” ByteDance argues, citing legal and technical hurdles.

Human nature kicks in: why sell a golden goose when you can stall and hope Trump blinks? The economic fallout of a ban—lost revenue, user migration, and global precedent—gives both sides reason to negotiate, but pride and politics keep the stalemate alive.

The Contrarian Take: Liberty Over Control

Here’s the rub: the TikTok ban isn’t about security; it’s about control. Human nature craves freedom, but governments crave power. PAFACA hands the president sweeping authority to ban any “foreign adversary” app — as designated by who?. This is an obvious slippery slope to censoring dissent.

The ACLU calls it unconstitutional, arguing it violates the First Amendment by targeting a platform without hard evidence. Free-speech advocates like PEN America warn it mirrors “repressive” tactics America condemns abroad. If the CCP can’t be trusted, fine—but why trust D.C. to play fair with our digital rights?

The libertarian in me screams: Let the market decide! Humans aren’t dumb; given choices, we’ll ditch platforms that screw us. Look at X—when Twitter’s censorship peaked, users demanded change, and Musk delivered.

And even if you believe users are dumb, do you really think handing more power over to our own coercive government is a good idea? TikTok’s no saint, but neither is Big Tech. More importantly, neither is Big Government.

From a libertarian perspective, it’s an easy argument that users own their own data, so maybe instead of bans, enforce data privacy laws across all platforms, American or not. Either way, it’s competition, not control, that keeps human nature’s creative spark alive. It’s lazy and myopic to get scared and give government more power over us like this.

The Bottom Line

TikTok’s fate hangs on Trump’s next move, with the ban deadline now July 2025. Will he secure a U.S. buyer, or is this just geopolitical drama to keep us hooked? Human nature—fearful, freedom-loving, and incentive-driven—explains the chaos.

History warns us to tread lightly. Economics begs us to think clearly. The ban might feel like a win against China, but it’s a loss for liberty. So, scroll while you can, and ask yourself: who’s the real threat—Beijing, or the US bureaucrats banning a social media app?

And for the record, this is coming from a guy who despises the CCP and its abusive authoritarianism. I especially despise what they’ve done to our cowardly and greedy movie industry in Hollywood. I’ll have much more to say about that in the very near future.

Naturally,

Adam

PS: What do you think? Should TikTok stay or go? Drop your take in the comments, and let’s keep the conversation free.

PPS: A thing that’s not free, but, like, totally worth it? Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom!