It has been widely known that TikTok's data-harvesting practices in favor of the Chinese government represent a national security threat, but this platform has an even darker side. While promoting educational clips to children in its Chinese version, TikTok purposely exposes Western children to inappropriate sexual and substance-related content. It's about time that this weaponized app is banned once and for all.
Concerns about the experience of children using TikTok are entirely justifiable, but it's outrageous that the platform has been criticized as if such issues are not common to every other major social media platform. Politicians have been exploiting the most striking fears of parents while failing to address basic, urgent challenges, such as providing food to all school children, in a blatant show of hypocrisy.