Tiktok may be available in the Western world, including:
- The UK.
- Canada.
- The USA.
- Australia.
- Or countries connected to the West.
But outside the West, there is a long list of countries with various BANS on Tiktok, or outright censorship at the very least.
The reasons differ, but the underlying principles are similar.
Let’s talk about it.
Why many countries banned and censored TikTok:
1. Foreign influence from the west
The fact of the matter is, that the Western world has too much influence on the media in all forms. TikTok being “social media” doesn’t change those facts.
With all the degeneracy over the years being normalized on social networks., including Tiktok, it’s no wonder Tiktok is banned because of the fear or dislike of foreign influence from the West.
Take Afghanistan for example. They banned TikTok because it doesn’t fit Islamic laws or because it has the potential to “Mislead the younger generation”.
These reasons are similar across multiple countries, especially when it comes to children or “social degradation”.
2. Political unrest
In some countries where political unrest is prevalent, an example being a country like SUDAN or Ethiopia, social networks can be a major issue.
It can allow people to essentially organize and fight against whatever the issue in that country is, and that is the motivation behind the ban or censorship of TikTok.
France for example in 2024 banned Tiktok during the Caledonia unrest. So this applies to any country where this is an issue.
3. Morality issues
Bangladesh made these statements about TikTok in their government.
They say Tiktok is banned:
“To save children and adolescents from moral and social degradation.”
Pakistan said something similar to the effect of “immoral, obscene, and vulgar content” and the ban was only lifted after tons of content was erased from TikTok in Pakistan.
Even from a Western point of view, it’s clear to see TikTok does have morality issues on some level, given how people behave in TikTok, men and women, boys and girls, and the kinds of shit people do for attention, likes, and clicks.
4. Child safety
Kyrgyzstan censored TikTok because of its potential to harm children’s development in the country. Depending on where you look on TikTok, it’s not a terrible point to make.
An Indonesian minister put it this way:
“The app has a lot of negative and harmful content, especially for children.”
Whether the children’s argument is convenient in these cases is debatable, but the fact remains that Tiktok, as we’ve seen in the West, has been less positive and more negative in terms of influence and impact.
5. Offensive content
Of course, offensive content can be judged in many different ways since it’s a vague term to use in these scenarios.
That said, offensive content usually is associated with:
- Pornography content.
- Lewd content.
- Degenerate content.
- Provocative content.
- Twerking.
And basically anything that involves some form of degradation, or “shameful” acts that many countries don’t wanna be associated with.
And again, TikTok ticks many of these boxes despite the fact the platform does have positive content, at least more so in 2024 than in previous years.
6. Security concerns
In the case of Western countries, or countries like Australia, governments and politicians are advised NOT to use TikTok for security concerns.
NATO also advised against TikTok for the same reasons, while countries like Taiwan or the Philippines are against TikTok (not just for public use) because of their paranoia towards China and the potential for China to “snoop in”.
Or as they put it: “cognitive warfare”.
Belgium also banned TikTok for all Federal government devices for security concerns, and this is mirrored in many Western countries including the USA in many states.
The consequences and criticisms of Tiktok being banned in various countries:
Freedom of speech criticisms
As you can imagine, especially when it comes to the USA, the conversation of freedom of speech is an obvious criticism for outright banning something.
Even if it’s only TikTok.
Of course, not everyone agrees with this and many believe in banning TikTok, but as is typical with politics, there is a back and forth.
Outside of the USA where the censorship is more blatant, for example, Pakistan or Afghanistan, banking TikTok takes priority because of what the platform has done, and can do, instead of the ideology of “freedom of speech”.
Claims of hypocrisy
In an article by The Conversation where they write about TikTok and the hypocrisy of banning it, they mention politicians and the US government.
Here’s what they say:
“A potential ban in the United States and possibly Canada reveals the hypocrisy of those trying to get rid of it: politicians.”
The point here is clear. Politicians are hypocrites because they’ve used it before for their own personal gain.
As disgusting as the pandemic was, TikTok was also used to promote that bullshit which they profited from massively.
In A Separate article in Techspot, they mention this in the beginning:
“It’s understandable that teens and creators are upset about the prospect of TikTok being banned in the US, but one unexpected individual lending their support to ByteDance’s app is Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.
The Woz says he doesn’t understand the proposed ban and called out the US government for being hypocritical by targeting just one social media platform for tracking users when they all do it.”
Restrictions through censorship
In many countries where TikTok is facing a hard time outside of the US or UK, etc, certain videos aren’t allowed on their platform.
For example, all of that twerking shit that is prevalent in the USA won’t be found on TikTok in the middle east, central Asia as I understand it, parts of Africa, Indonesia, other parts of South East Asia, and beyond.
Videos where people clearly do shit for attention, whether it’s thirst trapping, being half naked, women bending over, men singing songs about drugs, or anything you can imagine along those lines, are restricted and censored.
In the West they call it “freedom of speech”, but in many countries, they see it as having standards.
The curious case of China
Did you know in China TikTok is completely different?
The algorithm promotes:
- Educational.
- Scientific.
- Motivational.
- Informative.
And a lot more positive content in comparison to the Western world in particular for certain age groups.
TikTok is obviously owned by China, but the irony is how they have no issue with showing bullshit to the Western world, and only “positive” content on their home turf.
Of course, the Western world can freely ban that kind of content because they’re not forced to accept it. But they won’t, hence the dilemma and the staggeringly different content found on both versions of TikTok.
It’s clear which one is more beneficial than the other given the kinds of things we see on TikTok in the West (the kind you’d be horrified to see if your daughter participated).
SOURCE: Tiktok Banned List
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