Following a report that TikTok employees have been accessing their user data, most Americans, including a majority of young people, want TikTok to be banned, a national poll found.
Nearly 60 percent of U.S. users—and 51 percent of the company's core demographic of 18 to 24 year olds—want TikTok removed from app stores. Young adults comprise the largest age group on TikTok—42 percent as of April. Americans of all ages supported the removal at a slightly higher rate. Only 28 percent oppose the removal, and 21 percent are unsure. Just a plurality of Democrats support banning the app.
During his tenure as president, Donald Trump attempted to ban TikTok, citing national security concerns. President Joe Biden abandoned these efforts after taking office. Recent reports have raised concerns about the Biden family’s business ties to China. A voicemail surfaced in June of the president discussing his son Hunter Biden's relationship with a criminal dubbed the "spy chief of China," the Daily Mail reported.
TikTok shares sensitive user data more than any other social media app and is not transparent about who can access the data. The Beijing-based company tracks information that users copy to their clipboards, stores the metadata of media you create, and monitors your location. Audio recently leaked confirming that employees of ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, have been accessing user data.
The Trafalgar Group, which conducted the poll, was one of the 10 most accurate pollsters during the 2020 election, according to FiveThirtyEight.