The wizard’s curtain of American national security has slipped, and we have the TikTok ban to thank. In recent years, the US and China have been locked in a geopolitical chess match nicknamed the Great Power Competition. It’s an ongoing struggle of powerful countries flexing their soft and hard power to expand their influence around the world, with an aim to be the global superpower. (Russia is also a party to this game, but not to this story.)
In the States, we see typically this dynamic framed as a struggle between democracy and freedom versus authoritarianism and control. So when TikTok, with ties to China, exploded in popularity across the US, it didn’t take long for national security concerns to turn into full blown calls for a ban.
TikTok’s algorithm uses the technology of its Chinese parent company, ByteDance. The security concern comes via China’s vaguely worded 2017 National Intelligence Law to which ByteDance is subject to, requiring people and organisations to “support, assist, and cooperate” with Chinese intelligence efforts.
TikTok claims that none of its user data is held in China and it doesn’t share its data with governments anyway, but American policymakers have been nonetheless wary. Toward the end of the Biden administration, TikTok was given a choice: sell or get banned. And as we all know, ByteDance didn’t sell. TikTok went offline in January. But American people did not.
Cracks in the (Fire)wall
When the ban was imminent, three million Americans flocked to RedNote, a similar Chinese app. Normally, the digital worlds of the US and China exist in an isolated parallel, separated by a firewall. Each has its own social media and search engines. But RedNote offered a rare crack in the (fire)wall which allowed everyday Americans and Chinese to directly interact for the first time. And it turns out, we get along pretty well.
It turns out cat videos really are a universal unifier.
Instead of viewing each other through the lens of political narratives, economic rivalry, or even COVID-19, people were simply… chatting. Sharing memes. Swapping cultural insights. Comparing school lunches. It turns out, people are not their governments. The carefully constructed narratives that have long shaped American and Chinese perceptions of one other were being rewritten. The BBC wrote that the “US-China rivalry is taking a break.” It turns out cat videos really are a universal unifier.
Political Theater
RedNote has given people the opportunity to see humanity in one another. And so the idea that the US and China are locked in an inevitable and existential conflict starts to feel less like reality and more like political theater. If the people are getting along, then why can’t their governments? The inflated military budgets, the strict technological barriers — it all starts to look less like keeping populations safe and more like paranoia, rooted in old-fashioned realist thinking that power is finite and must be hoarded.
And let’s not pretend that an American-owned TikTok would do anything different with user data. The time and attention — and by extension mental health — of social media users are being actively exploited by social media companies to pad the pockets of billionaires, all while lobbying against regulation. This exploitation will simply remain domestic instead of international. Better that Mark Zuckerberg knows about my recent interest in cross stitching than Xi Jinping, right?
After his inauguration, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order than delayed the TikTok ban for 75 days. If the Trump administration fully reinstates the app, it will mark a win for elites on several fronts. TikTok will still need to sell, with names like Elon Musk and Larry Ellison reportedly on the shortlist. At my most cynical, I suspect the battle over “national security” was never really about protecting American users but instead about ensuring that control over a massively influential platform, and the data it harvests, remains in the hands of US power players.
Lost Opportunity
If TikTok becomes accessible again, curiosity about alternative platforms will die down. RedNote’s unexpected cross-cultural moment may be short-lived anyway, with reports suggesting that tighter English moderation is on its way. So as access dwindles, so too may the rare opportunity for Americans and Chinese to connect beyond political narratives. This would be a shame.
The story of the Great Power Competition justifies an endless investment into American military dominance. If the government can’t convince Americans that China is an actual threat, then people might begin to question the obscene defense budget. Because when people are allowed to connect on their own terms, something truly threatening to the national security status quo happens: understanding.
Because here’s the thing: when people are allowed to connect and find common ground, tension evaporates. The Great Power Competition is not reflective of everyday citizens, but rather the egos of the men who run them. And that’s precisely why we can’t let the chance for genuine connection slip away. The means to peaceful bilateral relationships isn’t centered on which country can become the preeminent global superpower, but instead on how its people can connect and find their shared humanity.