ENTRE News – Content creators are worried about the potential for TikTok to be blocked because it cuts off access to online education. Last week, the US House of Representatives passed a bill banning its citizens from using TikTok. This ban gives TikTok’s Chinese company, ByteDance, six months to divest the app’s assets. Otherwise, the threat of a ban awaits.
This will be the biggest threat to US content creators who often reach a wide audience and make a living from these applications. One of them is a public school teacher in a small rural town, Miss James, with the account name @iamthatenglishteacher who has 5.8 million followers on TikTok.
He opened his TikTok account based on the fact that his virtual students apparently did not pay attention to the grammar of the assigned lessons. To date, he has focused on educational content to improve the quality of children’s language.
“When you talk about the ban, you’re talking about taking away access to high-quality educational videos from people who have used them to improve their education,” James said.
His lessons on TikTok are currently used by students ranging from elementary school to college with most of his followers being English as a Second Language (ESL) students from the Philippines as well as homeschooled students.
James believes that his educational content regarding subjects-verbs to vocabulary, will help the world through education. Likewise, a fatphobic content creator (a form of hatred or fear of bodies that are fat or larger) and transgender, Naomi Hearts, also expressed her opinion about TikTok which can be used as an educational resource.
“I think TikTok is rich in knowledge,” said Hearts.
However, a professor from the University of Southern California, Karen North, warned her students about the dangers of manipulating personal data in the TikTok application.
“My concern with TikTok is not what information is being provided or manipulated, or whether that information is leading to one message or another,” said Karen North, founder and former director of USC Annenberg’s Digital Social Media program Situs Toto.
According to him, TikTok is a type of application that allows users to voluntarily share personal information with entities that do not have the same privacy standards as the United States.
Karen North, who worked as a White House in the Clinton administration on Capitol Hill, was concerned about TikTok’s use of functions such as facial recognition and location tracking. According to him, it will create greater threats than benefits, including in the academic world.
Meanwhile, a plastic surgeon content creator, Dr. Anthony Youn, gave another opinion regarding the issue of banning TikTok FOR4D. According to him, this prohibition will have a significant impact on information accessibility.
“There’s a big segment on TikTok where users get news, so it’s about education,” said Youn, a content creator with 8.4 million followers.