The opinion of young Americans about the possible future of TikTok was assessed by the firm Social Sphere, which recently released the results of its survey to NBC News. The Social Sphere study focused on the opinions of millennials (27-42) and Generation Z (18-26) about the use of social media, specifically TikTok.
According to Social Sphere, 53% of people from Generation Z do not oppose banning Tiktok. Thirty-four percent support banning the social network. For millennials, the results are reversed. 49% support the ban vs. 34% who are against it. Twenty-five percent of millennials who support the ban said that they "strongly" supported such a measure.
Young people feel the same. Generation Z is much less concerned about the links between TikTok and the Chinese government. Fifty-one percent of Generation Z respondents are concerned, compared to 64% of millennials. Young people in general don't perceive this to be a significant threat to the country.
Young people's preferences
The results of the Social Sphere survey show that the younger generations are more loyal to TikTok. 58% of Generation Z respondents consider it to be the most entertaining social network, far ahead of all others. Approximately 28% of 18-26-year-olds also consider TikTok to be the social network most "made for people like them." Nearly 26% of millennials, on the other hand, considered Facebook to be their favorite social network.
Both millennials and Generation Z feel that TikTok does nothing to protect their privacy. The total result is only 6% for this issue, compared to 13% for Facebook. However, there is a general distrust of social networks in terms of privacy. Thirty-six percent believe that no network respects their data. In terms of the organizations behind the social networks, Instagram comes out with the best rating, 66%, ahead of Facebook, 60%. TikTok only obtained 51%.
TikTok fights back
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew appeared before the House Energy and Commerce Committee yesterday to answer lawmakers' questions and concerns about the reliability of the social network and its ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
The Biden Administration proposed that ByteDance, which owns the app, sell its shares to U.S. companies to ensure that user data does not end up in the hands of the Chinese government. The Administration appears to have the backing of lawmakers, who were concerned about ByteDance during Shou Zi Chew's appearance.
The social network is making an effort to defend itself and claims that it plans to invest $1.5 billion in improving data processing of American users, in addition to opening its shareholding to more Americans. Meanwhile, China appears to oppose the sale of TikTok shares and would look more favorably on a U.S. ban, despite losing a market valued at $40-50 billion by 2022, according to Bloomberg estimates.
