TikTok, Individualism, & Consequences for Democracy
I never used TikTok for the same reason the U.S. banned it: I’m wary of inviting the Chinese Communist Party into my phone.
Three things strike me about the developments around TikTok since Friday:
Banning TikTok has more political support than any policy I can remember.
Despite the warning that TikTok is a threat to America, young people are (understandably) furious with the politicians who banned it.
The generational shift further prioritizing individual expression over the common good brings new risks for democracy.
Almost Everyone Agrees TikTok Should Be Sold or Banned
Although Donald Trump has now flip-flopped and says he’ll “save” TikTok, he actually banned it as President.
After a court struck down his ban, Congress passed a new law with overwhelming bipartisan support (352-65 in the House; 79-18 in the Senate).
President Biden signed the new ban, and all nine Supreme Court justices agreed TikTok must be sold or else shut down because its Chinese ownership threatens national security.
This is remarkable agreement across parties and government branches.1 The Authorization for Use of Military Force of 2001 had broader Congressional support, but the Courts reined in that law and it of course faced eventual political backlash.
Gen Z Places More Value on Self-Expression Than on Collective Safety, Which is Actually Understandable
TikTok users disagree with the ban, strongly. Three out of every five Americans under 30 use TikTok. 90% of them oppose the ban.
As Dan Pfeiffer wrote in his SubStack this morning,
It’s hard to overstate how central TikTok is to younger Americans’ media diet. It is where they connect with friends, follow the news, track trends in music and fashion, and do a lot of their shopping…
[Getting rid of it] is the equivalent of telling a millennial or Gen Xer in the early 2000s that Congress is banning cable television. One day, ESPN, MTV, CNN, Comedy Central, and the rest would all be gone.
Posts along the lines of “F*ck America” were the norm last night after TikTok shut down, and I find it easy to understand why.
Today’s brightest young leaders explain their generation as one that has never experienced our county in a time of unity, only in division. Our country has never pulled through for them: COVID was terrible experience, inflation and the job market they’re experiencing upon graduation are just as bad, and we’re handing them a climate beyond saving. When they look at politics, they see two parties that can’t work together to get anything done. Worst of all, we don’t teach civics anymore, so young people don’t understand or believe that they can be a part of fix the broken system.
So of course they’re looking out for themselves. They’ve never seen or experienced a “common good” to prioritize over their own individuality. The idea that it’s more important for the U.S. to “be tough on China” than to allow individual expression and connection with their peers is, understandably, one that just doesn’t compute.
This Shift Has Consequences for Democracy and Norms
My last newsletter noted a top counter-argument when rebutting most voting regulations: that the restriction will do more harm than good. For example, even if a rule that “everyone must show an original U.S. birth certificate to vote” weeds out a few noncitizens, it disenfranchises many more eligible voters who just don’t have access to the required document.
This counter-argument may not find much support in a society that’s shifted so far toward individualism. It’s a narrative that requires empathy for others’ circumstances and a holistic thinking that’s simply no longer the norm. Advocates will need to find new messaging to make the consequences of voter suppression seem immediate and tangible if we want to convince voters to oppose these discriminatory restrictions.
Similarly, as Trump takes new aim at institutions and norms, we can no longer rely on old arguments when explaining to young people the harm in his actions. It may be obvious to many of us why pardoning January 6th criminals is an assault on the rule of law or why using the Department of Justice for retribution against personal political opponents is such a threat to democratic institutions…
But how can we expect institutional weakening to be a concept that that computes to a generation that has never experienced a baseline understanding or set of shared values around what institutions stand for and the role they can serve?
Quite the opposite, Trump’s actions in “standing up for himself as an individual” may even seem defensible and righteous to many young Americans.
The days and weeks ahead will be difficult ones for our democracy, and especially for the most vulnerable among us. As a friend and subscriber to this newsletter said, what really matters in these weeks is how we treat and care for ourselves and others in our communities. The kindness you show is lasting, and it’s contagious.