A TikTok Ban: What This Means for Users and App Dangers Experts Say Cannot Be Ignored

NEW YORK — On April 20, the House of Representatives passed a piece of legislation that would ban TikTok in the U.S. if the app’s parent company, ByteDance, doesn’t sell its stake within a year. The U.S. has an estimated 170 million TikTok users nationwide — many of whom are young people.

“My thoughts are that the app should be banned in America,” asserted Steven McKeon, cybersecurity expert and founder of MacguyverTech. “I believe that application was purposely sent from China to corrode American youth.”

Critics of the app, including McKeon, cite concerns over kids’ use of TikTok that include exposure to inappropriate content and misinformation; engaging kids in dangerous behavior (through the form of challenges); cyberbullying; its addictive nature, which can impact sleep, attention span and overall mental health; and data privacy — a significant risk for TikTok users of all ages, notes McKeon.

“I have direct experience with a client here in America who was hacked,” McKeon said. “TikTok was aggressively copying data from the app and then sending it directly to China. We saw in real time how the TikTok app was being used and very maliciously.”

Calling the app’s data sharing “extremely dangerous” and “an ongoing security threat to our infrastructure,” McKeon supports more vigorous efforts to protect children from online threats, more measures to safeguard the privacy of all users, and more robust ways of making companies liable for inappropriate or inaccurate content shared on their platforms.

“It’s more important than ever to stay safe on the web and take steps to protect all technology assets,” McKeon added.

More on Steven McKeon

Steven McKeon (Mac) is the founder and CEO of MacguyverTech and MacNerd. With over 25 years of experience in the technological world, he always had a passion for taking things apart and then putting them back together better than before. His knowledge of software development extends from a passion for reverse engineering, ethical hacking and new technologies.

After graduating from Rowan University, he joined a boutique tech shop in Boston. A year into his job, a severe cyberattack originating from Russia compromised the company’s systems and client data. Tasked by his boss to handle the situation, he managed to trace and counter-hack the attackers, eventually helping the authorities shut them down. This experience made McKeon a target, prompting him to rethink security strategies. Today, he focuses on enhancing cybersecurity practices. Unlike traditional approaches, he emphasizes layered security, which deters hackers by increasing the effort needed to breach defenses. With the rising cyber threats, his mission to protect and educate others about security has never been more critical.

To learn more, please visit https://macguyvertech.com/.