Poll Shows That TikTok Ban Is Popular With Voters
The U.S. government passed a bill that would ban the app In the United States if it is not sold to a non-Chinese buyer. In an attempt to block the app ban, TikTok filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government. According to a new Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll, the majority of voters support efforts to ban TikTok.
Methodology
The Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll surveyed 4,962 registered voters in seven swing states, including 795 registered voters in Arizona, 795 in Georgia, 704 in Michigan, 459 in Nevada, 704 in North Carolina, 812 in Pennsylvania, and 693 in Wisconsin.
TikTok Ban Supporters
According to the poll results, half of voters support banning TikTok in the US “if its Beijing-based parent ByteDance Ltd. fails to divest the video-sharing platform under a new law signed by President Joe Biden last month.” They also found that two-thirds of those polled said they were worried that the app could be used by “foreign adversaries” to collect data and manipulate information in the US.
Matt Monday, senior manager of Morning Consult, identified privacy as a common concern for voters surveyed. He added that the issue has been “central to discussions of big tech” over the past decade.
“They’re most anxious about privacy. That’s not just AI,” Monday said. “The geopolitics around TikTok and data collection and privacy are a real concern.”
While a majority in the poll supported the “divest-or-ban policy,” 58% of regular TikTok users surveyed said they opposed it. At the same time, 51% of the app’s regular users expressed concern about foreign data collection.
More Survey Findings
They found that 62% of those polled said they were concerned over TikTok’s effect on mental health, while 71% expressed concern about the impact on young people.
Variety reported on the results from a similar poll from Reuters/Ipsos earlier this month. They found that about 50% of Americans support a TikTok ban, while 32% oppose it and 18% are not sure. Just 31% of those 18-34 say they are in favor of a ban, and 50% say they oppose it. Most Americans 35-54 (54%) and 55 and older (60%) say they support a ban of the app.
This poll showed about 55% of Americans believe that ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, uses the app to sway public opinion in the United States. Additionally, 46% think that the Chinese government uses TikTok to spy on Americans (16% say they do not think this is the case; 37% are unsure), per the Ipsos/Reuters poll.
In addition, 58% think the Chinese government uses TikTok to influence American public opinion, while 13% do not think this is the case and 28% are not sure.
Take a look at the Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll and its complete results here.
