President Trump has issued executive orders banning TikTok and WeChat from app stores starting on Sunday September 20, 2020. This is a dangerous precedent and move by the current admin in regards to free speech. Yet the reasoning behind the bans, the unchecked and heavy collection and creation of personal data about users, is a real concern.
Much better to have laws governing our personal data. As it stands, all the concerns regarding TikTok apply equally well to other apps including Facebook and its subsidiaries, or even Google, yet those applications are not banned.
The better approach would be to pass laws regarding people's personal data. Laws that restrict how it can be collected, generated, used, shared, and sold. In this way another application does not simply move in to fill the gap presented by the banning of TikTok.
As it stands we now have a list of applications approved and disapproved by our government - a dangerous situation in a 'free' society. While the banned app list is currently two - TikTok and WeChat - now that the door is opened the government could move forward to look at banning other applications or even websites. This is a dangerous move against the First Amendment to the Constitution. We are treading on free speech in the name of National Security yet we aren't going to be any more secure when these apps are banned. It's heavy-handed security theater.
The data collection and tracking that TikTok performs are worrying. The amount of personalized data that applications can collect and generate is concerning, including not just from a privacy position but also from a security standpoint. However, the route to dealing with this lies in the legal system. It is for Congress, or States, to pass laws governing this technology, not for the President to ban applications out of hand.