Ban or no ban, here’s why it might be a good idea to leave TikTok

TikTok’s future in the U.S. continues to be uncertain after legislation that required its parent company ByteDance to sell the app to American holders or be banned went into effect on January 18. ByteDance has not sold TikTok, and the app went temporarily dark. However, it’s back – for now – due to an executive order from President Trump delaying the ban for 75 days.

As we wait for more clarity on the legal and political battles over TikTok’s future, it’s a great moment to re-evaluate your relationship with the app. There are lots of reasons why you may decide to reduce your time on the app or even step away entirely, ranging from protecting personal security, to improving mental health, to saving money.

How can TikTok be bad for your personal security?

TikTok is known for its effective algorithm that keeps users scrolling through video after video. The power of TikTok’s algorithm to provide personalized content comes from the vast amount of data it gathers about who you are and how you interact with the app. 

TikTok tracks which videos users engage with and how long they do so. The privacy policy also enables the app to track the contents of direct messages, as well as your country location, internet address, and device type. And it requests your birthdate and email address or phone number to set up an account. With consent, the platform can also collect information like a users’ contacts. It also seems to estimate your household income, and knows how expensive the smartphone or laptop you’re scrolling on is.

We don’t really know exactly what TikTok is doing with all that data after it is collected. The platform’s privacy policy provides a list of how they use your information and who they share it with, but some of those categories are vague. For instance, TikTok says it shares some user information with third party platforms with whom they have a commercial relationship. It is not clear who all those third parties are or the extent to which your information is being shared with them.

Anytime a company is collecting your data, it has implications for your personal security.

The more data that companies collect, and the more other companies they share it with, the more likely it is that your personal information will end up in the hands of shadowy data brokers you’ve never heard of, or be exposed in a breach or a hack. This makes it more likely you or someone you love will be the victim of identity theft, financial fraud or hyper-targeted scams. Some information, like your birthdate, can be particularly risky if it gets passed around between companies. Or if you’ve given an app access to your entire contacts list, for example, all of those people’s contact information could end up exposed and for sale on the dark web.

While TikTok may have strong security measures to prevent against hacks, there is no guarantee that the third parties they share data with have the same levels of protection.

How can TikTok be bad for your mental health?

TikTok’s algorithm is both a major reason why the app is so popular and also why you may consider leaving it.

TikTok’s design can be addictive, with the average young adult spending an hour and a half a day on the app. You don’t  have to tell TikTok what your interests are for the app to figure it out and start serving you highly curated content.

A Wall Street Journal investigation found that with one data point – how long you watch a video – TikTok’s algorithm can quickly discover your personal interests. Even lingering for a second on a particular video can send you into a rabbit hole that is hard to escape. First the algorithm picks up on a general interest you have and shows you the most popular content with the most views and likes. When it eventually runs out of mainstream stuff, it reaches into more remote corners of the app to find you more. Out here, the TikToks have fewer views. They’re less likely to be vetted by the app’s moderation system. And they’re more likely to be dangerous.

The algorithm cares about serving you with content that is more likely to make you stay on the app longer, not necessarily content that is good for you in the long run. TikTok’s business model, like that of other social media platforms, is largely built on advertising revenue. And the longer you stay on the app, the more ads you can be shown.

For some users, the content that gets them to stay on the app can be actively harmful. As one of our former interns Lilly Miron wrote about her experience, “TikTok created a vortex of my hurts and amplified them until I couldn’t hear anything else.”

Lilly’s TikTok algorithm followed the problematic pattern described above of mainstream videos turning into a rabbit hole of extreme content. As a teenager, she started using TikTok for exercise tips while at home during COVID lockdown. But then her algorithm shifted – advice about exercising at home was layered in with videos about how to eat healthy, which then turned into videos about cutting calories. TikTok fed Lilly clips from young women her age advertising how little they could eat in a day or suggesting that if you’re hungry, just chew on some ice cubes. 

In June 2024, the U.S. Surgeon General called for warning labels to be added to social media platforms that state the mental health harms associated with social media use by adolescents.

Even if your time on TikTok doesn’t feel like it’s negatively affecting your emotional well-being, there’s always the question of if you’re spending your time the way you want to be, and if it’s keeping you from other things.

How can TikTok be bad for your wallet?

A big part of the app is advertising, be it for stuff in TikTok Shop or content from influencers who are getting paid to promote products. Being on the app means getting bombarded with these appeals every time you scroll through videos.

TikTok Shop is the app’s effort at being an ecommerce platform. Through TikTok Shop, users can buy items they see in a video without exiting the app, making it a lot easier to spend money on TikTok. By reducing the amount of time and the steps it takes to purchase a product, TikTok is making it as easy as possible for people to spend as much money as possible as fast as possible before their better judgment kicks in.

Because TikTok Shop earns the company direct revenue by taking a cut from every purchase, the company has every reason to show you as many ads as possible that will lead to an immediate purchase inside the app.

Whenever you’re on the app it doesn’t hurt to remember there’s a lot of effort expended to get you to buy something – be it the latest trends that stay current for all of 5 minutes or suspiciously cheap deals for products that aren’t designed to last. 

How can TikTok contribute to misinformation?

Misinformation is easy to come by on TikTok. A 2023 study from the University of Arizona found that approximately 40% of medical videos on TikTok contained medical misinformation. 

This issue affects young consumers more than anyone. Nearly 90% of teens and young adults on social media use it to seek out health information, making platforms like TikTok powerful hotspots for potentially dangerous and misleading content.

Some of the health content on TikTok focuses on the benefits of particular prescription drugs. These videos may be from influencers paid by pharmaceutical companies, but you probably won’t know it. While we have rules for prescription drug ads on TV – such as requiring a list of possible side effects and labeling when someone is a paid actor – those rules don’t apply on social media.

The FDA doesn’t regulate social media influencers promoting pharmaceutical products. This means social media influencers aren’t required to disclose if they’re being paid for content by pharma companies, aren’t required to include side effects and risks, and may promote drugs for off-label uses not approved by the FDA. 

Remember that the TikToks you see with medical advice or pushing a medication are from creators who don’t know you and may be getting paid for their content. Take medical content with a grain of salt. 

Lots of people find joy in TikTok. But – like all social media – the app comes with downsides. With the app’s future in question, now is as good a time as any to evaluate your relationship with it.

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