From the ACLU, this is at Liberty. I'm Kendall Seasmeyer, your host.

The social media platform TikTok has had a meteoric rise. The app has become a hub for educators,

activists, and creatives to influence all aspects of culture.

From launching dance trends, catapulting decades-old books onto bestseller lists,

to educating voters and organizing changemakers,

TikTok has become key to how over 150 million users across the United States create, engage, and learn.

But a new movement has risen to ban the app. Owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, lawmakers

at the state and federal level are growing concerned over the prospect of American users' data

becoming accessible to the

Chinese government. While data privacy is a concern across all social media apps, the singling out

of TikTok points to an anti-Asian sentiment that is simply racist. What's more, the banning of a social

media app in general would be a dangerous act

of censorship on the free speech of so many Americans. Today, we'll hear from three TikTok creators

about what brought them to TikTok and why the platform has become a nexus of organizing,

education, and entertainment for young Americans.

Then, Ashley Gorski, senior staff attorney at the ACLU's National Security Project, will help us unpack the bans.

Jamira Burley has been an organizer since she was very young, leading anti-violence movements and racial justice efforts since she was in high school. She's worked at the United Nations and at Amnesty International and continues to use her voice as a human rights activist

and social impact strategist. She originally turned to TikTok as a user. When I joined the platform,

maybe about a year ago, I was just an observer. I just wanted to see what folks were saying

and how they were utilizing the app.

What were the issues they were talking about?

And I started slowly making videos about six months ago because I did think that there were things left out of the conversation.

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