TikTok a Chinese-based social media application, in the last five years has reached global success. It became the first non-American application to reach such massive popularity. This has sparked controversy in the US. Recent studies have highlighted the benefits and disadvantages of this social media app. This thesis goes further and explore the debate regarding a foreign social media, by analyzing the discussion surrounding TikTok in the US through the lens of securitization and riskification. Securitization is a theory developed by the Copenhagen’s school and the latter is a theory developed by Olaf Corry. Both have been adapted in this study to create a specific analytical framework. A case study coupled with a qualitative content analysis has been the method used to analyze political statements, news articles, and reports to be able to answer the research questions. This study finds that the political debate surrounding TikTok in the US presents more riskification’s elements than securitization’s ones. Specifically, the application has been considered more a risk than a threat to national security. The research paper concludes with a discussion and interpretation of the risk posed by the application, in which banning the application is not the solution but finding a more comprehensive legal framework for data privacy and security.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:umu-214460 |
| Date | January 2023 |
| Creators | Scatton, Stephanie |
| Publisher | Umeå universitet, Statsvetenskapliga institutionen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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