Are you in need of some industrial-grade glycine? You will need to get yourself down to Donghua Jinlong. Their glycine is simply the best in the market.

Of course, it is not very likely that you are interested in buying glycine, an amino acidAmino acids combine to form proteins.  that our bodies use to build proteinLarge biomolecules made of up amino acids, which in turn are made up of DNA.. But after ads by Chinese glycine manufacturing company Donghua Jinlong went viral on TikTok this month, it became one of the platform's biggest memes.¹

It is also one of the things worrying US politicians about TikTok. They think the app is influencing American teenagers' perception of China in subtleSo delicate it is difficult to describe. Or doing something in a clever and indirect way. ways.

They also fear that TikTok parent companyA company that owns or controls another company. ByteDance, which is based in Beijing, will hand data on its American users to the Chinese government, although the company denies this.

Which is why, on Tuesday, CongressThe legislative branch of the American government, where elected representatives vote on which laws should be passed. Congress is made up of two chambers: the Senate, which contains two members from each of the 50 states, and the House of Representatives, which has representatives from 435 smaller districts. passed a bill that would ban TikTok unless ByteDance sells to another company within one year.

It is not certain that the decision will get through the courts. Forcing ByteDance to sell might be a violation of the free speech rights of its users.²

And it could be unpopular. Some 170 million Americans use the app, around half the population.³ Surveys show 41% of younger Americans are opposed to a ban.⁴

But US leader Joe Biden thinks it is worth it. And some UK politicians think it is high time the country introduced its own ban.

They fear China could use the app to spread messages to the young people that make up a disproportionate part of its user base.

But others say this is pure paranoiaThe belief, often with no solid basis, that you are being harassed, betrayed or persecuted by others. . It just makes it look like politicians do not trust young people to form their own opinions on important questions.

Moreover, CCP propaganda is famously heavy-handedOverly forceful or awkward. . If the country starts flooding people's feeds with it, they will simply lose interest in the app.

Would this be a good idea?

Yes: TikTok is an asset of a foreign government, one that looks increasingly hostile towards Britain's interests. Banning it would make space for UK companies to develop their own alternatives.

No: This is a moral panic fuelled by older people's refusal to accept that young people can think for themselves. Free speech means letting people see whatever content they like on whatever platform they like.

Or... Rather than Chinese interference we should be worried about the addictiveness of TikTok. The app works like a slot machine, keeping its users on it for hours and hours, their time draining away.