Police are connecting with youth on TikTok—a ban would erase useful tool

A bipartisan group of lawmakers on Tuesday introduced legislation that would ban TikTok in the United States.

While such a ban on the short-form video hosting app would stand to upset millions of young fans, it would also disrupt an unlikely group of TikTok users: police departments.

The new bill was introduced by Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, Republican Representative Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin and Democratic Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois. If passed, the legislation would ban “all transactions from any social media company in, or under the influence of, China, Russia, and several other foreign countries of concern,” according to a press release.

The bill came after years of concern that the government of China could gain access to TikTok user data. But TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, has maintained that U.S. user data is safely stored outside of China and not available to Chinese officials.

Despite such security concerns, TikTok has become a valuable tool used by police departments across the country. The app has proved popular among law enforcement agencies for a variety of reasons. One of the most important uses for TikTok by police is community outreach, especially to Gen Z, while another is rapid delivery of emergency messages.

“Police have used social media to ‘humanize’ themselves,” Johnny Nhan, associate dean and professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at Texas Christian University, told Newsweek.

Nhan added, “For example, Fort Worth Police saw a spike when a Star Wars-themed recruitment video went viral. Police departments have also used social media in fun ways to connect with the community with virtual ride-alongs, etc.”

Among the most popular TikTok accounts from a police agency is one from the Norfolk Police Department in Virginia. Sergeant William Pickering Jr. of the force told Newsweek that such platforms have shed light on officers’ daily service to their neighborhoods.

“Social media platforms such as TikTok have allowed police departments from all over the world to share a glimpse into the lives of the men and women who work hard and risk everything to serve their communities,” Pickering wrote in an email.

Lee County Sheriff’s Office in Florida also enjoys a robust TikTok following. Sheriff Carmine Marceno of Lee also told Newsweek of the importance of TikTok in reaching out to the local community.

“Utilizing the TikTok application, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office has amassed a substantial following,” Marceno said in an email. “I believe in being transparent in all aspects of shared information, which is molded to benefit the users of the respective platform. TikTok has proven valuable to reach multiple demographics, much like the other social media outlets we use.”

One thing that spokespeople from police departments have made clear is that they will follow the rule of law if a ban goes into effect.

“If Congress determines TikTok to be a threat to national security, we will support their decision and encourage our TikTok followers to follow us on our other social media platforms where we post similar content,” Pickering said.

Nhan said police departments already mainly use Twitter for emergency services information, so a move from TikTok for such messaging wouldn’t be an issue. Echoing the stance of Pickering, he said departments would soon turn to other social media platforms.

“There’s just so much redundancy. They [police departments] will post the same thing on Twitter. They’ll post the same thing on Facebook. They’ll just put it out on Instagram,” Nhan said.

Nancy Perry, editor-in-chief of the law enforcement online resource Police1, told Newsweek that law agencies may feel the effects of a TikTok ban in another way.

“TikTok has been an important tool for departments to showcase what it means to be a police officer, all the different job functions, and we’ve seen a lot of really great recruitment videos on TikTok,” she said, noting that recruitment continues to be a large problem for departments.

Overall, though, Perry doesn’t see a major impact from a ban.

“I think it’s important to realize that heavy police departments who have really good social media accounts have never put all their eggs in one basket,” Perry said. “They’ve always had a presence on different platforms.”

Newsweek has reached out to TikTok for comment.