Lori Falce: Is it too late to limit TikTok?

It seemed so innocent at first.

I downloaded an app. It was the thing all the kids were using, and it was raising a lot of questions in parenting circles. Was it OK for tweens? Was it dangerous? Should it be limited? Should it be nixed entirely?

I’m not a mom who is generally skittish about technology. My son has had a cellphone since — well, I’m a little embarrassed to say how young he was when he got his first phone. I was 29 when I got mine, so it’s a bit galling. He has more technology in his backpack than NASA did when it sent a man into space.

TikTok seemed different. There were concerns about bullying. About sexual content. About putting every high school boogeyman into a middle schooler’s device and letting all that vitriol pour into a tender psyche.

So I downloaded it. I quickly found the problem. It was like heroin. So addicting. For me.

I had been able to avoid the siren song of Instagram and had little interest in Snapchat. I barely use Twitter — mostly just for work. Facebook? Yes, but I spend my time there with people I already know.

But on TikTok, I immediately fell down rabbit holes that were pulled from what I already liked. Nostalgic music from my high school days. Cooking videos like this British chef obsessed with the perfect potato. The frustrated theater kid in me found other frustrated (and old) theater kids making their own content.

Did I need to worry about my son? I did not. I let him download it right around the same time the girls in his school were doing spontaneous TikTok dance trends at the drop of a hat. He quickly pronounced it lame and retreated to his YouTube gaming videos. But for me, it was — is — too late.

And so I am watching the uproar over TikTok in Congress and other halls of power with interest. I know exactly what Congress is thinking as they bring the company’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. I’ve been there.

They have heard things. The app is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, and there are concerns about security of devices and data. Many branches of government and other organizations have banned TikTok from official phones. They are worried about this trend getting out of control — and probably more than a little worried about the political implications after users have mobilized responses and protests through it.

There are legitimate red flags when looking at the relationship between Byte­Dance and the Chinese government. The government should be looking at the app like any good parent trying to mitigate problems.

But it’s probably too late.

The same questions should have been raised with other domestic social media companies that have been allowed to run rampant with little oversight. Focusing on TikTok, despite excellent reasons, can look a lot like me worrying about my son’s computer history but ignoring what he can do with his phone.

TikTok should be monitored and regulated and kept in check to hold both the company and the users accountable for what is proving to be an increasingly powerful tool. But so should Meta and Twitter and the next ground-shaking app that hasn’t been discovered or even invented yet.