8 Viral Videos To Show Your Representatives Why TikTok Shouldn't (Or Should) Be Banned In The U.S.

The days of TikTok, the app you either hate to love or love to hate, may be numbered. The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill that would require TikTok to either sell its American operations to an American company or leave the American market. The bill still needs to be passed by the Senate and signed by President Joe Biden before it becomes law, but if it does, then it will be up to TikTok whether it sells or lets itself get banned.

The news of a possible TikTok ban has reached other social platforms, such as X / Twitter, where viral posts about what videos might just be good enough to save TikTok are spreading among users.

These posts, if shown to the people voting on a potential ban of TikTok, might just prove through their meme value why the Chinese-run social media app deserves a place in our hearts and our markets. Alternatively, they might be proof of why it is imperative that the government neutralize this threat for the sake of public safety. Either way, they're fun to watch.

Dreams and Cranberry Juice

This video's 93 million views outnumber the population of some countries. It was, as the X user who shared it said, a "cultural touchstone." The blissful, unbothered freedom of skateboarding down the highway while grooving to Fleetwood Mac and chugging cranberry juice is something the rest of us can only aspire to, but which @420doggface208 exemplifies.

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/6876424179084709126

The Two Cows Video

"Two Cows," a video from May of 2023, stars creator @EdbieLigerSmith, a Gen Z political commentator, who turns a common argument about different economic systems on its head. It's part of a legendary TikTok genre: people yapping about capitalism with the green screen effect turned on.

The two cows video https://t.co/A3bQpaxvs2 pic.twitter.com/vZDL4xPB9Q

— Liger (@EdbieLigerSmith) March 14, 2024

Twelve Inches

TikTok is famous as a place for educational content, which is why many people value it. This video, by Cera Gibson, from March of 2023, earned over 6.3 million likes on TikTok. It informed men in particular of a misconception around a subject near and dear to the hearts of many.

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7213811648920964395

Girlfriend Hostage Situation

The user-generated TikTok collage that was made from this 2021 video is possibly one of the most artistically innovative posts of the 21st. A man talking to camera with an apparently uncomfortable girlfriend spiraled out into a drama of epic proportions as more and more TikTokers cast themselves in different parts. Using the duet feature, users added new elements to the story and escalated the situation.

There was nothing more beautiful than a group of strangers coming together to produce this entire cinematic storyline: https://t.co/81msZhf0s9 pic.twitter.com/0Ot0npEMYN

— Ultima Real (@UltimaShadowX) March 12, 2024

The Truth About The Pyramids

TikTok is infamous as a place where conspiracy theories can spread. One of the most famous of all time has to do with how the pyramids were really built. Corey Pech's 2021 skit starring a demanding pharaoh and an obedient scribe is one of the most elegant illustrations of the ancient astronaut theory.

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7043175943904513286

Shmungus

TikTok birthed many strains of absurdist humor, but perhaps the most memorable is the Shmungus lore and Shmungus category on Netflix. Often, falling down an internet rabbit hole can feel like entering an alternate reality, and this TikTok is all about that feeling.

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7206978776201317637

Opossum

Sometimes, an image and a striking TikTok sound are worth a thousand words. Or a million words. That's certainly the case with this video, which turns a funny story that a person might tell to their friends into a fever dream shared by millions scrolling their phones all around the world.

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7278382081703415073

An Ancient Man

The genre of "man on the street" interviews is very common on TikTok. Influencers jam a microphone in the face of random civilians and ask some kind of question. But what's less common is an interviewee as brilliant and savvy as the woman who wants an ancient man, giving an answer that flipped the entire genre on its head. "What do women want?" is an eternal question, and while TikTok has certainly provided more data than ever on this, it has brought us no closer to answering it.

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7121997112887315758