With the Supreme Court approving the TikTok ban, the U.S. is embracing the type of internet authoritarianism it long opposed.

Social media platform TikTok said it will be "forced to go dark" on Sunday unless the White House gives a "definitive" statement about its future, the company said in an announcement Friday night.

ByteDance has until January 19th to sell TikTok to a non-Chinese owner, or see the app banned in America. As the chances of a ban have grown, following the Supreme Court’s decision on January 17th to uphold a sell-or-ban law passed last year,

Creators are flocking to RedNote, a TikTok alternative, but tech experts caution users to think twice about data privacy, censorship, and potential manipulation on the app.

America was once seen as the home of the free internet. That era is now over.

Second, however, TikTok does present a danger. But it’s the same danger all the social media platforms present: they collect large amounts of personal data from users, including teens. (Some call TikTok's collection excessive.) But this is a story we’ve heard over and over.  They monetize invasive information for advertisers, no matter the danger.

Millions are turning to RedNote, a Chinese social media app, as its resemblance to TikTok appeals to users. But dig a little deeper, and the reality becomes far more insidious.

After nearly three hours of Supreme Court arguments Friday morning, Americans are one step closer to learning whether a TikTok ban will take effect in nine days.

TikTok isn’t the villain here. It’s a symptom of a much larger issue: the lack of clear, enforceable rules for data privacy and security. Instead of banning the app, the government should focus on fixing the system.

TikTok is on the chopping block in the US, and mainstream social media continues to suppress content that doesn’t support the bottom line of the company, so where do we turn online for access to freedom of expression.

If there’s one policy priority that the Biden administration will be remembered for — and that we should be glad to be putting behind us — it’s the censorship of dissenting speech online.