Poll shows teens would give up right to vote to keep social media
Staff writer at the Federalist Evita Duffy-Alfonso on the strong value young people have for social media
Social media continues to be a strong value for young adults as a new survey reveals a majority of teenage TikTok users would give up the right to vote in order to keep access to the popular video-sharing app.
The Reboot Foundation found 59% of young adults with TikTok accounts said that if forced to choose between their social media or voting rights for one year, they would give up the latter.
Among teens, the rates of voluntary disenfranchisement were even higher: 64% of those aged 13 to 17 said they would give up their vote to keep social content flowing.
The TikTok logo on a smartphone arranged in the Brooklyn borough of New York, US, on Thursday, March 9, 2023. The US is moving closer to restricting access to the popular video-sharing app TikTok, with Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner set to unveil a bill Tuesday that the Biden administration is poised to support, according to people familiar with the issue. (Photographer: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
"Social media is designed purposely to be addicting specifically for young people," Federalist staff writer Evita Duffy-Alfonso told "Fox & Friends First" Tuesday.
"It makes perfect sense why they would say, I'm going to take I'm going to keep my TikTok, which is like heroin to young people, versus keep my voting rights. I think it's a great example of why we should not be lowering the voting age, which Democrats have been pushing for years now."
The findings come as former CEO and current Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy revealed plans to announce a constitutional amendment to raise the voting age from 18 to 25, unless a person serves the nation in the military or as a first responder or can pass the civics test immigrants take when becoming citizens.
Ramaswamy defended his stance saying, "We want to restore civic duty in the mindset of the next generation of Americans. And how we want to do it is to say that, if you want to vote as an 18-year-old, between the ages of 18 and 25, you need to either do your civic duty through service to the country — that’s six months of service in either military service or as a first responder, police, fire or otherwise — or else you have to pass the same civics test an immigrant has to pass in order to become a naturalized citizen who can vote in this country."
"At age 25, that falls away," he added.
TIKTOK’S DARK SIDE: WHY IT’S MORE THAN JUST A FUN APP AND YOU NEED TO REMOVE IT
Ramaswamy said he believes the amendment will drum up civic engagement in America and lead to a more informed population of voters.
"I think you should vote if you are informed and someone really thinking about the issues and the politicians," Duffy-Alfonso said. "I don't think we should encourage young people to be casting ballots that they aren't really being thoughtful about."
"I think having a civics test before you are able to cast a ballot would be a great way to vet out some of these people who clearly don't value the vote."
Concern surrounding Chinese surveillance programs and intelligence gathering through the social media platform have grown in recent years, particularly as the TikTok continues to grow in popularity among Americans.
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Republican leaders in Congress’ top financial committees are pushing President Biden to force the implementation of a 2020 national security order that would force the sale of all U.S. assets belonging to Chinese TikTok stake holders to a U.S. company, according to a letter exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital.
The 2020 national security finding by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) found that TikTok poses a direct national security risk after it was revealed that data collected on Americans such as email addresses, phone numbers and personal contact information was being shared with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Fox News' Houston Keene and Caitlin McFall contributed to this report.
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