The debate on banning the overwhelmingly popular video-sharing app TikTok has been raging globally over the last three years, due to security concerns that its parent company, ByteDance could pass on confidential user data to the Chinese government.

But Samoans, like other Pacific islanders, are unperturbed by the security concerns and have embraced and signed up to the app in their thousands. From a group of teens whipping up a dance pattern in their talo (taro) plantations in the foothills of Aleipata to their cousins in Māngere, Auckland taking on the challenge, Samoa’s TikTok users are moving with the groove and appear disinterested in the worries expressed by lawmakers and regulators in the west.

They would probably be asking whether this is their fight as more reports come in on legislators in the United States, Europe, Canada, and now New Zealand upping the ante to restrict access to the social media platform.

An article (Kiwis ban TikTok, Samoa ponders) in yesterday’s edition of the Weekend Observer reported on the New Zealand parliament banning the app from all parliamentary devices. Members of Parliament in Aotearoa have been advised that the app will be banned from all their devices by 31 March 2023.

The move by the New Zealand parliament has not gone unnoticed with Lefaoalii Auelua Fonoti, the C.E.O. of Samoa’s Ministry of Communication, Information and Technology (MCIT) telling this newspaper that the matter is also a priority for her Ministry.

"This is one of the million priorities to me and our Ministry and all these issues including this one are very important issues to address urgently," she said.

So what are the implications for Samoa if it goes ahead and bans the use of the app and if there is a ban will it target a selected group of citizens?

In America, there are concerns about the impact of the ban on TikTok on “free expression in the digital sphere”. On 23 March 2023 member organisations of PEN America – a nonprofit organisation that defends and celebrates free expression in the U.S. and the world – wrote to Members of the U.S. Congress expressing opposition to federal law that would impose a ban on TikTok.

“If passed by Congress and enacted into law, a nationwide ban on TikTok would have serious ramifications for free expression in the digital sphere, infringing on Americans’ First Amendment rights and setting a potent and worrying precedent in a time of increased censorship of internet users around the world.”

We believe there are similar ramifications for Samoa if the recommendations from the MCIT to the Cabinet and ultimately the Legislative Assembly take a similar path.

In Samoa, the right of free speech is guaranteed to all citizens under Article 13(1)(a) of Samoa’s Constitution. As a signatory to the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (Article 19) and the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (Articles 19 (1) and (2)), Samoa is also obligated under international law to guarantee the right to free speech.

Interestingly, members of PEN America are not pushing for a full ban on TikTok by the U.S. Congress, but are rather asking the Members of the Congress to consider “more effective and rights-respecting solutions” rather than an outright ban that deny users access to the platform.

Samoa’s MCIT might want to take its cue from the U.S. by monitoring the work of PEN America in this space – to avoid formulating draconian policies that could also have long-term consequences for other popular social media platforms such as Facebook.

This country has been down that road before when the former Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) Administration contemplated a complete ban on Facebook after several Samoan public officials came under criticism from anonymous users of the social media platform.

Interestingly – at the height of the discussions on the former Administration’s attempts to ban Facebook in 2020 – the Attorney General’s Office in a research memo to the Office of the Prime Minister at that time recommended against the ban.

"The key difficulty in imposing a ban on [Facebook] is overcoming potentially significant community disagreement to such [a] ban, given the potential that such measure impinges on constitutional rights," read the July 2020 research memo.

"[These include] freedom of expression/speech; media freedom) and general principles of democracy (which attracts international obligations)."

We believe a ban on TikTok in Samoa will also impinge on the constitutional rights of Samoan citizens, as it would hinder their ability to express themselves using a digital platform. The Government through MCIT should thread with care on this one. 

If the Ministry has been tasked to study the proposal and look at various other options for the Government’s consideration, the people deserve to know fully what are the security implications for the average citizen, and whether doing the Siva Tau (Samoan war dance) on TikTok watched by a Chinese agent in Beijing would be considered a national security threat to this Polynesian nation.