Representation of Tiktok in u.s. News After the No Tiktok on Government Devices Act

Bibliographic Data

ID23038545
AuthorsThị Minh Tâm Nguyễn (University of Languages and International Studies, corresponding author), Linh Phuong NGUYEN (0000-0002-8978-4782, University of Languages and International Studies, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume40
Issue4
Pages1-21
Publication date2024-08-31
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueVNU Journal of Foreign Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2525-2445 • E-ISSN: 2525-2445
PublisherVietnam National University of Languages and International Studies (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.63023/2525-2445/jfs.ulis.5336
OpenAlexW4402113710
LanguageEN
References cited16

TikTok, the most downloaded application in the world for three consecutive years since 2020, has been the target of various bans from governments and organisations. Despite widespread media coverage of such events, the representation of TikTok therein remains underexplored by linguists. This study therefore attempts to examine how TikTok is linguistically represented in U.S. television news after President Joe Biden signed the No TikTok on Government Devices Act into law. The Systemic Functional Linguistics, elaborated in Halliday and Matthiesen (2014), was employed as the analytical framework. The findings revealed that news coverage predominantly uses Material processes, followed by Relational processes. Mental and Verbal processes rank third and fourth, while Existential and Behavioural processes have rather low frequency. Regarding their subtypes, Identifying Relational and Cognitive Mental processes are more prevalent in negative representations, while Attributive Relational and Emotive Mental processes occur more often in positive representations. These transitivity patterns contribute to five main portrayals of TikTok, including “TikTok is a scrutiny and ban target”, “TikTok is a cybersecurity threat”, “TikTok is the Trojan horse of the Chinese Communist Party”, “TikTok is a must-have for many”, and “TikTok is a sales driving force”.

Business · Government (linguistics) · Internet privacy · Linguistics · Political science · Politics · Representation (politics) · Computer Science · Digital Media and Philosophy · Educational Methods and Impacts · Islamic Finance and Communication · Law · Philosophy

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