The fact that TikTok launched a massive blitz among its 170 million American users to halt enactment of legislation emerging from the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party is proof that China has no qualms about seeking to influence American decision-making. TikTok actively misled its users by saying the legislation would prevent them from ever using TikTok. That was an overt lie because the legislation demands that TikTok separate itself from its Chinese owner, ByteDance, which is clearly a tool of the Chinese Communist Party. Its CEO is a party member. The legislation does not shut TikTok down. It demands a change in ownership.
The august New York Times late last year chronicled how TikTok is having an impact on the perceptions of younger Americans regarding Joe Biden. See it here. TikTok seems to be amplifying discussions about access to affordable housing, student loans, and jobs, in effect persuading younger people that Biden’s economic policies have been a failure, which they have not been. This is a form of cognitive warfare and the Chinese are masters of it.
I personally don’t think that a sale of TikTok is possible because the Chinese government won’t allow it. And even if there is a change in ownership, the Chinese will maintain a backdoor into TikTok. The right thing to do is to simply shut it down. Pull the plug. Let Americans flock to the many other social media platforms that are available. It’s ridiculous to argue as the ACLU is arguing, that doing so would interfere with freedom of speech. It’s not free speech. It’s manipulated speech.
