The American government is considering changing the way the social media app Tik Tok works in the USA. The Congress has passed legislation which would require Tik Tok’s parent company, Bytedance (A Chinese company with substantial board representation by the Chinese Communist Party), to sell Tik Tok to a suitable buyer. It still needs to pass the Senate and get the President’s signature.
What is interesting is that Tik Tok is not available in China, and the alternative being offered in China has substantial guard rails which promotes educational content for children, and only allows children under 14 to access it for 40 minutes a day, and not after 10 p.m. In the west, there are no limits on access to Tik Tok by children,
In addition, the Chinese government requires all Chinese companies to provide access to their databases, whenever requested, which would give the CCP the ability of accessing hundreds of millions of people’s information in the west
Finally, users of Tik Tok can’t help notice the creeping Chinese propaganda now appearing when they watch. From videos on pastoral rural life in China to their economic growth or their infrastructure marvels, Tik Tok is openly being used to promote Chinese interests.
The opponents of a forced sale to non-Chinese buyers, or a banning of Tik Tok, point out that platforms like Twitter (now X), Facebook, YouTube, or Google, do much the same things that Tik Tok is doing. Banning Tik Tok would benefit these incumbent rivals who are notoriously censoring content already. Also, there is no concrete proof that the CCP is using Tik Tok to spy on people in the USA or other western countries.
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