TikTok Opponents, Activists Square Off Amid Efforts to Ban App Over Security Risks, CCP Ties

WASHINGTON: This week was significant for TikTok on Capitol Hill, with the Director giving a testimony that lasted more than five years and activists on both sides of the argument arguing in favor of or against the app’s ban in the US.

According to the organization, which is owned by ByteDance, there are 150 million Americans who use TikTok. The Chinese Communist Party is associated with ByteDance.

On March 23, protesters held a news conference outside the Capitol and urged Congress to outlaw the app, citing concerns about national protection as well as the negative effects on young people’s mental health.

Imagine 150 [ million ] Chinese spy devices in your home if one of them poses a serious enough threat to our nation that it necessitates military action, said Rep. Texas’ Troy Nehls( R ).

Nehls, who has three sons, criticized TikTok for giving American children” addictive and destructive videos ,” such as those that use its algorithm to teach them self-harm. The game was also referred to as a CCP monitoring tool by him.

The popular Twitter webpage Libs of TikTok is run by Chaya Raichik, who stated after the press conference that it aims to” highlight the far-left plan that’s coming after our children.” She blasted what she claimed were harmful effects on American children during the party.

” Our children are being groomed using a tool called TikTok.” Our kids are attacked every day in America. Animals are skulking around, trying to access your kids so they can be groomed, she claimed.

Raichik issued a warning that the LGBT organization is using the app to target children.

TikTok was created to draw in our young students. She added that stylists and animals are aware of this and are making use of it. TikTok has” become a pit for LGBTQ activists to target sons with advertising” over the past few years.

Robbie Starbuck, a liberal activist, bemoaned the app’s teaching of British kids to despise their own nation. He claimed that ByteDance has ban it rather than wholly divest it, as the Biden administration has been advocating.

” Everyone is aware that the password is tainted. This system is harmful, he claimed. ” China cannot be removed from the interior of this abhorrent product.”

TikTok celebrities” can always go to another game ,” said Kara Frederick, a mother and the producer of software plan at the conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation in Washington.

However, she claimed that Pennsylvanian mother, whose 10-year-old child unintentionally committed suicide while attempting the TikTok shutdown challenge, would never be able to regain her daughter. ” That girl who paid attention to social contagions … that TikTok’s algorithm supercharges … who can never have children because she used those drugs and trusted those influencers, she will never regain her fertility.”

TikTok should be outlawed nationwide, according to Rep. Mary Miller( R-Ill ), who stated that there is” a generation of children who are confused, depressed, and afraid.” It should not be permitted for the Chinese Communist Party to engage in mental war against our children and spy on their phones.

Reps. Jamaal Bowman( D – N ), however, Y. In an effort to stop Nehls, Miller, Raichik, and the other activists from advocating for TikTok’s ban, Mark Pocan( D-Wis. ) and Robert Garcia, D-California, teamed up with proponents of the app in a press conference held on March 22 outside the Capitol. The time to outlaw the game was opposed by the democratic members of Congress and influencers, who cited mental heath, a sense of place, and other issues.

Sometimes TikTok’s backers claim that the system offers excellent incomes.

” Are we going to value our kids?” rejected Miller.

Followers Scream” Xenophobia!”

Bowman nevertheless criticized the attempt to outlaw TikTok as a violation of free conversation. He also objected to what he claimed was TikTok being singled out, referring to it as” xenophobia.”

” Why the panic, the stress, and the TikTok targeting?” As is well known, Republicans in particular have raised the alarm and sparked a” Red Scare” in China. ” They’ve been doing it in a variety of ways when it comes to technology, semiconductor production, and economic market.”

Nehls referred to Bowman’s” xenophobia” brand as” crackers.”

Bowman seemed to dismiss TikTok’s threat to national security.

It poses roughly the same challenge as platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, he claimed. Therefore, get avoid marginalizing TikTok and focusing on it.

During the Q & A session, Bowman told The Epoch Times that while he, Pocan, Garcia, and a few TikTok influencers were concerned about China harming our country, we were actually hurting ourselves.

In order to deal with social media companies in terms of comfort and privacy issues, Bowman called for” extensive policy.”

The Epoch Times reported that Dan Salinger, who has 1.2 million TikTok followers, used the app to” got through COVID” and that” there is absolutely no substitute.” Without a doubt, there are numerous regional security and data information issues that need to be resolved. He requested that the game” pitch” the baby out with the bath water be banned. He also mentioned issues with complimentary conversation.

According to Statista, Facebook has more buyers than TikTok, which has just over a billion buyers, followed by YouTube( over 2.5 billion ), Instagram( 2 billion ).

Salinger responded,” They’re just completely different apps ,” when asked why he can’t use his talents on Instagram and YouTube.

Vitus Spehar, who has 2.9 million followers on his TikTok account UnderTheDeskNews, praised the game for” democratizing the conversation” in an interview with The Epoch Times.

Tim Martin, who discusses athletes with his more than 1 million subscribers, told The Epoch Times that his system gives him a sense of the sports place.

President Joe Biden passed a ban on TikTok on U.S. public products at the end of last year as part of signing the omnibus spending expenses.

In nearly half of the state, TikTok is prohibited on both government and federal devices. Numerous pieces of legislation have been introduced to outlaw TikTok across the country. Sen. Josh Hawley( R-Mo. ) introduced the No TikTok on United States Devices Act in January as one of the bills. That may suffice and forbid any business dealings with ByteDance. A companion bill was introduced in the House by Rep. Ken Buck( R-Colo ).

All American who have the game on their products are in danger because of TikTok. According to Hawley, it makes it possible for the Chinese Communist Party to use competitive data harvesting to gain access to Americans’ personal information, keys, and distance. To secure the American people, it should now be outlawed statewide.” Baning it on public computers was a step in the right direction.

Sens. introduced another broadside on March 7 called the Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology Act, also known as the RESTRICT Act. The bill does not specifically mention TikTok, but Mark Warner ( D-VA ) and John Thune( R-S. D. ) would permit the secretary of commerce to” review and prohibit certain transactions between persons in the United States and foreign adversaries, and for other purposes.”

China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela are the bill’s opponents. The act is supported by the White House.