November 30, 2023
That was representative Mike Gallagher who is the chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese communist party. You may have missed it but tonight the committee held a hearing about China and its influence over you – mostly through its propaganda arm. One of the biggest vehicles for that propaganda – according to these US lawmakers….is TikTok.
Yes – here we go again. With this idea from lawmakers about eliminated TikTok from the United States.
The hearing focused on what the committee says is China’s main goal – “discourse power.” Committee member say that’s the term the CCP uses to describe their strategy to shape your opinions on the world by pushing inflammatory or fake information. Lawmakers said in the information war, China has been on the offense and the United States has been playing defense.
The fact is — companies based in China whether they’re private or not are basically controlled by the Chinese government. The committee members say your personal data is at risk – but more dangerous – your opinions are at risk. Because the TikTok algorithm is so powerful that maybe your opinions can be swayed.
But the same witness admits he doesn’t have all the data to make a definitive statement yet.
It’s important to understand the witnesses and the committee members weren’t only focused on China’s so called propaganda on TikTok, but also on Chinese propaganda that they say has infiltrated organizations like the NBA and Amazon and all of our social media platforms including WeChat and X formerly known as Twitter now that Elon Musk has taken over.
The witnesses encouraged the lawmakers to come up with laws that force all social media companies that operate in the united to be transparent with their operations and how they’re collecting data. So far – there are no bills currently in the queue that would do any such thing.
Watch the hearing here.
