TikTok Under Scrutiny: Why the US Government is Concerned About Its Rise to Fame
Greetings, my esteemed readers. It's been a while since my last post, and there have been some significant developments worth discussing. Japan has once again claimed their baseball dominance, while Credit Suisse received a bailout and acquisition.
However, I want to draw your attention to a highly anticipated hearing that took place last week in the US House Energy and Commerce Committee. The hearing focused on the popular social media platform, TikTok, and its impact on user privacy, negative online influence on youth, and national security.
The Root Cause of the Hearing
While there are legitimate concerns surrounding TikTok, it's important to note that the root cause of this hearing is largely driven by the rising power of China, which challenges the US's dominance in the technology and media industry.
Some argue that other platforms like Twitter, Meta, and Google have similar negative influences on the internet, and it's unfair for the House of Representatives to put Mr. Chew on the hot seat. However, it's not the first time politicians have grilled the CEO of an industry leader. The committee has good reasons to scrutinize TikTok, but unfortunately, the lack of fluency in emerging technology among some congress members hindered their ability to fulfill their duties effectively.
Similarities with Chinese Regulations
China has long implemented its own regulations and rules to ban and prevent all foreign media influence since the early 2000s. Essentially, the TikTok hearing is a democratic version of what China has done, and it's the first step in the United States' efforts to restrict Chinese influence on its media and information technology sectors. This move is similar to imposing sanctions or other business tariffs/regulations on Chinese entities, and this has happened repeatedly in human history, usually before two major world powers go into full-on war.
Why TikTok is a National Security Concern
The parent company of TikTok, ByteDance, is a Chinese entity. Based on the business climate and political influence in China, ByteDance is extremely vulnerable to manipulation/exploitation by the CCP. This vulnerability poses a real problem for the US government, as an information technology company registered and operating in mainland China, ByteDance legally has to turn over data or cooperate with Chinese law enforcement upon request. While ByteDance claims that US data is stored within the US, there is not enough evidence to show that they have fully separated the backend infrastructure and their engineering team between DouYing and TikTok.
The Takeaway
To be clear, I don't think the US legislators want to ban TikTok. On the contrary, they want TikTok to pick a side and pledge loyalty to the US rather than China. My impression of Mr. Chew is that he is a mature businessman who was not well-prepared by his lobbying team for the hearing. Unlike what many of the congress(wo)men suggested, I don't think he intentionally tried to manipulate the outlook of the hearing. If he had, he could have easily used private information and data that otherwise cannot be fact-checked when being questioned about problematic content on the platform. However, he did deliberately change the concept of the organization structure and incorporation of TikTok. But we can argue that Meta and Alphabet have both done the same.
In conclusion, the TikTok hearing is a significant event that highlights the growing concern about the impact of foreign entities on US national security. While there are legitimate concerns about TikTok, it's important to note that this hearing is just the beginning of the US's efforts to restrict Chinese influence on its media and information technology sectors. Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts on this issue.