Senator Ted Cruz commented on legislation that would ban TikTok in the US unless its parent company ByteDance sells it.
Cruz cited concerns from intelligence agencies about TikTok posing national security risks through potential espionage, surveillance and propaganda by the Chinese Communist Party.
“Roughly 170 million Americans use TikTok,” he said. “The Chinese Communist government has operational control of TikTok.”
He noted TikTok suppresses hashtags related to sensitive topics in China.
Cruz also warned of risks like promoting self-harm or anti-US propaganda to American users, especially children.
“It has the ability to engage in espionage and surveillance of what people are saying, where they are physically on their phones, what they’re doing on their phones,” Cruz added. “I think that is a profound threat to the privacy of American.”
“TikTok is being used as a vehicle for the Chinese Communist Party to push propaganda, to push its own political agenda — pushing propaganda that benefits China,” Cruz said.
He expressed support for the legislation and its goal of forcing China to divest control of TikTok and transfer it to an American company, saying this would benefit users by removing the app from CCP influence.
While noting the Senate may amend the bill, Cruz said addressing the threat TikTok poses is important.
“There’s an academic study that compared hashtags trending on Instagram vs. TikTok, and hashtags such as, ‘Free Tibet’ or ‘Tiananmen Square’ trended much more on Instagram than TikTok. The most stunning was the hashtag ‘Hong Kong protests,’ which trended 175 times more on Instagram than it did on TikTok. And the only rationale explanation for that is the Chinese communist government deliberately suppressing that speech.”
“We also have very real concerns about the Chinese communist government using TikTok to push pro-Hamas propaganda, to push Osama bin Laden and anti-America propaganda — and to push self harm, to push really destructive materials to our kids,” he said.
“So, I’m glad the House acted,” Cruz said. “I think China needs to sell TikTok.”
“I think TikTok needs to be an American company, controlled by Americans, and not communist China,” Cruz added.
“It passed out of the Energy and Commerce Committee, 50 to nothing, so every single member of the committee voted for it,” Cruz said. It is “now in the Senate.”
“My committee, the Senate Commerce Committee, has jurisdiction over it,” Cruz said.
“I can’t say the exact bill that passed the House is likely to pass [the Senate],” Cruz said. “But I’m glad the House acted to address what I think is a very serious threat.”
“What it is about is forcing China to divest, getting TikTok out of control of the Chinese Communist Party, getting it in the hands of an American company, getting it in the hands of anyone other than China or an enemy of America,” Cruz said.
“I think it is very important, and will benefit the users of TikTok and everyone else, too,” he added.
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