Just recently, the US House of Representatives passed a bill to force TikTok to divest from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, angering the Chinese Communist Party.
The House actually passed the bill twice.
China called the move a “bullying act that will backfire on the United States,” according to CNN.
The Senate also passed the bill, and President Joe Biden signed it into law.
There’s no denying that TikTok is a potential national security threat, and the company’s ability to mobilize an army of young people to lobby against the bill is a testament to the power it wields.
Do we really want to allow the Chinese Communist Party to control 170 million Americans?
TikTok likely played a role in fueling the anarchy seen recently on college campuses and in the streets of America, with #freepalestine reported to be one of the best-performing hashtags on TikTok.
Iran would be happy. I wouldn’t be surprised if they had something to do with this.
Newsweek reported that Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said, “What we have witnessed in recent days at American universities demonstrates the awakening of the international community and the world’s thinking on the Palestinian issue, as well as the depth of our people’s hatred for the crimes of the Zionist regime that seized power and the genocide supported by the United States and some European governments.”
It’s always nice to see the thoughts of young Americans align with Iranian propaganda.
Iran has built a network of terrorist cells that enjoy blowing up people and property, firing missiles at ships, and, in the case of Hamas, “mass rape, torture, the seizure and immolation of young children, beheadings and dismemberment alive,” according to Time magazine.
China is currently one of Iran’s most important backers, and the communist country has a strong interest in how information about Gaza and Israel is disseminated around the world, especially in the United States.
In truth, TikTok gives China the power to manipulate American public opinion on just about everything.
The original TikTok bill, a standalone bill, passed the House 362-65. The Democratic-led Senate took no action on the bill.
The House then passed a second bill, also by a one-sided vote, but this time it was attached to a bill providing military funding to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
If TikTok poses a significant threat to national security, why did Republicans need to force Senate Democrats to vote in favor of the bill?
Jamaal Bowman, a well-spoken and soon-to-be former Democratic congressman, was one of the few members of the House who voted against the bill. Bowman explained why he and other Democrats don’t want to interfere with Chinese apps, whatever the national security concerns.
Bowman argued that the majority of TikTok’s users are young people who might become disgruntled if the app was banned — and that’s exactly what TikTok is telling its users.
That’s not true, but many young people only get their news from TikTok, so they only know what TikTok tells them.
Bowman worries that even the perception of a ban could spark a backlash that could hurt Democrats. “What if younger voters stay home or vote Republican?” he warned.
In other words, if the politics are bad, national security concerns don’t matter.
Additionally, Bowman believes the move to ban TikTok is racist.
Fortunately, the senator lost to a more moderate opponent in the Democratic primary earlier this week, and Democrats appear to be starting to realize that progressives can be extremists, too.
But while Bowman may be too extreme to run for parliament, he would fit right in if he decided to return to his former role as a secondary school principal, where he would once again have the opportunity to influence children’s thinking and attitudes at a time when they are most impressionable.
That’s a comforting thought.
Progressive lawmakers are making the same mistake President Barack Obama made when he called ISIS a “JV team,” but China, like ISIS, is arguably a “national team” and they underestimate it at their own peril.
TikTok is suing the US to block the bill, asserting its First Amendment right to free speech. It’s pretty incredible that a Chinese company would sue for violating their right to free speech.
Perhaps we can make a deal with China where if they allow us to develop and operate our own version of TikTok in China, we will continue to allow them to operate TikTok in the United States.
In China, we would be allowed to post any kind of content we wanted on the site, just like TikTok does here, and the Communist Party would not stop Chinese citizens from accessing American apps whenever they wanted.
Of course, the United States could collect the same kind of data on Chinese citizens that China collects on the United States.
Do you think they would accept it?
It’s time for America to stop being the world’s sucker, and forcing TikTok to divest from its Chinese owners is a good first step.
Chris Roemer writes from Finksburg and can be reached at chrisroemer1960@gmail.com.
