There are few things that can get both the American left and right as exercised as the idea that a foreign nation is perverting the minds of their young. When that country is China, the full force of the US political system weighs in. That has resulted in the unanimous approval of a bill that would stop internet service providers and app stores from offering TikTok to consumers, unless the social media firm’s Chinese parent ByteDance sells it within six months.
The Energy and Commerce Committee voted to approve the bipartisan legislation, known as the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, by 50-0. It is expected to go to a full House floor vote next week. While there are legitimate reasons to be concerned about the impact of a foreign-owned social media platform beloved by so many young Americans, it’s time for a little honesty and self-reflection. The US TikTok addiction isn’t just a Chinese problem. Homegrown tech has failed to keep up with the kind of innovation that Chinese firms have developed, and that’s why this app has become so popular. Forcing it to sever its mainland links will not solve that, especially as Beijing is unlikely to agree. It has already voiced strong opposition to the idea before.
The losers will be the users and creators of the app. The biggest winners? American platforms like Alphabet’s YouTube and Meta Platform’s Instagram that will no doubt see an influx of new signups from a content-hungry public.
If you’ve ever spent time on the platform, you will know how addictive TikTok is. It can wholly consume you. With 170 million users, at least one in three Americans access it for everything from beauty tips, fashion trends, consumer-electronic recommendations, recipes, financial advice and much much more. It is part of daily life and influences culture. There’s also an increasing amount of political and news content, with Pew research data showing a small but growing number of US adults are coming to the platform that way even as they reject news on other sites.
And that is what’s worrying American politicians. They say the Chinese-owned app is changing the narrative and influencing young minds, particularly on issues important to US politics — Gaza, Ukraine, Israel and of course China — causing trouble in a democracy. They also believe that TikTok has access to vast amounts of US data, whichit could potentially hand over to the Chinese government, allegations the platform has consistently denied. To help allay those fears, TikTok contracted Texas-based tech giant Oracle Corp. to handle its data traffic. All information on US users is stored locally, with a backup in Singapore where the social media company has its headquarters.
The reality is that all of these platforms collect data on us and hold huge sway over our hearts and minds; we give our power over to them the minute we switch on our phones and click on the icons. We live in their world, whether it’s TikTok or YouTube or Instagram, and they take over our ability to see the world in a clear-eyed, rational fashion. This is not exclusively a TikTok issue, but because it is so ubiquitous and more importantly Chinese-owned, it has become a target.
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This has happened before. Huawei Technologies Co, the Chinese wireless equipment maker, became a focus of concern that its technology was being used to spy on American companies during the Trump administration, a campaign that was so effective the company has practically quit the US market. Other countries started to limit Huawei’s infrastructure in their own networks, following Washington’s lead. In TikTok’s case, it was India that first banned it, while other nations have restricted its operations on national security grounds.
It is reasonable to have concerns about Chinese tech. The Communist Party under President Xi Jinping is controlling the private sector at home now more than ever. There’s also the fact that Google, Facebook and Instagram are all virtually inaccessible in China, so it is hypocritical for Beijing to complain. It will no doubt repeat that US attempts to hold China back with trade curbs have reached “bewildering levels of unfathomable absurdity,” in the words of Wang Yi, the foreign minister.
Still, it’s also worth asking why, with multibillion-dollar companies, Silicon Valley hasn’t come up with its own TikTok equivalent. Speaking to me in 2020, the former boss of Alphabet, Eric Schmidt, said that the US had “dropped the ball” on innovation, which is why China has been able to catch up. China is increasing its lead over the US in artificial intelligence patent filings, underscoring its prowess and determination to shape a technology that could have broad implications for the world’s richest economies. Rather than forcing it to cut ties from the Chinese parent, the US could explore other ways to regulate TikTok while still allowing American users access.
Ultimately, these questions will have to be put to lawmakers when they make their decision next week. Already, legions of TikTok fans are crying foul. They are only likely to get louder if the US goes for a complete ban of the platform. -- Bloomberg Opinion
