VIEWPOINT | TikTok delenda est

Op-ed by Erick Erickson

TikTok is an app for sharing short videos that keep people entertained. It is how more and more Gen Z kids get their news and information. It is also a massive Chinese surveillance application. Though TikTok claims to be headquartered in Singapore, its parent company ByteDance is a Chinese company ultimately controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.

ByteDance has given the Chinese government access to its servers and systems. It has shared its algorithm with the Chinese government and has, in at least one documented case, allowed the Chinese government to spy on journalists through its system. ByteDance has also structured TikTok to share disinformation and propaganda. The Wall Street Journal recently reported one data scientist found TikTok showed pro-Palestinian videos to its audience at a rate of 69 for every single pro-Israel video. TikTok has also notoriously been a platform used to indoctrinate kids into transgenderism.