1y ago

China could use TikTok to influence US elections, spy chief says

www.theguardian.com

New York police used stun gun on migrant holding toddler, video shows

The US House of Representatives is due to vote on a bill giving Chinese owner ByteDance about six months to sell that part of its business

China could use social media app TikTok to influence the 2024 US elections, the director of national intelligence, Avril Haines, has told a House of Representatives intelligence committee hearing.

Asked by Democratic Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi if China’s ruling Communist party (CCP) would use TikTok to influence the elections, Haines said “we cannot rule out that the CCP would use it”.

Lawmakers have long voiced concerns that the Chinese government could access user data or influence what people see on the app, including pushing content to stoke US political divisions.

48 comments

Why only TikTok? Every social media company does the exact same thing.
- This is true. Cambridge Analytica wasn't that long ago, either.
  
  Right? The algorithms are all designed to stoke outrage. Why don't we do something like the EU and pass legislation that applies to all social media companies, not just demonize certain ones. What am I missing here?
- Oh...so it's ok if a US company pushes political division, but if it's a foreign company then it's an issue?
  
  Facebook, Twitter and Google are at least as obedient to the whims of the fascist Netanyahu and Modi governments (not to mention the parts of the US government that routinely violate the rights of its own citizens and people from all other countries) as Tiktok is to the Faux-Socialist totalitarian regime of China.
  
  Oh lmao you weren't just posting this to make fun of the headline???
- Because China and trade war.
- America does not want non-Americans to be successful.
- My guess is that they suspect that TikTok, unlike Twitter, will not help Trump.
  
  Trump has now signaled he is against banning TikTok, so I expect any attempts to do so will fail in the House after all of his followers in Congress suddenly U-turn on their earlier stance.
  The MAGA crowd is likely now going to spin this as an attempt by Biden to stifle the free market and control the messaging during the election.
So instead we force them to sell so that some American billionaires can use it to influence elections?
- That is the end goal, yes.
China, Russia, North Korea, Israel, Mark Zuckerberg, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and on and on and on... are using ALL social media (especially American social media) to influence EVERY American election for the past several years.
If it took you until now to realize that, it's way too late.
Oh no. Only wealthy americans are allowed to control their elections.
- Better wealthy citizens than a hostile foreign government.
  
  Do you think that wealthy citizens can't be bought off by hostile foreign governments? Neither is better - we need actual regulation rather than worrying about a single company.
The same way that Russia used Twitter and meta properties to interfere in the last few elections? And the way they will inevitably do it again in this coming election?
US legislators are incompetent and blatantly dishonest about their intentions once again.
Is America not doing the same globally with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others?
- Hell, we already know China used Facebook to do this during the last American midterms (and has purchased all sorts of data from FB), but since they have an older user base that lawmakers figure is more likely to vote than TikTok-ers it's not getting singled out for this special treatment
  e; specified which midterms I was talking about
  
  I'm more worried about American propaganda. America is known for supporting coups in my country.
China could use TikTok to influence US elections, spy chief says
Also at 11: Rupert Murdoch could use Fox News the same way.
So.... Just like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube? Ok
So when are those getting banned?
- When the CCP takes control of them.
  
  I've got bad news for you, the CCP is happy to use American social media to manipulate the populous, it doesn't matter if it's US owned or not.
They are crying because they can't control narratives on the app.
Breaking news:
TV in America could be maliciously used to influence US elections.
BAN TV in America!!!
- But first, Sports with Riley McGuffin. Riley?
  
  Exactly
They could, certainly. What is the evidence that they actually are engaged in psyops campaigns though? This is a common belief but I haven’t seen a shred of evidence for it. If it exists, someone please share.
Rachel Maddow just covered this.
Drumft came out for TikTok after meeting at Mag-a-Lardo with a billionaire TikTok investor.
He's desperate for a sugar daddy to cover his half billion bar tab.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/14/trump-tiktok-billionaire-donors-00146892
A real spy master this one, with extremely keen sense of information technology, bravo man I'm really impressed
Seems to me that China could use pretty much ANY social media site to do this. Why the fixation on TikTok?
- The US can't control it. Hell, they are planning a hostile takeover after banning it, and then they will lift the ban.
The way Russia used Facebook and Twitter?
so rather than running someone that could organically capture more of the gen z vote, they're banning their most popular form of communication because the old man wanted another term. awesome
- Yep. They don't want to solve these problems.
  They just want to make themselves and their donors richer as quickly as possible.
  Anyone who doesn't see this is a useful idiot in their scheme.

48 comments