The Tiktok “threat” to US national security

THE contingent of China hawks in Washington have found a new target to attack as part of efforts to alert Americans to the supposed threat of an emerging China: The social media application TikTok.

The new Speaker of the House of Representatives, Republican Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, has just launched a new select committee whose sole purpose is to investigate alleged machinations by the Chinese government to undermine the American economy and national security. The committee on “strategic competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party” was established in a recent 365-65 vote and is chaired by Representative Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin.

A rising young Republican star, Representative Gallagher has decided to place on the top of the committee’s agenda the Chinese-owned app that has built a massive American following. He wants to investigate allegations that TikTok is used as a tool of foreign espionage and of influence by the Chinese government, targeting TikTok’s 100 million American users. In fact, Representative Gallagher wants to ban the popular app or force the sale of TikTok to an American buyer, citing data security issues and the potential use of the app by Beijing as a tool of propaganda. Representative Gallagher’s objections to TikTok are shared not only by the 13 Republicans on the select committee he chairs, but also by its Democratic members, reflecting the extent to which a majority of the members of the two major parties in Congress now regards China as an economic challenge and as America’s principal geo-strategic rival in what many describe as a new Cold War.