Vague concerns about TikTok insufficient to justify divestiture or ban
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The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on legislation that would force ByteDance, the China-based parent company of TikTok, to sell the popular app or face a ban inside the US. Director of CEI’s Center for Technology and Innovation Jessica Melugin argues the legislation is unnecessary based on publicly available information.
Melugin said:
“If there are hard and specific national security concerns not being shared with the public, those might be of legitimate concern. But the two vague concerns about TikTok are that of American’s data being shared and Chinese government influence on American users. As to the former, the U.S. government itself purchases similar data from brokers. As to the later, a country founded on the idea that citizens possess not just the natural right but the cognitive ability to elect their own leaders, has a big problem if short videos prepared by China’s regime spell the end of our republic.”
More from CEI:
- Melugin for National Review: Politicians Are Squandering America’s Chance to Get It Right on TikTok