GOP Lawmakers Call for TikTok Ban Over Fears App Could ‘Fan the Flames of Domestic Division’

The TikTok logo displayed on a tablet in Lille, northern France, on March 23, 2022. Denis Charlet/AFP via Getty Images

Senate Republicans are introducing legislation that would ban TikTok and a number of other social media companies controlled by China from operating in the United States.

Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) announced the legislation in an op-ed in The Washington Post on Nov. 10, in which they called the Chinese social media app a “major threat to national security.”

“The United States is locked in a new Cold War with the Chinese Communist Party [CCP], one that senior military advisers warn could turn hot over Taiwan at any time,” the senators wrote. “Yet millions of Americans increasingly rely on TikTok, a Chinese social media app exposed to the influence of the CCP, to consume the news, share content and communicate with friends.”

TikTok is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance. The app has a billion monthly active users, surpassing the likes of Twitter and Snapchat.

Data from the Pew Research Center published in August found that the share of teenagers using TikTok has surged over the years, with 67 percent of those aged 13 to 17 saying they use the platform.

U.S. officials have repeatedly warned that TikTok poses a threat to national security, with American user data potentially being used by the CCP, particularly in light of China’s 2017 National Intelligence Law, under which local companies are compelled to cooperate with Chinese intelligence agencies when requested to do so. That includes sharing data.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), seen here addressing the 2022 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, has won a third six-year term in the U.S. Senate, defeating Democratic challenger Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.) in their Nov. 8 midterm election. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Potential Threat to National Security

TikTok has repeatedly denied such allegations and says it stores U.S. user data on servers outside of China and does not provide Beijing with access to that information.

Rubio and Gallagher said that ByteDance’s ownership of TikTok is problematic for two reasons.

“First, the app can track cellphone users’ locations and collect internet-browsing data — even when users are visiting unrelated websites,” they wrote. “That TikTok, and by extension the CCP, has the ability to survey every keystroke teenagers enter on their phones is disturbing.”

Secondly, the lawmakers warned that Beijing could also collect sensitive national security information from U.S. government employees which could then be used to create profiles on millions of Americans and ultimately be used for blackmail or espionage.

Even more alarming than that possibility, however, are the “potential abuses of TikTok’s algorithm,” they wrote, noting that the video-sharing app could be used to “subtly indoctrinate American citizens.”

TikTok’s algorithm determines which videos users see on their feed. The lawmakers stated that the algorithm is a “black box, in that its designers can alter its operation at any time without informing users.”

This, they said, could result in the app being used to “exacerbate discord in American society” and “fan the flames of domestic division.”

TikTok has previously censored references to the Chinese treatment of Uyghurs and the 1989 protests in Tiananmen Square.

Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) speaks to reporters after a House Republican Caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Sept. 21, 2021. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

App Could ‘Influence Which Issues Americans Learn About’

The senators also pointed to an increasing number of American adults turning to the social media app for their news, meaning the platform has the ability to “influence which issues Americans learn about, what information they consider accurate, and what conclusions they draw from world events.”

A separate Pew Research Center study released on Oct. 21 found that between 2020 to 2022, the share of U.S. adults who say they regularly get news from TikTok has roughly tripled, from 3 percent to 10 percent.

Former President Donald Trump also called for a ban back in July 2020, while Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Brendan Carr on Nov. 7 also said in an interview with Bloomberg that the social media app should be banned in the United States.

TikTok is currently being reviewed by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which reviews the potential national security risks stemming from deals by foreign acquirers.

Rubio and Gallagher on Thursday noted that “unless TikTok and its algorithm can be separated from Beijing, the app’s use in the United States will continue to jeopardize our country’s safety and pave the way for a Chinese-influenced tech landscape here.”

“These are unacceptable outcomes. This is why we’re introducing legislation which would ban TikTok and other social media companies that are effectively controlled by the CCP from operating in the United States,” they added.

The Epoch Times has contacted TikTok for comment.