TikTok, the hugely successful viral video app, can run but it certainly can’t hide from the glaring truth anymore as FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr slams the app for its audacity and inflated sense of self-importance. At the heart of the matter? The app’s relentless pursuit to avoid divesting from its parent company, ByteDance, a Chinese-controlled entity and the implications this carries for American security.
President Joe Biden made a bold chess move last month, signing an aggressive bill to disentangle TikTok from the clutches of ByteDance. If TikTok fails to comply, they stand to lose their presence in the lucrative American market. Naturally, the app struck back, denying that divesting was within their grasp and launching a legal challenge. But Carr, rightly so, isn’t swayed by their excuses. In his words, this isn’t a matter of TikTok’s speech content but of the Lord-of-the-Rings kind of power game it’s playing on the global stage, an act that’s clearly not protected by the constitution.
The app’s audacious claims extend even further. Despite previously stating that American engineers could investigate their source code, TikTok is now claiming that no outsider could penetrate their complex coding labyrinth. A quick pivot and another blatantly egregious example of the app’s constant doublespeak and back-pedaling.
At the heart of this debacle is the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). TikTok now concedes that it’s the CCP pulling the strings behind the scenes, controlling its algorithm and foreign business transactions. This revelation calls into question TikTok’s independence from Beijing and its continuous assertions of this supposed autonomy.
All these underhanded actions boil down to one alarming sentiment: arrogance. TikTok’s bold claim that American user data doesn’t exist in China flies in the face of their internal communications which, according to Carr, makes it evident that “everything is seen in China”.
On top of this, TikTok’s internal operations are overseen by personnel based in Beijing, an ironic fact especially when the app continuously asserts its independence.
This level of flagrant arrogance brings with it a sense of invulnerability, a belief that the app can endanger America’s national security and walk away unscathed. Carr, however, is undeterred. He plainly states that our Constitution won’t stand for such a threat.
In a breathless conclusion, it’s clear that conservatives are under siege, with Big Tech companies like TikTok taking them for a ride. It’s high time to demand that they be held accountable, preserving the essence of the First Amendment while balancing it with transparency and clarity. Don’t let size intimidate you. If you’ve ever been censored by such platforms, speak up. Let’s hold Big Tech, and by extension TikTok, to account.
