Not long ago, the U.S. House of Representatives upset the Chinese Communist Party by passing legislation that forces TikTok to divest from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance.
The House actually passed that legislation twice.
According to CNN, China called the action, “an act of bullying” that would backfire on the United States.
The Senate also passed the legislation and President Joe Biden signed it into law.
There is no denying TikTok could be a national security threat. That the company was able to mobilize an army of young people to lobby against the legislation testifies to the power it wields.
Do we really want to allow the Chinese Communist Party to hold sway over 170 million Americans?
TikTok likely played a role in fomenting the anarchy we saw recently on college campuses and in the streets of America. #freepalestine was reported as being one of the top-performing hashtags on TikTok.
I’m sure Iran is pleased about that. I wouldn’t be surprised if Iran had something to do with it.
Newsweek reported Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani, as saying, “What we have witnessed in American universities in recent days shows the awakening of global society and the world’s thoughts regarding the Palestinian issue and the depth of public hatred toward the crimes of the usurping Zionist regime and the genocide supported by America and some European governments.”
It’s always nice when the thinking of America’s young people aligns with Iranian propaganda.
Iran has created a network of terror organizations that likes to blow up people and things, shoot missiles at ships and, according to Time, in the case of Hamas, commit “mass rapes, tortures, bonding and immolation of toddlers, beheadings and live mutilation.”
China is currently one of Iran’s most important sponsors, which gives the communist country a very powerful interest in how information about Gaza and Israel is being spun around the world, and in the United States particularly.
The truth is, TikTok gives China the ability to manipulate American public opinion on just about everything.
The original TikTok bill, which was stand-alone legislation, passed the House, 362-65. The Democrat-led Senate did nothing with that legislation.
So, the House passed a second bill, by an equally lopsided margin, but this time attached it to legislation that provided military funding for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
If TikTok poses a serious threat to our national security, why was it necessary for Republicans to force the hand of Senate Democrats to get them to vote for the legislation?
Silver-tongued and soon-to-be former Democratic Rep. Jamal Bowman, is one of the few lawmakers in the House who voted against the legislation. Bowman explained why he and other Democrats are loath to mess with the Chinese app, no matter what the national security concerns.
Most TikTok users are younger, Bowman argued, and those young people might not be happy if the app is banned, which is exactly what TikTok is telling its users is happening.
It’s not, but many young people get their news exclusively from TikTok so they only know what TikTok tells them.
Bowman worried even a perceived ban might provoke a backlash that would hurt Democrats. “What if those young voters stay home or go Republican?” he warned.
In other words, if the politics are bad, national security concerns be damned.
I should mention, Bowman also believes efforts to ban TikTok are racist.
Fortunately, the congressman lost his Democratic primary earlier this week to a more moderate opponent. It seems Democrats are beginning to realize progressives, too, can be extremists.
But while Bowman may be too extreme to be a member of Congress, he will fit right in if he decides to return to his previous role as a middle school principal, where he will again have the opportunity to influence the thinking and attitudes of children when they are at their most impressionable.
That’s a comforting thought.
Progressive lawmakers are making the same mistake President Barak Obama made when he referred to ISIS as the “JV Team,” but China, like ISIS, is most definitely the “Varsity Squad,” and we underestimate it at our own peril.
Standing on its first amendment right of freedom of speech, TikTok is now taking the United States to court to block the legislation. I find that unbelievably rich — a Chinese company complaining that its freedom of speech rights are being violated.
Perhaps we can make a deal with China. We’ll allow it to operate TikTok in the United States, the way it always has, provided it allows us to develop and operate our own version of TikTok in China.
China will allow us to post any kind of content we want on our site, just like TikTok does here, and the Communist Party will do nothing to prevent the Chinese people from accessing the American app whenever they want.
Of course, the United States would also be able to collect the same kind of data on Chinese citizens that the Chinese collect on us.
Think they’d go for it?
It’s time for the United States to stop being the sucker of the world. Forcing TikTok to divest from its Chinese owner is a good first step.
Chris Roemer writes from Finksburg. He can be contacted at chrisroemer1960@gmail.com