Northern Virginia Community Collage
TikTok Role in Politics
Luis Valencia
Dr. Zeyad Alshammari
Course ID: SSC 115 (080A)
April 12, 2023
TikTok’s Roll in Politics
We have advanced in the technology field in imaginable ways and our world has become
interconnected like never before. Technology, the rise of the cellphone, and the rise of social media
has led us to a society that has become polarize, with a sense of not knowing what is real, due to
the proliferation of AI, deepfakes, and state-funded propaganda campaigns through social media
platforms. Even though these advancements can bring awesome outcomes if used properly, there
is a big concern that this technology can be used with malicious intent, by government agencies
with the goal of influencing societies in unthinkable ways. TikTok place in geopolitics has become
an international security concern, but many argue that US tech giants follow the same practices
TikTok is being accused of. There is growing Chinese hysteria among the American and European
governments about the potential dangers that TikTok represent to the West and how propaganda
campaigns can influence the next generation of Americans and European citizens.
TikTok was founded in September 2016 by the Chinese company Byte Dance. It is a short
video sharing platform that has become popular amount people under 30 years old. (Galloway).
According to Tech expert and NYIJ professor Scott Galloway, TikTok growth over the past 7 years
has been inexplicable and was unforeseen and it challenges the dominance of US tech giants at
Silicon Valley in the global market. Many will argue that the security concerns are uncalled for
and that they can create xenophobia even, but in 2020 India moved to ban the app after disputes in
the Indian Chinese border where 20 Indian soldiers resulted dead (Press Information Bureau Delhi,
2020). The underlying reason why TikTok is such a concern in geopolitics is due to its
unexplainable rise which threatens the “dominance the US has over the digital platform market.
This dominance falls under a broader geopolitical system of US hegemony that has defined the
liberal world order since the end of the Cold War. China’s economic growth destabilizes a world
order that centers upon US hegemony” (Gray). Market concentration is problematic, but it is
particularly so in an information economy. A handful of US companies enjoy cultural, economic,
and political power derived from their ownership and control over platform infrastructure and data.
TikTok has provided competition to these US companies (Poon). US legislatives argue that TikTok
has lied about its direct connection to the CCP and for that reason they are not to be trusted. It is
well documented that US user’s data was being accessed by Chinese based employees. This
practice is said to be linked to a line of espionage on BuzzFeed’s and Financial times journalists.
(Strand) Another well documented case it is the fact that Byte Dance filters out content related to
the Uyghur genocide, and COVID. On July 6, 2020, US secretary of State, Mike Pompeo,
confirmed the Trump administration was seeking to ban the app standing on the position that
TikTok “is not simply a platform for connection and entertainment but a tool the Chinese state
might wield for strategic security and ideological influence within the US. US officials argue that
users’ data may be accessed by the Chinese government and used to track and gather information
on US citizens and companies. The tech giants at Silicon Valley are not state owned, therefore they
act in their own interest, which is monetary. It has been criticized that the US government is
hypocritical due to the tech giants holding similar data collecting practices as TikTok. In 2016 and
2020 presidential elections Facebook was accused of incorporating polarization tactics and
confirmation bias to gain more engagement, making money at the expense of people’s sanity and
sense of reality. The market concentration in the digital platform field is undemocratic and
anticompetitive and US platforms are dysfunctional in their democratic role. They are used to
spread and amplify misinformation and hate speech, they generate and exploit data at the expense
of user privacy, they embed unfair and harmful biases into their algorithms and technical
infrastructure, and they offer limited mechanisms for transparency and accountability. The main
difference between US companies and a Chinese tech company is what they are after. US platforms
are after monetization, they might be a threat to your mental health and privacy, but they are not a
threat to national security. (Galloway) The US congress can pass legislation and demand the
company’s data through Section 230. There is a lawful process in place for when national security
concerns need to be addressed. In the other hand with TikTok, the CCP has complete access to the
company’s data. There is not a lawful process in place to separate the state’s access to a corporation
users’ information. This becomes a national security concern when we look at the CCP approach
to the app and the way the Chinese citizens are allowed to use these platforms (Coonan). For
example, kids under 18 are only allowed forty minutes of exposure to social media platforms. The
content they see is either educational or patriotic. For us we get a more wild-west version of the
app. It is evident a company that is not even allowed to operate in its own country of origin poses
a great security risk to our way of living. When you have the CCP owning a platform that is used
by almost every person under 30 in the US you can be certain that this will be used to influence
our sentiment towards our own government, making us hopeless for the future. We know for a fact
that the CCP and Russia interfered in the 2016 and 2020 elections. Their goal is to drive us into
further polarization and feed us with misinformation to drive us to a point where people can
replicate events such as January 6. TikTok is a powerful propaganda tool that many couldn’t have
imagined the likes of it. If the most popular platform in America is owned by our enemies, we
should be concerned. We shouldn’t allow foreign entities to own our “TV channels”. If they have
influenced our election process what can guarantee that they will not try again with TikTok.
Finally, the grip TikTok algorithm has on the mind is alarming. Adults should be allowed
to choose what they want to consume, but this becomes a sensitive topic when kids are involved.
We can’t even imagine the implications this will have on the minds of our kids and how this affects
their mental health, self-worth, and future. If you are not educated and have a strong mind, TikTok
can feed you the ultimate, low energy pleasurable entertainment that will keep you mindlessly
scrolling for hours, taking away from you the drive to socialize with people and to become
somebody in life. On the basis of data policies, TikTok doesn’t represent a threat to its users than
its counterparts. Almost all platforms threaten our privacy and user’s security. Moreover, I would
go to the extend to say that TikTok poses as a national threat to Americans because the CCP clearly
wants to influence how we think so that we become more tolerant to their way of governance and
to breed hate towards our government and country.
Works Cited
Coonan, Clifford. Is TikTok a time-bomb for US-China trade relations? Steven Beardsley. 24 March 2023.
video. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hFFMohRsaI>.
Galloway, Scott. Why do world governments fear TikTok- and should we? with Ines Pohl. Youtube. 28
February 2023. Video. 09 April 2023. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFyP4Vfr2Oc>.
Gray, Joanne E. "The geopolitics of ‘platforms’: the TikTok challenge." Internet Policy Review (2021): 1.
document. <https://policyreview.info/articles/analysis/geopolitics-platforms-tiktok-challenge>.
Poon, Jessica. "Sino-Cal realism: TikTok as a medium between new market dynamics." 21 November
2022. National Center for Biotechnology Information. Article. 05 April 2023.
<https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9684904/>.
Strand, John. How much of a risk does TikTok pose to national security? Kristie Pladson. 3 March 2023.
video. 05 APril 2023. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5pm42LWDD8>.
The Wall Street Journal . The Geopolitics of TikTok. 04 August 2020. video. 31 03 2023.