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China-owned TikTok is a propaganda tool that has the potential to influence a generation of young Americans and should be required to register as a foreign agent.
That’s the gist of a Nov. 8 letter from Congressmen Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Don Bacon (R-NE) to attorney general Merrick Garland.
They accuse TikTok of exhibiting a “clear pattern of operating in the US to spy on the American people and sow propaganda.”
It presents “a grave threat to America’s national security and, in particular, impressionable children and young adults.”
Since 25 percent of Americans under age 30 get their news from TikTok, the Congressmen are “gravely concerned” about the platform’s use as a propaganda outlet by China and its allies Russia and Iran.
They note that China has taken an “anti-Israel stance following the atrocities of Oct. 7.”
Its foreign ministry declines to use the words “Hamas” or “terrorism” and refuses to acknowledge that Israel was attacked.
TikTok needs to register because “American citizens deserve to know whether the information and news media they consume is impartial or deceptive propaganda pushed by foreign nations,” wrote the Congressmen.
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