The new cold war is being waged not over a continent-dividing wall, but in the pockets of millions of Americans.
On Thursday, a congressional hearing on the popular TikTok video app became the latest in a series of recent clarifying moments that revealed not only Washington’s bipartisan hostility to Beijing’s new global heft, but also the extent to which the growing superpower confrontation is beginning to be felt in multiple corners of American life.
A five-hour grilling of TikTok CEO Shou Chew also highlighted how China is increasingly being viewed not only as a rising threat to US security and economic dominance, but also as an ideological challenge – one antithetical to American values and way of life, much like the Soviet Union was in the previous century.
The idea that the Chinese Communist Party may use the Chinese-owned network, which claims to have 150 million US monthly users, to gather intelligence on millions of Americans was raised repeatedly by politicians on both sides of the aisle. Members were also concerned that a flood of Chinese-made content or information could mould young, developing American minds, suppressing US principles of political freedom and human rights or creating confusion or misleading narratives about American foreign policy.
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington state, who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee and set the tone for the hearing, epitomised such arguments.
“We don’t believe TikTok will ever embrace American principles like liberty, human rights, and creativity,” Rodgers told Chew. “TikTok has continually opted for greater control, surveillance, and manipulation.”
“Your platform should be shut down.”
But, Rodgers was not the only government official who raised strong reservations about TikTok on Thursday. Secretary of State Antony Blinken stoked suspicion that the app, which is popular by millions of American teenagers but is already outlawed on federal government phones and other official devices everywhere in the West, may be coming to an end.
Blinken stated that TikTok posed a national security risk and should be “terminated one way or another,” adding that “there are different methods to do that.”
And House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has endorsed legislation that would effectively outlaw TikTok in the United States. “I’m not sure we need to give the president authority.” “I think we might be able to do it ourselves, and I’ll let the House work on it,” the California Republican told AWN’s Manu Raju.
A defining moment
The hearing was the most recent in a series of events that have made the long-foreseen battle between the incumbent superpower, the United States, and the developing superpower, China, a palpable reality for millions of Americans.
They include the drama surrounding a Chinese surveillance balloon that flew across US skies before being shot down by US jets in February. Only this week, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Moscow to offer legitimacy to Russian President Vladimir Putin after the International Criminal Court charged him with war crimes. Xi made it clear that his goal is to challenge the US-led international system that has been in place since World War II’s end, declaring that China is ready to “stand guard over the world order.”
Chew’s mission on Capitol Hill on Thursday was to persuade lawmakers that TikTok is independent of Chinese government control and to demonstrate how the company has attempted to demonstrate that it is protecting the data of American users through an initiative known as Project Texas, which uses US servers. He failed to do so partly because most MPs appeared to have made up their minds on the topic a long time ago.
The chair of the new House select committee on China, Wisconsin Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher, said on “AWN Primetime” on Thursday that the key issue was not where the data of US users was stored, but that TikTok’s Chinese parent company controlled the app’s algorithm and was susceptible to pressure from the Chinese government. “They may use this software to spread disinformation, influence what news Americans see, and influence future elections,” Gallagher explained.
The Chinese authorities did Chew no favours. Its commerce ministry said hours before the hearing that it would vehemently oppose any US attempt to force TikTok’s Chinese-owned parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app to an American firm, warning that such a move would cast doubt on the viability of Chinese and other foreign firms investing in the US economy. The statement further reinforced many US politicians’ opinion that TikTok is far from independent, as well as their scepticism about Chew’s claims that its data collection techniques are similar to those of many US internet firms.
Chew argued that his company was not a front for the Chinese government or the Communist Party. Despite the fact that they had no evidence or proof to back up their assertions of potential meddling from Beijing, the MPs declared they didn’t believe him.
The hearing was a spectacle of political performance, with members from both parties relishing the opportunity to prove they could be tough on China. TikTok published a statement decrying a day “dominated by political grandstanding that failed to acknowledge the real solutions already happening through Project Texas or address industry-wide issues of youth safety effectively.”
Other members’ antipathy demonstrated how antagonism to China has become one of the primary organising principles of Washington politics, as well as a rare topic that unifies both parties. But, the tone of some of the questions, as well as the disdain shown to Chew, highlighted why some Asian American groups are concerned that Washington’s intense antipathy towards China may translate into more intimidation and violence against Asian Americans across the country.
‘One of TikTok’s geniuses’
The heart of Washington’s scepticism about TikTok’s ability to protect data was evident in numerous debates between Chew and the House committee about the firm’s Project Texas, which appeared to leave legislators even more doubtful than before. This is because Chew was frequently unable to guarantee senators that the Chinese government would not access its customer data in the future, despite claiming that it would be stored in American servers on US territory.
“I have seen no proof that the Chinese government has access to that data; they have never requested us, and we have not provided it,” Chew stated at one point, prompting Democratic Rep. Anna Eshoo of California to comment, “I don’t believe… that you have said or done anything to convince us.”
Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, a Democrat who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee and has prepared legislation to give President Joe Biden additional authority to ban TikTok, revealed why Washington sees the video app as such a threat.
“One of TikTok’s geniuses is that it learns from you. Every time you visit the site, it begins to learn about you, what you enjoy better than what you know. Do you want all of that information to end up in the hands of the Communist Party of China?” “AWN This Morning,” Warner said.
“Number two, if employed correctly, this is a strong propaganda machine.” This is a fantastic misinformation and disinformation factory. I’m not saying they’re doing it right now, but if President Xi in China wants to somehow invade… Taiwan, and suddenly people not only in America but all across the world are starting to watch movies that support that kind of message, that’s a propaganda tool that dwarfs all other possibilities.”
Concerns about China’s vast intelligence capabilities are becoming more prevalent in Washington, particularly in reference to the spy balloon story and TikTok, and they were set to spill over into talks between Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa on Friday.
“We’ve continually seen the Chinese government use whatever tools it can to gather information, get data that is going to be beneficial to its purposes around the world,” Trudeau said in an exclusive interview with AWN’s Paula Newton on Thursday. “We’ve also seen that Chinese-owned or Chinese-directed businesses are directly accountable to the Communist Party of China.”
Trudeau’s remarks highlight why TikTok’s tenure in the US may be coming to an end, at least as part of a larger Chinese corporation. If the app was owned by a Belgian or Australian company, for example, there might still be concerns about its addictive features and data privacy, but it would not have to contend with the perception that it offers a dangerous window for a US opponent.
As the hearing on Thursday demonstrated, TikTok is caught up in geopolitical forces between the United States and China that are far larger than its massive user base and raise questions that it is proving impossible to address – at least to the satisfaction of the United States Congress.