Grilled App – The TikTok Congressional Hearing
TikTok is very controversial in many ways, being one of the fastest growing social media apps in history. The short video platform has caught the attention of many of our youth population, creating a conflict between parents and children over time spent on the app. Although these household conflicts may seem to be the most significant in our lives, the status of TikTok is in question because a bigger conflict exists between the app and the United States government. TikTok is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, which the US views as a threat to national security due to the involvement of the Chinese government in collecting data that TikTok gathers from users.
As a result, there has been a major push to ban TikTok in the United States along with many other proposals, and this was highlighted in the congressional hearing held on Thursday. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew was grilled by lawmakers on both sides of the spectrum, and despite his denial of the CCP essentially using and controlling the app’s data, the US government is not convinced. Chew also went on to say that there would be a firewall to keep American data in America instead of answering a question regarding Chinese access to data, which alienated many lawmakers. The TikTok issue, although bipartisan, has less support from the Democratic Party due to their voter base, which consists of youth voters who support TikTok and are protesting against the intention of the government. TikTok could become a factor for the 2024 elections, but it is general sentiment in the US government to try and get the ownership of TikTok to change, something that China has said they will not allow.
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I am not a financial advisor and my comments should never be taken as financial advice. Investments come with risk, so always do your research and analysis beforehand.