(ConservativeSense.com) – Support for a US-wide ban on the Chinese video-sharing app TikTok has grown since its CEO was questioned by lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Congress members on both sides of the political divide increasingly believe the platform is a threat to US security and more have taken that position since Shou Zi Chew was questioned by the Energy and Commerce Committee recently.
Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA) said, “I am more convinced that we’ve got a big, big problem there than I was before going into that hearing.” He added that the CEO had been evasive and did not answer the questions that were asked of him.
During the hearing, Chew insisted that ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, is not connected to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and that the government has no access to, or ability to seize, data the app gathers on its users.
However, Chinese companies are all controlled to some extent by the CCP and some of TikTok’s senior executives are active members of the party. In 2022, it was alleged by employees that major company decisions are deferred to CCP officials. One person stated that the two are so entwined, it is difficult to know where one ends and the other begins.
Although a ban has increasing bipartisan support, some on the hard left have defended the communist country and its influence in America. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said that a move as major as banning the platform should be justifiable, but she did not address the issue of security or the mental health of American youth – the two most pertinent concerns expressed by lawmakers and security officials, including the director of the FBI.
On his HBO Real Time show days after the congressional hearing, Bill Maher questioned Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) and discussed the racism accusations that Democrats and some on the left have used to defend China and TikTok.
Maher pointed out the absurdity of defending one of the most brutally oppressive societies on earth in the name of human rights.
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