Top Democrat and Republican senators warned over the weekend that TikTok, the social media app <a href="https://www.risch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2023/8/tiktok-china-s-influence-is-right-at-our-fingertips">allegedly</a> controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, is &#8220;the most powerful propaganda tool&#8221; that officials have ever seen.
The remarks from Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner (D-VA) and Ranking Member Marco Rubio (R-FL) on CBS News&#8217;s &#8220;Face the Nation&#8221; come as the U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote on a bill this week that would force ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, to divest its ownership in the company or it will be banned in the U.S.
Warner slammed President Joe Biden&#8217;s presidential campaign for joining TikTok, saying it sent &#8220;a pretty darn mixed message.&#8221;
Warner warned that TikTok poses a threat to the U.S. by collecting Americans&#8217; data and manipulating what they see to turn them against each other.
&#8220;If you don&#8217;t think the Chinese Communist Party can twist that algorithm to make it the news that they see reflective of their views, then I don&#8217;t think you appreciate the nature of the threat,&#8221; Warner said. &#8220;Would the United States ever allow China to buy CBS? I don&#8217;t think they would. And we might have slightly different ways on how we go at this, but we think this is a national security issue.&#8221;
Rubio said people get so hooked on TikTok because its algorithm has a powerful &#8220;recommender engine, which is one of the best in the world.&#8221;
&#8220;That is owned by ByteDance. Under Chinese law, ByteDance must own it,&#8221; Rubio said. &#8220;And the only way that that recommender engine works is if they have access to the data. So it doesn&#8217;t matter who you sell TikTok to, where they&#8217;re headquartered, doesn&#8217;t even matter where they stored the data. As long as ByteDance engineers in China have access to the algorithm — have access to that data — control the algorithm, they have to have access to American data to make it work. And that&#8217;s what we need to confront. That&#8217;s the reality here.&#8221;
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Warner concluded in his warning: &#8220;Manipulating that algorithm can mean what kind of information you&#8217;re going to see. And if you don&#8217;t think that could be used as the most powerful propaganda tool ever, then I don&#8217;t think you appreciate the threat.&#8221;
WATCH:
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Marco Rubio Mark Warner

Top Democrat, Republican Intel Senators Blast TikTok: ‘The Most Powerful Propaganda Tool Ever’

Chinese Communist Party

Congress

Marco Rubio

Mark Warner

Politics

Social Media

TikTok

The Senate Democrat chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/technology/4465102-senate-intel-democrat-worried-biden-campaign-joining-tiktok-mixed-message/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">criticized</a> President Biden for his reelection campaign joining the Chinese platform TikTok.
Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) reacted after the Biden campaign on Sunday posted a <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@bidenhq/video/7334529963066019114?embed_source=71929438%2C121374463%2C121351166%2C121331973%2C120811592%2C120810756%3Bnull%3Bembed_card_play&amp;refer=embed&amp;referer_url=thehill.com%2Fhomenews%2Fcampaign%2F4462234-biden-joins-tiktok-with-video-captioned-lol-hey-guys%2F&amp;referer_video_id=7334529963066019114" target="_blank" rel="noopener">video</a> on TikTok trying to show Biden as quick-witted. Asked by a voice offscreen, “Chiefs or 49ers,” Biden responded, “Two great quarterbacks. Hard to say. But if I didn’t say I was for the Eagles then I would be sleeping alone. My wife’s a Philly girl.”
“Game or commercials?” the voice prompted. “Game,” Biden answered.
“Game or halftime show?” he was asked. “Game.”
“Jason Kelce or Travis Kelce?” He responded: “Mama Kelce. I understand she makes great chocolate chip cookies.”
“Deviously plotting to rig the season so the Chiefs would make the Super Bowl or the Chiefs just being a good football team?”
“I’d get in trouble if I told you,” Biden replied.
By Tuesday the video had racked up 7.4 million views.
“I think at the end of the day, the Chinese Communist Party ­can not only get access to the data, but also, more importantly, can potentially drive the algorithms in terms of what you’re seeing,” Warner stated, “I’m a little worried about a mixed message.”
Last year, Warner joined South Dakota GOP Senator John Thune to sponsor the <a href="https://www.warner.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2023/3/senators-introduce-bipartisan-bill-to-tackle-national-security-threats-from-foreign-tech" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RESTRICT Act</a> to “comprehensively address the ongoing threat posed by technology from foreign adversaries by better empowering the Department of Commerce to review, prevent, and mitigate information communications and technology transactions that pose undue risk to our national security.”
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After the Biden campaign posted the video, Arkansas GOP Senator Tom Cotton tweeted, “TikTok is a spy app for the Chinese Communist Party. It’s used to push propaganda on American kids and steal data. It’s shameful that Biden is embracing TikTok to compensate for bad polls driven by his mental decline.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
TikTok is a spy app for the Chinese Communist Party. 
It&#39;s used to push propaganda on American kids and steal data.
It&#39;s shameful that Biden is embracing TikTok to compensate for bad polls driven by his mental decline.
&mdash; Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) <a href="https://twitter.com/TomCottonAR/status/1757052494226600077?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 12, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Iowa GOP Sen. Joni Ernst echoed, “TikTok was banned from all federal government devices because it’s a threat to our national security. That didn’t stop the Biden campaign from joining the CCP’s dangerous propaganda app.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
TikTok was banned from all federal government devices because it’s a threat to our national security.
That didn’t stop the Biden campaign from joining the CCP’s dangerous propaganda app.<a href="https://t.co/XJFCLqNpAn">https://t.co/XJFCLqNpAn</a>
&mdash; Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenJoniErnst/status/1757112639287685510?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 12, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Florida GOP Senator Marco Rubio has repeatedly warned about TikTok. Last August, he called for the banning of Chinese-controlled TikTok in an <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/08/08/as-tiktok-comes-for-american-businesses-its-past-time-to-ban-it/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">opinion piece</a>.
“TikTok’s public-policy chief blatantly lied under oath when he denied US data is stored in China,” Rubio wrote in his piece published by The New York Post. “ByteDance, TikTok’s China-based parent company, was caught in October using the app to spy on American journalists.”
Rubio noted that The New York Times reported TikTok stores Americans’ private information, which includes driver’s licenses, addresses, and device IDs, in China, where they can be accessed by ByteDance employees. He also pointed out that Forbes revealed the tax information and Social Security numbers of content creators on TikTok are also stored in China.
“Almost a third of the country uses TikTok semi-regularly,” Rubio pointed out. He delineated how TikTok is undercutting American companies by selling products more cheaply through its app. “Who, for that matter, will even be aware of American goods on the market when TikTok’s algorithm begins — as it surely will — to favor Chinese sellers?” he asked.
He referred to the disingenuousness of TikTok’s tactics when they said they were “celebrating” American small business in May when committing $1 million “to support Black and Brown” entrepreneurs and funding small businesses suing Montana for banning the app.
“China’s totalitarian regime hates the United States and is bent on displacing us as the world’s greatest power,” Rubio wrote. “If TikTok users believe their sensitive data are safe in Beijing’s hands — that Beijing wouldn’t use those data to influence, coerce, extort or spy on them in the case of a geopolitical conflict­­ — they need to think again.”

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Mark Warner

Top Democrat, Republican Intel Senators Blast TikTok: ‘The Most Powerful Propaganda Tool Ever’

High-Ranking Senate Dem Issues Warning After Biden Campaign Joins TikTok