Sen. Marco Rubio: We must stop China from using TikTok against America
NY Post
Most Americans have never heard of ByteDance, but they know its product: The technology company owns TikTok and curates the app’s video feeds for 170 million American users.
But ByteDance isn’t a normal company. It’s controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, by law and corporate structure.
China’s totalitarian regime passed a sweeping national security law in 2017 that gave it the authority to compel any action by any Chinese corporation, ByteDance included.
It also owns a “golden share” of ByteDance’s stock, meaning the former government official on the board can outvote every other board member. Beijing’s control over this company is absolute.
And while TikTok may be headquartered in the United States, ByteDance engineers in China own and operate the app’s algorithm.
They use artificial intelligence to profile TikTok users’ preferences, beliefs, behavior, and values. In a way, ByteDance gets to know TikTok users better than they know themselves.
