[The Epoch Times, January 02, 2023](Comprehensive report by Epoch Times reporter Zhang Ting) Republican Congressman Mike Gallagher (Mike Gallagher), who will be the chairman of the “China Affairs Select Committee” of the House of Representatives, said that TikTok (Douyin International version) is the addictive digital drug fentanyl imported into the United States by the Chinese government.
In the US midterm elections to be held in November 2022, the Republican Party regained control of the Federal House of Representatives. The Republican Party subsequently announced the establishment of a new “House select committee on China”. The new U.S. Congress will begin in January 2023. House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy (Kevin McCarthy) has appointed Gallagher to serve as chairman of the Select Committee on China Affairs in the new Congress.
Gallagher: TikTok is as addictive as digital fentanyl
On NBC’s “Meet The Press” program on Sunday (January 1), Gallagher said in an interview that TikTok is actually “digital fentanyl” because “it’s very addictive and destructive. Sexuality, we are seeing the corrosive effects of heavy social media use, especially on young men and women in the United States, and these statistics are disturbing.”
Gallagher also said that the Chinese Communist Party factor can actually be found in TikTok.
TikTok has hundreds of millions of downloads in the United States. As more and more users use it, Gallagher believes that it is necessary to impose more constraints on TikTok.
He told NBC that one has to ask whether the U.S. wants China to control TikTok, which is widely used in the U.S. He supports a ban on TikTok on U.S. government devices and wants to “expand that ban across the country.”
On December 13, 2022, Gallagher and U.S. Senator Marco Rubio introduced bipartisan legislation to ban TikTok from operating in the United States.
In introducing the legislation, Rubio said that TikTok is collecting data on tens of millions of American children and adults every day, “We know it is responsible for the People’s Republic of China (CCP). No more time wasted with Chinese puppet companies.” Pointless negotiations. Now is the time to ban Beijing-controlled TikTok forever.”
Gallagher said at the time, “TikTok is digital fentanyl, addicting Americans, collecting data on Americans, and censoring American news.”
He also said, “(TikTok) ends up reporting to the Chinese Communist Party, which is America’s foremost adversary. Allowing the app to continue to operate in the U.S. is like allowing the Soviet Union to buy The New York Times, The Washington Post during the Cold War Same with major US broadcasting networks. No country with even the slightest concern for their own security will allow this to happen, which is why it’s time to ban TikTok, and any other CCP-controlled app, before it’s too late Night”.
TikTok has sparked widespread security concerns in the US
U.S. lawmakers have listed TikTok as a potential national security risk. Critics say that Chinese authorities may force TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to hand over TikTok data related to U.S. citizens, or use TikTok as a channel for malign influence operations. Security experts say the data offers China an opportunity to uncover intelligence or seek to influence Americans through disinformation campaigns.
Senator Rubio’s office issued a press release on December 13, 2022, saying that from the director of the FBI (FBI) to FCC commissioners to cybersecurity experts, they all made it clear that TikTok is being used to spy on Americans. risk.
On December 27, 2022, the Executive Office of the U.S. House of Representatives has notified all staff and members of Congress that TikTok will not be used on all devices in the House of Representatives with immediate effect.
Part of the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill signed by U.S. President Joe Biden last week is that the U.S. government will ban all federal devices from using TikTok.
At least 19 U.S. states have partially banned the use of TikTok on government devices, citing concerns that Chinese authorities could use the app to track Americans and censor content. The U.S. military has also banned its members from using the app on government equipment.
TikTok has previously said that banning government devices from using the app is “a political gesture that does not serve to advance national security interests.”
Gallagher also called for “reciprocity” in an interview with the NBC show. Chinese officials can use apps like Twitter, but Chinese citizens cannot use those same apps, he said. He said he would like to see an arrangement where “if your government does not allow your citizens to access the platform, we will deny your government officials access to the same platform”.
Editor in charge: Li Qiong #