WSJ Report Highlights Election Misinformation on Chinese-Owned TikTok

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A recent report in The Wall Street Journal highlights election misinformation on social media.

The article discusses how social media giant TikTok let accounts linked to the Chinese government spread misleading content targeting U.S. voters ahead of the 2024 election.

TikTok boasts approximately one billion users worldwide — including 135 million or more in the U.S. — making it one of the most popular social media platforms on earth.

However, TikTok and its Chinese-based parent company ByteDance, have come under fire for serving kids a steady “diet of darkness” online and struggling to protect private user data from entities in China, such as the Chinese Communist Party.

The Wall Street Journal‘s report reveals how social media accounts posed as conservative news outlets, sharing videos that mischaracterized elected leaders like President Biden.

Even though TikTok has policies against fake accounts, the article points out that enforcement was slow, allowing misleading content to reach millions of users before being taken down.

All of this underscores the concerns many have expressed in the past about how TikTok might be used to to spread Chinese propaganda.

In 2022, U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security sharing concerns about TikTok’s operations in the U.S., saying in part,

TikTok captures vast amounts of private information on users, including American citizens, and has long been suspected of providing the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] with potential access to that information. This threatens the safety and security of American citizens, and also functions as an avenue for the Chinese government to track the locations of and develop blackmail on Federal employees and contractors.

U.S. Congressman Bruce Westerman wrote in March,

Although TikTok executives claim that it does not share any data collected by the app, there are several Chinese laws in place that provide CCP [Chinese Communist Party] officials access to all user data collected by Chinese-owned tech companies, like TikTok. This means the CCP has access to sensitive data, like the location of every TikTok user worldwide, including the over 210 million Americans who have downloaded the app.

Last year Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin filed two lawsuits against TikTok and its parent company ByteDance.

The A.G.’s lawsuits allege that TikTok and ByteDance failed to fully disclose that the company is subject to Chinese laws that mandate cooperation with intelligence activities of the People’s Republic of China and that TikTok aggressively collects sensitive user data.

Social media platforms are more than just websites or phone apps. These are multimillion dollar businesses owned and operated by investors and other interests. If the Chinese Communist Party can influence TikTok, the CCP may be able to manipulate content and influence users on one of the world’s largest social media platform. That’s a serious concern.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Federal Government Sues TikTok Over Alleged Child Privacy Violations

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On Friday the United States Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against social media giant TikTok and its parent company for allegedly violating federal laws intended to protect children online.

TikTok boasts approximately one billion users worldwide — including 135 million or more in the U.S. — making it one of the most popular social media platforms on earth.

However, TikTok and its Chinese-based parent company, ByteDance, have come under fire for serving kids a steady “diet of darkness” online and struggling to protect private user data from entities in China, such as the Chinese Communist Party.

In a lawsuit filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, the U.S. Department of Justice alleged that TikTok and ByteDance violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 — a federal law that helps protect children from being tracked online.

The lawsuit accuses TikTok of “unlawful massive-scale invasions of children’s privacy,” saying,

TikTok collects, stores, and processes vast amounts of data from its users, who include millions of American children younger than 13. . . . For years, Defendants [TikTok and ByteDance] have knowingly allowed children under 13 to create and use TikTok accounts without their parents’ knowledge or consent, have collected extensive data from those children, and have failed to comply with parents’ requests to delete their children’s accounts and personal information.

This is not the first lawsuit TikTok has faced for failing to protect children on its platform.

Last year Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin filed two lawsuits against the tech giant — one in Cleburne County and another in Union County — for violating the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act and failing to protect children.

The lawsuits allege that TikTok and ByteDance failed to fully disclose that the company is subject to Chinese laws that mandate cooperation with intelligence activities of the People’s Republic of China, and that TikTok’s algorithm deliberately promotes “intensely sexualized” content — including content that sexualizes children. The A.G.’s legal team has pointed out that objectionable content is even available to users who enable TikTok’s content filtering in the app, and that TikTok aggressively collects sensitive user data.

Social media platforms are more than just websites or phone apps. These are multimillion dollar businesses owned and operated by investors and other interests. The adults who own these companies have a responsibility to follow state and federal laws and to protect children on their platforms.

As we have said before, there’s more and more evidence that social media platforms like TikTok put users’ personal information at risk and are actually designed to push objectionable content to users.

With that in mind, it’s good to see the Department of Justice taking legal action to fight back against these tech companies and protect our children online.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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State of Arkansas Files Second Complaint in Lawsuit Against TikTok

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The State of Arkansas is pressing forward with its legal challenges against social media giant TikTok.

With an estimated one billion users worldwide and 135 million in the U.S., TikTok is considered by some to be the most popular social media platform in the world. However, last year Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin filed two lawsuits accusing TikTok and its parent company ByteDance of violating Arkansas’ Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

One of the lawsuits — filed in Union County — alleges that TikTok failed to fully disclose that TikTok is subject to Chinese law — including laws that mandate cooperation with intelligence activities of the People’s Republic of China.

In an amended complaint filed in Union County on July 18, the Arkansas Attorney General’s Office argued,

Tik Tok also downplays its connection to China by dismissing Chinese Communist Party presence and influence within ByteDance as unimportant or irrelevant. . . . TikTok’s efforts to downplay its connection to China are designed to, and have the effect of, conveying to Arkansas consumers that the risk of their data being accessed and exploited by Chinese authorities is minimal to nonexistent. . . . The Chinese Government and Communist Party exercise and have exercised legal and political authority over ByteDance. Chinese authorities even forced the company to alter certain business practices and close one business altogether. . . . [TikTok and ByteDance] knowingly deceived Arkansas consumers, and continue to do so, because Chinese law reaches their data in all the ways described in this Complaint and because their data is at risk of access and exploitation by Chinese government or Communist Party.

Social media platforms aren’t just websites or phone apps. These are multimillion dollar businesses owned and operated by investors and other interests.

As we have said before, there’s mounting evidence that platforms like TikTok put people’s personal information at risk and are actually designed to push objectionable content to users.

With that in mind, it’s good to see the A.G.’s office taking action to fight back against these businesses and protect Arkansans online.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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